Ep. 135 Monty Waldin interviews Gina Gallo (E.J. Gallo Winery) | Italian Wine Personalities

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast with me wanting to order my guest today is Gina Gallow from the Gallowinary in California, an icon in wine, your family name, everybody knows your family's name throughout the world. You can go anywhere in the world. Everybody's heard of Gallow. What is the secret of your success? Your family's success? Oh, plenty. Thank you for having me on. Oh, it's my pleasure. Quickly, I would say my our heritage, the the founders, my grandfather, Julia, my great uncle Ernest. So where were they from? Their parents were from Pemonte. So not far from here. So definitely have that Italian blood on us, and we still feel it. So when did they arrive in the States then? They they came in, the eighteen hundreds. So they were born in nineteen ten, nineteen ten, nineteen twelve, but their parents came, in the mid to the late eighteen hundreds. Okay. Yes, to the state. So but they were they're the reason. They're the foundation they began, which was interesting. A lot of the Italian immigrants, you know, were farmers, but not, not necessarily sales or market in our businessman. So really great farmers. So he's in great growers. Yes. So my grandfather, Julia, he had that side. He loved the dirt. He loved his organic garden. He learned a lot through his organic garden, but his brother Ernest, my great uncle Ernest. He loved to travel. He loved to talk. And he loved to, find out what were people drinking? What were they doing all over America? And he came to found out find out in nineteen thirty three when they started their family winery. No one was really enjoying that much wine, except for the immigrants. So they had a big task introducing wine to the American public. And so I think that their strengths were very different, but they respected each other. They worked hard. They would debate I'm sure like crazy. I know they did. But they were compliment each other, didn't they? I mean, one one in the vineyard effectively in terms of grapes supply and one, going out and selling the finished wine. Yeah. So Absolutely. So a very strong team. Very strong team. And I think that's a secret to our family winery is that, even today is that because now we have the second generation, which is still extremely involved third generation as well, which is myself, and our cousins and siblings, and is seeing how they worked hard together similar visions, but, everyone talented in their own area and respecting those areas. And And you're still family owned, aren't you? Yes. Well, it's incredible that your so your, the current generation is how many generations? Three. Right. So it's very unusual, isn't it to have have it sort of survive. Yes. And, with all the sort of, the the the family bits involved. So how often do you get to Italy? I haven't been to Italy the the big wine event since two thousand. So it's been a while, but, I was in Italy five years ago. So you may agree. Do you sell do you sell? I mean, you're obviously your basis in California. Right? Yes. So, I mean, do you sell wine to Italy? Are you mainly focus on the States? We do sell a little bit of wine in Italy, but more importantly, we work with some lovely Italian, producers in Italy, and we import to America because Americans love Italian wines. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. So that that's been working extremely well. Do you work with any, obviously, you got your own vineyards? Do you work with any Italian vorisals in your vineyards? We do. Do. The first wine I ever made was a barbera. Really? Yes. That's great. It's so food friendly, isn't it? Oh, it's a lovely wine. Love it. And, Barbara is a wonderful wine, especially a grape because it's high acidity as you know, and where we grew up down in the valley where it's, more warm versus say Napa and Sonoma, where we are now with our premium wines in the valley, very warm climate, and that barbera holds its acidity. So it's a great, it's a great wine for down in the valley. So when you say mean the central value. The central value? Yes. Which is pretty arid, isn't it? Yes. So it's one of the secrets you've been success been probably two is matching the right variety to the right conditions. Yes. And then obviously setting. So that's the bit that often people forget isn't it? In the wine grain, there's romance on it, but also it's a business. It's tough out there. There's a lot of great wines out there. There's a lot of, you know, the the positive there is there's a lot of people more and more enjoying wines and more and more enjoying the upper tier wine. So I think a great thing is go back about thirty years. Well, even earlier than that, Sonoma, my grandfather really believes someday some of the top end wines would be coming from Sonoma for us in California. Sonoma and Napa, and here today, they're still amazing areas. So think progressively, as a family, being able to invest long term in those areas. So now today, what people enjoying these top end wines, we're ready. We have them. We have the different vineyards to really create some of the top wines that can compete against the world. I used to I used to work for a guy called Walter Shook in Sonoma. Oh my gosh. And Walter, worked with your grandparents. Yes. Yep. He did. Great supply. Exactly. He told me some fantastic stories. Oh, I love it. About, I mean, it's tough. You're too young. No. I'm fifty. I was, I know him at mid twenties then. Okay. Learning. And he was a great guy to learn from, but when he talked about, your family, I mean, it's, you've gotta the romance of wine is one thing, but you've gotta be sharp in terms of business, and you've gotta nail down your grapes supplies to say this is the quality I want. This is what we're gonna pay, and this is how I want it delivered. Yeah? You're exactly right. He was very instrument on the wine world too. Now, yes, it's a business. I mean, even though it's agriculture and farming, but it is a business. So how how hard is that shift or how easy is that shift that you're making from the valley wines that are sort of maybe everyday wines to to the more premium, super premium regions, as you mentioned, Sonoma Napa, even possibly in Temendo. How