travelbud383 asked:
Is there something I’m missing here? I’ve been a wine drinker for 3 decades. I spent thousands a year searching and buying, then cosuming fine wines from around the world. Many have been wonderful.
Is there something I’m missing here? I’ve been a wine drinker for 3 decades. I spent thousands a year searching and buying, then cosuming fine wines from around the world. Many have been wonderful.
Now the Gallo wine I am sipping tonight is probably the first time in 15 plus years I’ve drank anything under a $20 bottle. This one happen to be $6. (long story how I got stuck with it) The bottle to be specific is Gallo Twin Family Merlot. So my point is, the wine is noty half bad. In fact it is a little on the “good” side. If I were drinking this wine blind and did not know I would have rated it a C+, perhaps even a B-, something less then 10% of the wines I taste achieve. So why do wine drinker laugh and joke about Gallo? Is it just pure snubbery? Ya sure I kjnow, it’s not the best stuff in the world, but if you’re in a pinch it will do, trust me. Am I the only serious wine drinker who feels this way?
Frank
I drink lots of cheap wine and Gallo tastes pretty good to me. I gave up the night train though. It was just too much. And I’ve never been able to acquire a taste for white port either.
Comment by Jay K — May 4, 2008 @ 10:09 am
Gallo has improved in the past few years. So have Mondavi, Beringer and many other previously undrinkable swill wines. I doubt it’s by choice but rather because, overall, palates for wines and wine drinking are improving and continuing to produce utter crap threatens the bottom line.
Comment by Adam S — May 7, 2008 @ 9:38 am
In Italy a decent bottle of wine (.75 Liter) costs around $ 4 or 5. I have never understood why Californian and Australian wines are so expensive. I have drunk Gallo wine sometimes when I was in the US and it tastes o.k., if not great. The reason why people laugh is probably that they know nothing about wines and think it has to cost a lot in order to be good.
Comment by Maria Rosa V — May 10, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
Gallo was really one of the first American wineries to really advertise and become a house-hold name. With that came the image of being mass produced and, thus, inferior. Much of that was unfair, and I believe they’ve gotten better over the years (as I think the general state of winemaking in the US has). But that image and reputation has kinda stuck a bit.
Comment by John R — May 11, 2008 @ 1:51 am
Gallo is the largest producer of wine in the USA and most wine drinkers started drinking Gallo or
Martini and Rossi. Gallo produces from the low end to the hi end as a cabernet to a merlot.
Comment by wyman w — May 13, 2008 @ 12:46 pm
travelbud383 – you probably know that the price of wines is inflated and to able to get a 6$ jug of wine is actually a good value ’cause the wine isn’t bad. You’ve probably paid more for worse wine.
I am often in Spain & Italy and buy my wines in bulk. I take my 5 liter jugs to the shop and have them filled and buy at anywhere from 1 to 3 Euro a liter of what ever I want (from what is available).
Let everyone talk bad about the Gallo and you continue to drink it. Next time you have friends over pour some into a few decanters and put them on the table and wait for the comments. Don’t say a word just wait for the comments.
PS – I wouldn’t refer to the Gallo as a cheap wine but as an inexpensive wine.
Comment by Genius Cook — May 16, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
i love gallo family wines!
the mescado is the best out there in my opinion.
pooh on the wine snobs who shun it. it’s a staple when i go to the store for wine.
i’m not one of those high end wine drinkers. mainly bcse i can’t afford it. the most i ever paid for a bottle was $20. i have found plenty of very good wines under $20.
i buy what tastes good and that i can afford.
again pooh on the snobs who shun it!
Comment by nataliexoxo — May 17, 2008 @ 1:18 am
Well I’m sure not a wine enthusiast or a snob but I use Gallo for cooking all the time. It has a ***** cap so it keeps well for the next recipe. I don’t think I would serve by the glass to my friends though.
Comment by dENISE D — May 19, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
I am a wine afficionado, and former label rep for Gallo.
Gallo got put on the map of the wine world for its very cheap, very bad quality wine, the same time as mondavi was getting going. they primarily dealt with bulk wine shipments across the country as far backs prohibition. In one word, that wine was considered nasty. Thunderbird comes to mind.
When Gina Gallo, the daughter, went out on her own and started up Gallo of Sonoma, things started to change. They do some pretty amazing stuff up there with Zin, Cab and Chard.
The Twin Valley that you refer to is one step above Two Buck Chuck to me. The other equivalent to the wine you tried is the Woodbridge line from Mondavi. About the same sort of average C+ or B- wine to me. I wouldn’t turn it down at a party, but for a couple bucks more a bottle I could get a little bit more decent wine from Kendall-Jackson, Fetzer, etc.
I actually don’t laugh at Gallo at all. They aren’t the #1 wine producer in the world for nothing….
So I do completely agree with you good in a pinch or if it is my only choice, but if a few more dollars is there, I would buy something else.
Comment by Lisa H — May 21, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
This is not your daddy’s Gallo. Fifteen years ago Gallo had a reputation for making cheap jug wines. Just as the American pallet has improved, so has the quality of Gallo, along with most, if not all, every other American wine producer.
Comment by Nihl_of_Brae — May 24, 2008 @ 10:06 am
i drink box wines sometimes, they are good and under 20.
have you ever drank Keller Geister wine?
Comment by marisa tee — May 26, 2008 @ 12:16 pm