Ernest and Julio Gallo founded E. & J. Gallo Winery in Modesto, California in the fall of 1933, just after the repeal of Prohibition. Their starting capital was less than $6,000 — $5,000 of it borrowed from Ernest's mother-in-law, Teresa Franzia. Their winemaking education came from pre-Prohibition pamphlets retrieved from the basement of the Modesto Public Library. With a single tractor running back-to-back 12-hour shifts, they produced 177,000 gallons in their first year.
What the front label doesn't show: Ernest and Julio's parents died in 1933, the same year the winery was founded. Their father shot their mother, then turned the gun on himself. Ernest was 24. He never spoke about it publicly.
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<description>&lt;p&gt;Ernest and Julio Gallo founded E. &amp; J. Gallo Winery in Modesto, California in the fall of 1933, just after the repeal of Prohibition. Their starting capital was less than $6,000 — $5,000 of it borrowed from Ernest's mother-in-law, Teresa Franzia. Their winemaking education came from pre-Prohibition pamphlets retrieved from the basement of the Modesto Public Library. With a single tractor running back-to-back 12-hour shifts, they produced 177,000 gallons in their first year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What the front label doesn't show: Ernest and Julio's parents died in 1933, the same year the winery was founded. Their father shot their mother, then turned the gun on himself. Ernest was 24. He never spoke about it publicly.&lt;/p&gt;
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In 1933 — the same year Prohibition ended and their parents died in a murder-suicide — Ernest and Julio Gallo started a winery with less than $6,000 and a how-to pamphlet from the public library. What followed was one of the most relentless, controversial, and consequential stories in American food history. Ernest didn't just build a winery. He built the distribution infrastructure for an entire industry, created brands that became household names, survived a nationwide boycott led by Cesar Chavez, and sued his own brother over the right to use the family name — on cheese. By the time the fine wine world took him seriously, Ernest Gallo had been unstoppable for decades. This is his back label.

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From a Library Pamphlet to $5.3 Billion: The Ernest Gallo Story

From a Library Pamphlet to $5.3 Billion: The Ernest Gallo Story

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