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Headlines W Gallo Gives Rare Speech J ANU AR Y NEWS NEWS BY TE S WINERY fARMS OUT DISTRIBUTION illamette Valley Vineyards Inc. has ceased distributing its own wines to San Joaquin Winegrowers hear from Joseph Gallo, the normally quiet CEO of E. & J. Gallo Winery F resno, Calif.—Joseph E. Gallo, the ret- icent president and CEO of the E. & J. Gallo Winery empire, offered some rare public remarks to the San Joaquin Valley Winegrowers Association in Novem- ber, in which he announced that his company is looking to place 10,000 more acres of vines under contract and also offered some insights into the industry giant's operations. E. & J. Gallo owns eight wineries, has 60 brands and is the largest exporter of California wine. Gallo described his company's facilities in the San Joaquin Valley, which include a Modesto center for bottling and shipping that has space for 90 million gallons of stor- age, a Livingston production winery with 160 million gallons of storage and a Fresno winery with 110 million gallons of storage. He said that Livingston will have crushed 460,000 tons of grapes this year and Fresno 535,000 tons. He added that 300,000 tons of bulk wine was imported into the U.S. in 2010. "Those tons should be grown in California," Gallo said, going on to detail his plans for avoiding import- ing bulk wine in the future. Gallo admonished the growers, saying that they need to get higher yields with bet- ter quality. He compared grapes to nuts: Almonds grew from 900 million pounds in 2005 to 1.5 billion pounds last year, with 70% exported; walnuts—also 70% ex- ported—grew from 350 million pounds to 580 million pounds, while pistachios grew from 170 million pounds to 310 million pounds with 63% exported. "By contrast, only 16% of wine is exported," he said. Finally, he said that Gallo has 90,000 acres under long-term contracts, and he made the assembled growers very happy by announcing that he's looking for 10,000 more acres for long-term contracts. 16 Wines & Vines JAnUARY 2012 customers within the state. This change follows the sign- ing of an exclusive seven-year distribu- tion agreement with the Oregon and Washington divisions of California-based Young's Market Co. Young's already distributes WVV's wines in California, Alaska and Hawaii, and on Sept. 1 assumed Northwest distribution from the company's wholesale division, Bacchus Fine Wines. Bacchus had been distributing approximately 1,000 SKUs of products from 130,000-case WVV and other wineries. winesandvines.com Learn more: Search keywords "Young's." GROWERS ALERTED TO 'RED BLOTCH' Joseph Gallo says growers need to cultivate higher yields with better quality. Gallo, son of leg- endary marketer Er- nest Gallo, noted that his grandfather on his mother's side was a Franzia who invested in land, while his Gallo grandfather lost mon- ey in the Great Depression. The younger Gallos paid heed and acquired property. Founding brothers Ernest and Julio start- winesandvines.com Learn more: Search keyword "Gallo." ed in business by selling grapes to home winemakers in Chicago during Prohibition, which was legal. After Prohibition, it was logical to start making wine. Their goal was to change a beer- and spirit-drinking coun- try into a nation of wine-drinkers. Gallo said his father believed that the only way to grow the wine business was to make better wine. He listed the varieties that helped peo- ple learn to like wines, including white Zin- fandel and today's newly popular Moscatos and red blends. "Once people start drinking wine, most continue." —Paul Franson vine scourge known as "red blotch" for its distinctive appearance. The new mal- ady was first spot- ted on plants at the Oakville Experimen- tal Station. It may U winesandvines.com Learn more: Search keywords "red blotch." be localized, but other vines have shown similar symptoms elsewhere in Napa Val- ley. Instead of the deep purple of leafroll virus, red blotch causes red leaves with pink/red veins on the reverse side. The reddening appears primarily at the base of the shoots. V BRAND TO SOAR ONCE MORE ancouver-based 6,000-case Paradise Ranch Wines Corp., a veteran ice wine producer in British Columbia, pur- chased 5,000-case Soaring Eagle Estate Winery and associated assets this past summer for approximately $3.4 million. Now, as it prepares for the B.C. ice wine harvest, Paradise Ranch president and CEO Jim Stewart is preparing to rename and relaunch following the acquisition. niversity of California, Davis, experts are warning growers about a new