Hundreds Pay Last Respects to Julio Gallo

Julio Gallo, who with his brother Ernest revolutionized and popularized wine in the United States, was remembered Friday for his love of the land and the grapes it grows.

Hundreds of mourners, many of them employees of E&J; Gallo Winery, filed past his casket to pay last respects to Gallo, 83, who was killed when his Jeep overturned Sunday.

There are to be no eulogies at Gallo’s funeral Mass on Saturday. But many who came Friday to view the body and whisper condolences to his family gave personal eulogies outside.

“He knew his business; he knew his grapes,” said grower Joe Costamagna.

Bill Heuer, who managed the company’s vast vineyards, said Gallo “knew more about grapes by just looking at them” than Heuer ever was able to learn.

The winery was closed for the day so workers could attend the viewing at St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church, a Spanish-style church built in 1913 in a now-run-down section of this San Joaquin Valley city.

An autopsy showed that Gallo’s neck was broken when his Jeep Wrangler slid down a 35-foot embankment on one of the family’s holdings in foothills west of Modesto. His wife, Aileen, 80, and a granddaughter, Gina, 26, both had broken ribs but were released the next day after treatment at a hospital.

The privately held winery the Gallo brothers founded in 1933 produces an estimated $1 billion of wine a year. Gallo claims about one-quarter of the U.S. wine market and sells about 150 million gallons of wine each year.