I cannot believe I am about to admit this…. If you’re not sitting down, you might want to do so, since if you know me, while I’m girly, I’ve been told I’m also “high maintenance.” And if by that you mean, exceptionally meticulous and exacting, then you’re right.
Brand loyalty and disloyalty is bred into Southern women. We choose not to date some men because after getting a peek at their choice of toilet paper, we know there is no way we’ll bring them around to using the right brand… no matter what. And let’s not even get into the mayonnaise debate.
Point is that when it comes to food and beverage, brand loyalty starts at a young age. Hence why you rarely find a household where one drinks Coke and the other Pepsi. (Despite the fact that they are both wrong… It’s Only Dr. Pepper)
This also means that brand disloyalty is also bred into us. I refer to the mayonnaise debate, which if you’re not familiar, I suggest reading Sean of the South’s explanation.
So, I grew up where only those less than admirable individuals (and likely not Christians) bought Gallo wine. And you were taught to stay away from those that had a jug of wine… even if that’s the only wine you could buy in the small town where you spent your summers.
But I actually found a Gallo Family wine I enjoy. However, I shall not disappoint my friends who have a bourgeoise image of me… you can’t buy this wine where you find most other Gallo wines.
Thanks to Jason at the Red Barn Winery and Tasting Room in Hubbard, Texas (not to far from where I spent my summers) I blindly tasted Gallo’s Sweet Grapefruit Rose (yes, it’s marketed without the accented é). I did guess the grapefruit correctly, but not the vineyard.
So imagine my surprise when I joked I’d have to pick some up from the liquor store and was told that wasn’t going to happen. Not just because, well, Hubbard, TX doesn’t have a liquor store, but even heading over to Waco or back to Dallas I wasn’t going to find it. It’s a distributor exclusive – meaning I’ll have to have a restaurant license to buy it. Or hope I can talk Theresa who sat at the end of the bar that night into letting me raid her fridge.
Now, you can order it online from some of the specialty wine clubs, or according to Total Wine I can pick it up in Lafayette, LA (which is a mere 6 hour drive from home). So, I’m glad I enjoyed a full pour when I finished my tasting.
Lucky for me the next one that Jason sprung on me I can find a little more readily – though according to a web search, it’s only available randomly at some stores in the metroplex.
Gallo’s Sweet Peach White Wine was good, but after the Grapefruit, the delicate peach, which I took for nectarine just wasn’t as good.
Personally, I’d turn this into a white sangria, with some fresh peaches and strawberries.
Final Thoughts
So, should I be ashamed to admit I liked a Gallo wine? Maybe, but to be honest, the winery has worked hard to remove the stigma they created when they first started producing wine. And I’ve actually been to a wine dinner for Gallo wines. They were good. Not as good as the Grapefruit Rose.
Am I converted? No, I’m not. I will still only continue to buy Gallo wines to make sangria’s or spiced wines, but let’s be honest – I do believe you shouldn’t cook with anything you wouldn’t drink. If you are going to drink them, do it on the porch while the sun sets and you cool off from the heat of the day. And maybe decant them into a nice carafe so the neighbors don’t see the label and make sure you recycle them at the bottom of the bin.