how easy is that for you given that, this pressure on land and vineyard prices are pretty high? How easy is it to tie people down either to buy land or to to sign contracts with great commerce? Well, fortunately, we started in the seventies purchasing land. So that helped tremendously because not everyone was thinking that was gonna be the place for some of the top end wines. So that you bring up a great point though. So I think because of that, we have some wonderful vineyards exist from going far back. And now we work with we still work with a lot of growers though that, really helped some of the different wines that we're creating at the, say, roughly fifteen dollars up to, you know, a hundred dollar bottle of wine. But land is precious. There's only so much land end. And Now there's only so much water as well. And there's only so much water. We have some really cool things happening on the, on that environmental side though as far as water because we've worked with IBM, which was really interesting. And now we've created this technology that we're gonna be able to a forty five percent of water on each of our properties. And that'll go out to other vineyards, which will be tremendous because water It monitors its, monitors the, the moisture and the soil, and then also the environment around as far as the moisture outside the soil, the clouds, the moving, you know, weather patterns, things like that. And it's tremendous, and technology will transport him to mechanically giving the water exactly the is it needs at the right amount of time. So is what you're saying, this is the soil may seem quite dry. Mhmm. But because the atmosphere is humid, the vine is okay Exactly. And vice versa. So we're not just so quick as farmers to go turn on that water valve because, hey, we don't have it. B, it's not good for the we're seeing a huge improvement in the quality of the wine because it's more concentrated. How stable is the super premium end in, what is, again, a very competitive market? Yes. We've went through a three boy at least roughly three years of a great ride, a lot, a lot of, growth happening in the premium end. This next couple years, it's gonna be a little bit more steady, a little bit more flat. Why? Because I think we've had such a great growth so fast that a market maybe just a touch saturated to say. But, the positive is the big growth is fifteen dollars and above. So that entry level wine lower, it's, you know, it's not really growing. They're reinventing themselves and reinventing, you know, whether it be labels or different flavors or different blends blended wines, but the upper tier really has tremendous growth still potential to happen. But is that the question of people maybe drinking a little bit less often, but investing in a better bottle of wine when they do drink? Or what what is what is the demographic behind that? I think a little bit of both, but I also think you have this new generation that's coming out and they're not starting out with the five dollar bottle of wine or three ninety nine like us when we started. I mean, they're jumping right into the fifteen dollar bottle. Right. And then some of them when they get excited about it. They're moving into a thirty dollar bottle. So it's, and you see in universities now in America, and they're teaching people about wine. So I think more people are coming out understanding wine better than the same MBR generation was. Less fear factor. Yeah. Less fear factor. And in general, that general, that's a great point because much more confident. And they just, you know, I do what I wanna do. I don't wanna work the hours. I wanna work. I wanna do, you know, it's it's very much that, that confident, mentality, which is great. And I think that tremendously helps in their selection of buying wine. I think now also with technology, there's so many ways to get great information online. Right on your iPhone, you can just look at it and see what it was rated or, you know, what was said about it. So I think that helps. Also, in business, you sit down at a table and you and you enjoy wine, and you discuss business. So I think that with the people coming out of the universities, that's why they're learning more about wine is because they know, a lock could happen over a table, breaking bread. Right. So now for your competitors, we're in Italy today. So if I hired you as a consultant to the Italian wine growers to crack the US market it, whether it's the West Coast or the East Coast, what would your what would a couple of tips be for them? As far as creating some of the wines? Yeah. Or do you know either starting them or or labeling presenting them the media side, the social media side? What do they need to do to really? Well, the social media side's interesting, I would say, because when you look at Italy, it is extremely you have a lot of different regions. You have a lot of, you know, and there's that famous saying you put three winemakers in a room. Forget about it. You put three million winemakers in a room really forget about it. Right? So I think the the power is coming together as a group, as a Italy, or even as these different regions, but some of them are small, so it doesn't really work. But I really think it's coming together as a group Italian, it's Italian culture, it's Italian wine, and promoting it that way, and having one voice, but all really coming together to promote it. I think hands down, that will help tremendously because they already have a platform. Unlike the French, I mean, the Italians, the America loves Italy. Yeah. Because so many Italian immigrants, you'd be, like, sitting There are what I must be there right now. So Yeah. And I feel like I have the Italian in my blood, even though I, you know, I do, but I I wasn't born a race here by any means. But I've when I come here, I feel feel it. I feel myself here. I feel like I have been here before. Yeah. So when I got when I got a press trip, it's a multi where you're going to us, I gotta get a prize at that. Okay. Oh, I'm gonna go to Italy. Can I come? Yeah. People people love it. So they they have a great platform and, Italian wines. That's why we're investing it and we're promoting Italian wines in America because we know there's definitely a great market, but