Third-generation California wine grower and artisan winemaker Gina Gallo of E. & J. Gallo Winery will keynote the 2018 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium opening luncheon on Jan. 23 at Sacramento.

“As a member of one of America’s historic winemaking families, Gina embodies a sense of tradition, family legacy, craft and business acumen that transcends generations and inspires future growth amongst colleagues,” says John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers or CAWG, an event co-organizer along with the American Society for Enology and Viticulture or ASEV.

Gallo oversees the Gallo Signature Series and Ernest & Julio Gallo Estate wines. She's engaged with the Gallo family’s premier estate vineyards in Napa, Sonoma and Monterey counties.

As senior director of winemaking, Gallo views winemaking as a creative expression of the land and the unique qualities of a specific vintage. Her values stem from her family’s entrepreneurial history, using her experience and creative vision to craft luxury wines from her favorite blocks from the family’s estate vineyards.

Gallo was a 2016 inductee to the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America. Fortune magazine named her one of the “Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink.” She was ranked No. 17 on Decanter magazine’s “Power List” of the most important men and women in wine.

She is a board member of the American Farmland Trust which works to preserve agricultural land, and Taste of the NFL which raises funds and awareness for food banks and anti-hunger initiatives.

Unified’s first Tuesday keynote luncheon was in 2014 and is now a feature event at Unified.  

The 2018 Unified Symposium will be held Jan. 23-25 at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento.

The Unified event offers information important to wine and grape industry professionals. It also hosts the industry’s largest trade show of its kind with over 650 vendor.

www.unifiedsymposium.org