![]() For live promotions, a girl in a skimpy Indian outfit, billed as “Princess Thunderbird,” schmoozed with retailers and handed out free drinks. The radio spots, featuring the now-famous “What’s the word?” jingle, played in every major market in the country. Thunderbird, the ad implied, was the drink that movie stars and high-rollers asked for. The ads were filmed at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas. Actor Cesar Romero, famous as The Cisco Kid (and later as The Joker on TV’s “Batman”), pitched Thunderbird in television commercials. Gallo spent lavishly on a media blitz announcing the rollout of Thunderbird. And, last but not least, it was exactly the same as Ford’s hot new sports car introduced in 1955. “That’s it!” Ernest reportedly cried out when he heard it. It was a Gallo sales manager named Albion Fenderson, an amateur scholar of Native-American folklore, who hit on the perfect name: Thunderbird. A few unfortunate incidents involving vehicular damage to the grounds and fisticuffs convinced Ernest to limit the taste-testings to bars far away from winery property.Īt last, with enough customer input, the Gallo brothers hit on the mixture they were sure would become a big seller. Ernest also invited the citizens of Modesto to the winery for free samples in exchange for feedback. ![]() The locals, though suspicious of these well-dressed white guys offering free drinks, claimed to like the product. ![]() They did so, and Ernest took the new product out into the field, to inner-city bars in African-American neighborhoods, offering free samples. He ordered Julio’s team of winemakers to concoct a lemon-flavored wine ASAP. You can almost see the light bulb popping over Ernest Gallo’s head. Customers added the lemon juice or powder to the wine to get the flavor they desired. Their salesmen observed that in inner-city neighborhoods, white port wine was a big seller, and store owners were in the habit of positioning bottles of lemon juice and packets of lemon Kool-Aid next to the wine. This change revolutionized the wine industry.Ĭoincidentally, it was at about this time that two of Ernest Gallo’s sales managers brought him some interesting information. In that year, according to Thomas Pinney’s “History of Wine in America,” federal law regulating the definition of wine was relaxed, allowing vintners to add “natural” flavors to their wine. Still, by the 1950s, they were just one of many California winemakers in the marketplace, profitable enough but of no particular note.īut in 1954, the game changed entirely. Ernest proved to be a shrewd businessman, and Julio showed a flair for designing wines. With Prohibition over, the brothers converted the farm to a winery. (A third son, Joseph Jr., was excluded from ownership, resulting in a nasty lawsuit years later). The farm passed to their two elder sons, Ernest and Julio. Exactly why may never be known, and the Gallo family has had little to say about it in the years since. and his wife, both Italian immigrants, founded a grape farm in 1906, which seemed to prosper until 1933 when Joseph shot his wife to death then killed himself. The Gallo operation started out as a mom-and-pop outfit, quite literally. ![]() But it was Thunderbird that put Gallo on the map and paved the road to empire. ![]() According to Fortune magazine, a quarter of all wine sales in the U.S. Gallo today is the second-largest wine producer in the world and dominates the California wine market. The mightiest of them all, indeed, “The American Classic” as its label proudly boasts, is Thunderbird, a creation of the E & J Gallo Winery of Modesto, California. Of all the vividly-named screw-cap wines (or bum wines, if you prefer) that were born in the 1950s, only a handful survive to this day. Hai Tori, Cherokee, Super Chief: we honor your memo ry. 1957 radio jingle Maverick, Silver Satin, Triple Jack: may you rest in peace. What’s the word? Thunderbird! How’s it sold? Good and cold. ![]()
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