I think it's all coming together all of us having one voice when promoting Italy as a whole. What about, you mentioned sort of younger generation that a more are they moving to slightly drier styles of, of white, a white wine? Yeah. Sometimes you can have wines with a few grams of residual sugar in that. Is that change happening or not quite yet? It's definitely happening. And the and you're reacting to that. You're styling your wines a little bit differently. Yeah. Really working on texture and instead of, just quickly giving it a little bit of the sugar, the sweetness. Because the key also, and my grandfather really believe this as well is you wanna go back and have another sip. If you have something that has too much of the residual sugar, it gets glowing. It's like, drinking wine. You want it to be fresh and beautiful and light and, yeah, you want it to have personality as well and you want it to have style, but sometimes you just really wanna enjoy and, not too high in the alcohol, which I think the Italians do extremely well. You know, still, there's some beautiful wines out there that are not overblown on the alcohol. Unlike us Americans on the California side, you know, we've really pushed that, alcohol up, probably way too much. Yeah. Stylistically, the ones I create, I'm more in the European fashion. I definitely tend to be under thirteen or thirteen. Like to push it too much, yeah, alcohol. I don't like to push it too high. What about China? Is it an important market for you? China is an important market, I would say, for everybody, because how many billions and billions of people, and they really are into it. I think, what you see right now, the Australians have had great growth. They've kind of had that voice where they had the Chinese New Year in Sydney, and I think that helped where but especially the Chinese, the Chinese market. Who do they love? They love the Italians, you know? But I think it's they love the fashion. They love the the food. But then maybe do they even know a lot of these Italians are making some outstanding incredible wines? Maybe not. So how do they link that together? It's like and you know what I think's great is American, I'm probably here too. It's about, lifestyle, you know, wine. It's about, individuals, consumers, and our our consumers that are enjoying wine, they want to be transformed. They want the wine to transform them. So it's our, you know, opportunity and our responsibility as producers and people that are selling and marketing wine to give that transformation to the individual that's enjoying the wine. Make it an experience, you know, not just how we grew up where it's at the table. It's with, you know, and and my generation, a lot of my friends, parents didn't even drink wine. But for me, every day, we had there was wine at the table. It was almost, you know, the food was the most important, but the wine was always there as a added value and to share. You obviously work incredibly long days every single day. And I'm gonna put you on a desert island where you have the same workload, and you can come home, and you can only choose one bottle of wine for that desert island, one style. What would it be? Oh my gosh. One one one. No. This wasn't gonna be an easy interview, you know. I mean, you know, it's we're already hitting the rocky patch. We've been getting on so well. I knew you were gonna beat me up, Monty. I knew it. I knew it. You don't have to answer me. Yes, sir. I know it's I love bubbles. I have to say. Right. And I think every country's making great ones France with cromonts here. We've hit prosseccos in the cooler regions. Champagne. Forget about it. Some of the great champagnes, but, you know, it's always hit and miss. You have to really understand and know, and you don't just have to pay for the big five big guys. You know, you can find these small producers that are fabulous Now, if for us in California and your web Jay, Jay Wine, it's wonderful, sparkly, and doing a great job there. So bubbles is always fancies my tongue. I love bubbles, but then when you say the only wine, I would just a minute. It's a style. That's fine. Yeah. So you basically, as a start, a fizz is is your thing. Oh, yeah. I have. And you obviously, you make fizz as a company. Right? Yes. And and the main markets for your fizz in the US, is it, like, an east coast thing or a west coast thing? Or You know, it's, all over really. No. It's a good question. Honestly, I'd say, which was the bigger, bigger area, on La Marca, which is a prosaico. That's on fire. That's really doing extremely well. So that's an Italian one, and that's, by far, biggest, one of our biggest cell and Jay, you know, just catching on. Listen, I know you got a lot to do. We're very lucky to have you multi talented running. You have the biggest galleries, the biggest property owned wine company in the world, isn't it? Family owned? Family owned. Yeah. Really kind of you to come and spend a little bit time with us today. Fascinating talk to you. Next time we can talk, you know, I'm I'm for I'm a bit of a biodynamic, kind of organic, kind of guy. And, next time, we can talk a bit more about sustainability and activity. Oh, I love it because I'm a big fan of that too. Yeah. Big fan. But you didn't make me cry, so thank you, Monty. No. That it was, it was, that was interesting. I mean, you know, California is you're from kind of thing, oh, it's just California, but there's the subtleties and nuances of of I've worked at Medicina as well, of California. It's a massive area as you well know, and you got great growers, you got winemakers, you got processes. Very, very, very complicated. Mhmm. I bet it obviously, but it works. But a lot of italian, a bit of Italian limited. A Medascino, I was a lot of Italian limited. The old timers, you know, with, with their, farming very, very traditionally. Wine was food, it was energy to keep them going, you know, which is a good place to start, I think. And some great show and some you know, some of the early days when I started making wine, I would never forget the chardonnays era, and they even end up here in the Wars too. Yeah. Doing a great job, Gina. Thank you very much. Thank you, Marcy. It was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.