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Wine Expert
Michael De Loach
The Twelve Things
That Happened in
Wine in 2007
A lot of really weird, freaky stuff happened in 2007—and I think it bears noting that the year will go down as a Tim Burtonesque nightmare from which winemakers may never wake up. The harvest was one of the best on record, however. Here, in a semi-particular order, are my top twelve milestones from the last twelve months:
1. The Death of Ernest Gallo
Reader Warning:This story is the most important, so I’m spending the most time on it. The rest of the items are all fairly concise. Please read on without fear:
On March 6th, the second of the twin pillars of the E & J Gallo empire, Ernest, died. The two brothers kept the California wine industry alive during the 13 bleak prohibition years when commercial manufacture of wine was illegal. Even more impressive, with a mere $5700 in hand, the pair rebuilt the post-prohibition California wine industry, laying the foundation for what it is today. Despite these achievements, the Gallo’s are remembered in death largely, and rather unfairly, for suing their youngest brother, Joseph, to prohibit him from using the family name for his cheese business. (Joseph also died last year, preceding Ernest by little more than a week.) The Gallo brothers were also haunted by the strange and untimely deaths of their parents in 1933 (ruled a murder-suicide), which seemed a continual source of ghoulish fascination for the press and wine trade.
This year, with both the family lodestars gone, a new era of the full-court-press, wall-street-style corporate winemaking truly dawns. Julio Gallo, the outside man, was the guy who knew farming, grapes and wine wizardry. Ernest was the inside guy, the consummate salesman, the genius who could spot a market and maximize it. The Gallo training program to this day remains the Gold Standard of tough-minded, strategic data-based salesmanship. And don’t forget to tell the customer what your expectations are.
Now-ubiquitous wine sales tactics were invented by Mr. Gallo, and his legacy is nothing less than the California wine industry itself. It simply would not be here today (nor I writing these words—my father sold his grapes to the Gallo’s when he started out) were it not for Entrepreneurial Ernest selling sweet jug wines for the masses, advertised with memorable jingles on TV during the 1960’s. And before that, making a fortune selling fortified wines to street “winos” in the 50’s.
Some might remember Ernest’s old slogan:
“What's the word? / Thunderbird / How's it sold? / Good and cold / What's the jive? / Bird's alive / What's the price? / Thirty twice."
According to legend, Ernest was in a car with another sales guy driving between accounts when he spotted a “street person” on a corner. In a show of bravado, he rolled down the window and shouted “What’s the word?” Almost instantly, according to the story, the disheveled, stumbling man shouted back, joyously, “Thunderbird!” Nearly every wine salesperson has heard this, which makes it a powerful story whether it’s true or just another of Ernest’s highly calculated, extremely successful social engineering experiments. He was also famous for firing the very best of advertising agencies, by the way.
Sure, Mr. Mondavi put his gloss on the industry, and almost single-handedly made Napa a household name after a fistfight with his brother forced him to set out on his own. But without the sturdy shoulders of Ernest, California would be a region of mere dusty farming, leaving real wine for the French.
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