Entrepreneur. He was the co-founder of E & J Gallo Winery, which became the largest exporter of California wines and the largest family-own winery in the United States. His partner was his older brother Julio, who focused on the wine making, whereas he on the shrewd marketing side of the business. Born the son of Assunta "Susie" Bianco and Giuseppe "Joseph", immigrants from Fossarano, Italy, he had a childhood in a Roman Catholic household that spoke Italian and as the second language, English. Since 1906 as Gallo Wine Company, his father and uncle operated as middle men, buying wine from small wineries and selling to local bars and restaurants. On January 16, 1919, the 21st Constitutional Amendment was passed, prohibiting the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States. This law impacted the family's livelihood. During the prohibition years of 1920 to 1933, his father was once charged with making illegal alcohol but the charges were later dropped. His father tried and failed several times to have his own winery business but prohibition halted any legal wine making. He and his brother learned the wine making business first hand from their father. By the 1920s, the family had moved to a farm near Modesto where they cultivated wine grapes, but the Great Depression shattered the family's finances. This may have led to their parents' deaths on June 21, 1933, which were ruled as a murder and suicide. Besides Julio and Ernest, a thirteen-year-old brother, Joseph, survived the ordeal. That same year on September 22nd with a loan from his mother-in-law, the two brothers went into the wine business as E & J Gallo Winery. Their first year's yield was sold for half the going price, making $30,000. The next year there was a 400% increase in wine production. After World War II, their youngest brother, Joseph, a veteran of the war, left the wine business and started a cheese making business using the name Joseph Gallo Cheese. The two brothers sued their younger brother, Joseph, to stop him from using their company's name of Gallo, "claiming trademark infringement," thus in 1988 the cheese business became Joseph's Farm. Although the nasty legal case drove a permanent wedge between the brothers, Joseph's Farm is being managed in the 21st century by the third generation of cheese makers and is an internationally recognized brand. After World War II, the company started marketing to every level of society, using television commercials. In 1957, E & J Gallo Winery developed "Thunderbird," a cheap high-alcohol "ghetto wine", which became a monetary successful wine after selling 32 million gallons annually. The scandalous low-grade Thunderbird wine is still available in the 21st century yet made with a different recipe, a lower alcohol concentration, and without bearing "Gallo" on the label. Eventually, they would upgrade to the Boones Farm Label, then to Hearty Burgundy, and Chablis Blanc. Starting in 1971, Gallo Pink Chablis became the top table wine in America. In 1972, the Gallo brothers were pictured on the cover of "Time" magazine. In 1981 they began producing a premium-quality chardonnay. In the 1980s they introduced Bartle's and Jayme's wine coolers as the health-conscious consumer wanted a low-alcoholic beverage. The company introduced almost a score of wines, taking a quarter of the American market. Their autobiography, "Ernest and Julio: Our Story" was written in 1993, but before it was released, Julio Gallo was killed in a one-car auto accident. He continued the family's wine business after his brother's death and was ranked as 297th of Forbes Magazine's 400 richest Americans in 2006. Ellen Hawkes' 1993 book, "Blood & Wine," goes into the family's history in detail.