Ernest Gallo, creator of wine empire, dies

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Ernest Gallo, the marketing genius who parlayed $5,900 and a wine recipe from the Modesto Public Library into the world's largest winemaking empire, died Tuesday at his home in Modesto. He was 97.

"He passed away peacefully this afternoon surrounded by his family," said Susan Hensley, vice president of public relations for E.& J. Gallo Winery.

Gallo, who would have been 98 on March 18, was born near Modesto, a then-sleepy San Joaquin Valley town about 80 miles east of San Francisco.

He and his late brother and business partner grew up working in the vineyard owned by their immigrant father who came to America from Italy's famed winemaking region of Piedmont.