The Gallo Wars

Secrecy has always surrounded the E. and J. Gallo Winery operations. But a few intimate Gallo family details have been revealed via court records over the last two years. Ernest and Julio Gallo sued their younger brother, Joseph Gallo Jr., when he tried to market his own line of cheese with the Gallo name. “I have only got one name,” Joseph Gallo told the press at the time. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to look for another one.”

It was a messy legal battle. The older Gallos contended that Joseph Gallo’s cheese wasn’t a quality product. Joseph Gallo ended up countersuing his brothers claiming they had cheated him out of a portion of his inheritance.

In the suit, the younger Gallo contended that Joseph Gallo Sr. had founded the Gallo Winery, making Joseph Jr. entitled to a third of the profits. But the court, agreeing with Ernest and Julio Gallo, decided that the winery was founded by the elder brothers with their own funds. The funds came from the estate of the Gallos’ parents, Joseph and Susie, who died in an apparent murder-suicide on June 21, 1933, before the end of Prohibition later that year. In February of this year, Joseph Gallo filed a federal appeal, renewing his claim to a one-third interest in Gallo.