Ernest Gallo, the first son of Italian immigrants, was born in 1909 in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. Growing up, he and his two brothers, Julio and Joe, learned the tricks of the wine trade as they worked alongside their father at his grape-growing business. Life tasted sweet for the brothers until 1933, when they found the bitter dregs at the bottom of their parents' relationship. In a little-understood murder/suicide, Mr. Gallo shot his wife and then claimed his own life. The resilient elder brother, Ernest, took the role of head of the family and chief of business. He oversaw the winery's sales operations as Julio handled production; Joe worked as an assistant. With the goal of national recognition and distribution in mind, Ernest pushed himself and his employees to the utmost. In 1936, he was allegedly hospitalized for six months - the reason: physical and mental deterioration.

The "Campbell Soup of the wine industry"

Ernest's ambitions to conquer the wine industry grew, as did his endurance. Often working sixteen-hour days, he vowed to dominate America's down-sized, post-Prohibition wine market. Ernest wanted the company to become the "Campbell Soup of the wine industry." To this end, the brothers pushed, advertised, networked, and expanded. The Gallos learned that political connections could equal dollar signs and soon allied themselves with various politicians on both sides of the campaign trail. The Gallos have contributed almost $400,000 to Bob Dole over the years and approximately $900,000 to the senator's affiliate foundations. The family is allegedly Dole's top career benefactor. On the Democratic side, Ernest Gallo is said to have raised $100,000 for Clinton in 1998. According to The Los Angeles Times, Ernest and President Clinton had held a meeting to discuss Chilean wine imports a few weeks prior to the donation.

Cheap, but still lucrative

With its low-priced wines available in supermarkets everywhere, E. & J. Gallo winery presently controls more than one-fourth of the U.S. wine market. Industry experts declare it "the undisputed king of domestic table wines." Although the Gallos have tried to break with their low-rent image, the association still exists. Fortunately, it is a lucrative one. The company now sells more than 50 types of wine in all price categories - or nearly 500 million gallons a year worldwide. It is still privately owned by the Gallo family and information about the company is intensely guarded. The younger generation of Gallo leaders, including Gina Gallo and her brother Mat, is focusing less on cheap wines and more on single-vineyard and estate-bottled wines.

Strange to be estranged

Although Julio Gallo died in 1993 in a car accident, 90-year-old Ernest continues to be volcanically active behind the scenes. He has apparently taken the same heavy-hitting approach to family that he has to business. In 1989 Ernest won a court battle with his brother, Joe, who claimed that his elder brothers had denied him a fair share of the Gallo business. After barring Joe from marketing a brand of cheese under the Gallo name, Ernest disowned his younger brother. In other troubling news, E. & J. Gallo has been feuding with its union workers, who argue that the company's wage-and-benefits package is substandard. In 1998, disgruntled Sonoma grape pickers hurled the following accusations: "Gallo of Sonoma Vineyard has given their grape pickers only a .10 cent increase in their hourly wages in five years," "Gallo of Sonoma Vineyard forces workers to work under labor contractors with inferior working conditions," and "Gallo of Sonoma Vineyard wants to exclude workers under labor contractors from full protections of the Union and an Union Contract."