Gallo: Godfathers of Wine | Thunderbird | 4

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s the 1940s and as American soldiers battle the Axis powers overseas, Ernest and Julio Gallo fulfill lucrative government contracts for jet fuel ingredients made out of ethyl alcohol, known as "torpedo juice.” They also make a risky wager on the volatile grape market. When peace comes, the Gallo brothers pour their wartime windfall into developing the most aggressive and controversial sales techniques in the industry.

Towards the end of the 1950s Ernest Gallo creates a blockbuster new product aimed at black, urban consumers. Thunderbird — beloved by winos everywhere — rockets Gallo to the top, but drives a wedge between the high-minded winemaker Julio Gallo and his bottom-line obsessed brother, Ernest.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars at free on Amazon music.
0:04.6	Download the app today.
0:07.0	It's July 1942 in Modesto, California.
0:20.6	Julio Gallo walks into his brother Ernest's office in a checkered suit in cowboy boots.
0:26.2	The government wants industrial strength alcohol to make tires for tanks.
0:30.1	I get that.
0:31.3	Julio catches the end of Ernest's phone conversation.
0:33.9	But am I going to let Seagram steal our government contract to make this torpedo juice?
0:38.6	Hell no.
0:39.6	We'll make it right here.
0:41.0	End of story.
0:43.6	Ernest looks up from the notes he's making on his call.
0:46.6	Julio, give me a minute.
0:48.6	Julio realizes he's clenching his jaw.
0:51.3	Last summer, he spent four months in a sanitarium after a nervous breakdown thanks in part
0:55.5	to Ernest's shady schemes.
0:58.2	So he's keeping a closer eye on his brother.
1:01.2	What was that all about?
1:03.0	Ernest tosses down his pen.
1:04.4	Oh, that guy in Washington is pestering me to send our brandy stills to Kentucky so
1:08.8	the distillers can make effil alcohol for the war effort.
1:12.6	Julio nods.
	...

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