During a decades-long tenure at E. & J. Gallo Winery, Joseph E. Gallo calmly charted a course for the world’s largest wine producer.
When Joseph E. Gallo took the reins of the E. & J. Gallo Winery in 2000, he had already been in the family business for decades. But he had big shoes to fill, those of his father, Ernest Gallo, who cofounded the Modesto, California-based winery with his brother Julio Gallo in 1933.
During his 20-year stint as president and chief executive officer, Joseph E. Gallo calmly charted a course for the world’s largest wine producer through waters crowded with competitors, constantly discovering opportunities for growth and identifying the top talent within the company and among family members to pursue the company’s growth strategies.
Under his leadership, the privately held wine company welcomed a third and fourth generation of Gallo family members into the business and virtually reinvented it in the process. Gallo’s wine and spirits empire expanded into more imports, more exports, more spirits and ownership of more luxury wine properties in California—including Stagecoach Vineyard in Napa Valley—and Washington.
A number of Joseph E. Gallo’s contributions to the company, to the wine and spirits industry and to consumers around the world, can be tallied along with the brands created and acquired during his tenure as CEO, which ended in 2020. These include the perennial best-selling Barefoot brand, Dark Horse, Talbott Vineyards, Louis M. Martini Winery, J Vineyards & Winery and Orin Swift Cellars in California, to
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
