[5] On June 14, 1933, Ernest Gallo filed an application with the Prohibition administration to open a bonded wine storeroom in San Francisco.

Ernest and Julio then took steps to bond a winery in the name of their newly formed partnership, E & J Gallo.

Their father's estate owned both the grape growing and shipping businesses as well as the vineyards required to establish a winery, at that juncture.

[8] The brothers learned the craft of commercial winemaking by reading old, pre-Prohibition pamphlets published by the University of California which they retrieved from the basement of the Modesto Public Library.

[5] Ernest and Julio were the first to introduce brand management and modern merchandising to the wine industry, and led the way in bringing new products to store shelves.

(One of these helped to popularize "Hymne", composed and performed by Vangelis, by featuring it as background music in some of its television commercials.

[15] In 2002 E & J Gallo purchased the Louis M. Martini Winery, giving the company its first Napa Valley location.

[17] In 2011, E & J Gallo sold Hornsby's hard cider to the C&C Group for an undisclosed amount[18] and partnered with Boisset Collection to purchase the Mondavi estate.

[23] for an adjusted price agreement of $1.1B, of which $250 million is an earnout if brand performance provisions are met over a two-year period after closing.

In April 2009, the California State Water Resources Control Board served Gallo Glass Co. (a Gallo Winery subsidiary) with a cease and desist order and $73,000 fine[31] for allegedly channeling water from the Russian River into an unlicensed reservoir;[31] however, there are provisions for licensing the reservoir under proper monitoring of flow and capacity.

E & J Gallo would use the dust collected by its air pollution control devices, and introduce it in the components of their glass bottles during production.

[45] Gallo filed a cease-and-desist order[46][47] in April 2009 against "The Spanish Table", a Seattle-based specialty food retailer, for carrying the pasta despite the previous agreement with the maker.

[48] In October 2019, a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of California claimed Gallo used patented technology without a license to develop their irrigation system.

An estimated 10,000 workers and supporters of the UFW marched 100 miles over the course of a week to the Gallo winery in Modesto.

[51] The boycott against Gallo was called off by the UFW in 1978 after the union felt it had improved workers' rights of representation in labor disputes.

[54] In addition to the Gallo Family Vineyards brand, the company makes, markets, and distributes wine under more than 100 other labels.