One of the major trends in today’s wine industry is the concentration of ownership.
The wine world is dominated by a number of large multinationals, and you sometimes get the impression that there are no independent or family owned wineries left. It’s not true. Most wine producers in most countries are independent, but they have a very small share of the market.
The trend is clear in Canada where Vincor, this country's largest single producer, owns wineries in Ontario, British Columbia, Australia, the United States and New Zealand. But Vincor itself was recently bought by U.S.-based Constellation Brands, the world’s biggest wine producer.
There are important exceptions to the trend. Yellow Tail, the fabulously successful Australian brand, is made by a family owned winery.
And then there’s that major California-based wine producer, Gallo. Gallo really stands out for maintaining its independent status in the world of changing ownership, because it’s a major wine producer. It makes one out of every three or four bottles of wine consumed in the United States.
One of the secrets of Gallo’s success is a relatively cautious approach to change. Mondavi, the other big California producer, got into difficulties partly by trying to innovate too rapidly, and it was taken over by Constellation. Gallo, on the other hand, has retained its long-term market while gradually adding increasingly premium levels to its portfolio.
For decades after Gallo started producing wine (after the end of Prohibition in the U.S., in 1933), it was associated with mediocre, inexpensive wine — “jug wine.” Much Gallo wine was sold in jugs, and I remember balancing them on my motor scooter when I did a stint of teaching in Bermuda in the 1980s.
During the 1990s, Gallo joined the quality revolution that swept the world of wine. It added vineyard-designated wines such as the Frei Ranch series, and began to stress quality. Gallo’s huge winery in Sonoma Valley is effectively a number of small wineries, where Gallo winemakers are able to vinify small batches of grapes.
Given Gallo’s unique status as a huge producer that’s independent and still family owned, it’s not surprising that the company stresses “family.” A lot is made of the fact that Gina Gallo, the public and media face of the company, is a third-generation winemaker, and that many Gallo family members work in the company. Gallo is now rebranding its labels as “Gallo Family Vineyards.”
There might still be residual qualms over Gallo. A friend of mine, who grew up in the U.S. and seems to have drunk his share of jug wine in his youth, is still skeptical about Gallo producing quality wine. But he’s had to admit that the premium wines are very good.
And I recall talking to someone at Gallo a few years ago when I was in Sonoma, and asking if Gallo would change from cork to screwcap. The answer was that they were cautious because they didn’t want consumers to think Gallo was making cheap wine again.
Those anxieties seem to have passed. There are now some Gallo wines under screwcap (like today’s Pinot Noir). And there’s a whole range of very good quality and value Gallo wines to try.
Four Gallo wines on today’s rack.