Yesterday, respected wine writer and researcher Jamie Goode published a short blog. It revealed the massive dimensions and some historic production levels of the world’s three largest wineries, all of which belong to Gallo. Goode didn’t overtly pass judgement. On social media though, a lot of the commentary and shares were quite negative.

Many of those perspectives, based purely on physical size and production volume, suggested that big is bad, should be avoided, and may even be injurious to your health. Others posited the three wineries must certainly be bad for the environment. I strongly disagree.

I have tasted more than my fair share of wines over the years. I’ve had a lot of iconic/cult wines, loads of artisanal estate wines of which only 40 cases were made, and I’ve tried plenty of high-volume, mass market wines selling for less than $6 per bottle.

The latter are not normally to my taste. I love complexity and at least the illusion of terroir. It’s rarely possible for wines with case volumes of 500,000 and up to provide that. But I’ll tell you this. If I have to drink a wine at that price point, I’m hoping with all hope that it comes from one of those massive producers.

I have tasted way too many wines in my life that were bouncing with volatile acidity, re-fermenting in the bottle, completely dominated by Brettanomyces, or smelled like a dumpster in Death Valley. Not one of them was from a massive producer.

Companies don’t grow to that size by selling wine consumers find offensive. And they don’t stay in business by shipping products which get taken right back to the store. The wines are clean. If anything, they are clean to a fault.

High-volume might not display the unique signature of a vineyard and vintage. But that’s not what consumers of those particular wines are looking for. They want consistency. They want to know their favorite red blend will taste exactly the same every time, year after year.

Aficionados of “fine wine” may find those same affordable, high-volume, big-brand bottlings too bold, too sweet, too simple, or not varietally representative. The wines aren’t made for those people. They’re made for specific, but very large. audiences, are made with intention, and made after considerable research and development by highly-trained people.

Gallo, I’m led to understand by someone who used to work in the department, has at least four full-time winemakers focused on nothing except R&D. That group produces more wine—not destined to be sold—than a typical small winery. The goal, I was told, is to improve quality, broaden the product line, streamline production without unacceptable compromises, and to help build the wine market overall.

I’ve Been There, Seen That

Goode said he’d never been to the wineries in question. I have. I’ve taken extensive tours of the Kingston and Modesto Gallo wineries, as well as the bottle factory and a bottling line. When I toured, I did so on an academic basis and I did not suggest I might publish anything. Therefore, I’m not going to show pictures from that visit nor divulge anything that may be even close to a trade secret. [The feature photo showing the Livingston winery was made public by Gallo on one of their Twitter feeds.]

It’s been several years since I visited. And I’ll admit, when I went, I was ready to be unimpressed, maybe even dismayed. I left with nothing but respect for the quality they achieve given the scale, the care and investment in that quality, and the extreme measures they take to safeguard the environment and be responsible stewards of the land.

I won’t get specific on quality measures, because that risks accidentally touching on secrets. However, I’ll address one comment that suggested these Gallo wineries don’t use any high-quality wood. I walked through a huge, underground room in Modesto which was completely filled with big, beautiful oak tanks. I was told they were hand-assembled on site over a period years by an expert craftsman from Europe. Steve Heimoff, who toured and wrote about the facility in 2012, says “the cellar contains 624 four thousand gallon oak tanks, handmade in Italy from Croatian wood.”

Regarding Environmental Issues

When I visited the wineries, solar panels were much more expensive than they are today. Yet, the winery in Livingston had seven acres tightly packed with solar panels. You can see them clearly today using Google Maps. [Look for the long, straight, black rows.] At the time, it was probably the largest winery installation of solar panels in the world. [Constellation had installed 170,000ft2 of panels at their Gonzalez, Monterey County winery in 2008. It was said to be the largest of any winery. But that pre-dated the Gallo installation and is just a bit over half the size.] Gallo now has 10 acres of solar overall in California.

When you are running such a huge operation, waste or inefficiency of any sort can be a huge hit to the bottom line. On the tour, I was told little is wasted, becoming a problematic by-product. For example, all alcohol is painstakingly extracted from the pomace and then distilled. Some of that may contribute to distilled spirits. The rest is sold for industrial purposes. Then, all the pomace is turned into cattle feed. The Fresno winery alone, according to a government document, has a 70-acre composting field. 

Gallo has also made concerted efforts to reduce water consumption. The wineries have extensive waste water treatment facilities and, as much as possible, water is re-used. More about Gallo’s environmental focus can be seen in their 2019 sustainability report, which I found with a simple web search.

Conclusion

These massive wineries are indeed factories for wine. So are small wineries, just on a different scale. Some producers might like to think of “craft” wineries as kitchens or art studios. But then Andy Warhol called his studio a factory. 

I’m not suggesting everything is perfect at these particular wineries nor that they predominantly produce “fine wine.” My point is that they make an effort to produce products millions of consumers want, to make them available at affordable prices, to ensure the wines are clean, and to minimize the effects production has on the environment. Vilifying them based on assumptions, because of scale, or because the wines aren’t to the taste of connoisseurs, isn’t reasonable or fair. 

Copyright Fred Swan 2019. All rights reserved.

About the author: Fred Swan is an Oakland-based wine writer, educator, and event sommelier. He’s written for GuildSomm.com, Daily.SevenFifty.com, The Tasting Panel, SOMM Journal, PlanetGrape.com, and other outlets. Fred teaches a wide range of classes at the San Francisco Wine School. He’s founder/producer of Wine Writers’ Educational Tours, an annual, educational conference for professional wine writers. He also leads seminars, private wine tours, and conducts tastings, dinners, and events for wineries, companies, and private parties. Fred’s certifications include WSET Diploma, Certified Sommelier, California Wine Appellation Specialist, Certified Specialist of Wine, French Wine Scholar, Italian Wine Professional, Napa Valley Wine Educator, Northwest Wine Appellation Specialist, and Level 3 WSET Educator. He’s twice been awarded a fellowship by the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers.