Exclusive: Gallo’s Roger Nabedian Retiring After 37-Year Career
October 19, 2023One of the foremost executives in the American wine business is retiring after a 37-year career. Roger Nabedian, long the head of E.&J. Gallo’s premium wine division, will be retiring effective in January. Post-retirement Nabedian will join the Gallo board as a director.
Across his more than three-decade tenure with the world’s largest wine marketer, Nabedian played a key role in Gallo’s transformation into a fully diversified wine group boasting a portfolio of brands at all price tiers of the business. Since 2005, he has led the company’s billion-dollar premium wine division, holding titles of increasing responsibility, culminating in his current role of executive vice president/general manager.
It’s difficult to overstate Gallo’s progress in the premium wine category under Nabedian’s leadership, with growth fueled by both organic growth and an ongoing string of acquisitions. According to Impact Databank’s estimate, Gallo’s portfolio of above-$15 wines numbered less than a million cases in 2005 on a pro forma basis. Now, including its most recent acquisitions, that portfolio has climbed to well over 7 million cases.
In an interview with Wine Spectator in 2020, Nabedian explained that Gallo’s premium portfolio took a leap forward in 2002 when it acquired Napa Valley’s Louis M. Martini. “Any time we do an acquisition there are a few aspects to it,” he said. “There are the assets you acquire, and those are easy to assess: the condition of the vineyards, the winery itself, the brand, and the opportunity it represents. Equally as important—as I’ve learned throughout all the acquisitions and integrations—is the people. We still have people from the Martini acquisition that work for us today and are active members of our team at a high level. So that Martini acquisition, moving Gallo out of a real Sonoma focus into Napa, set a path that allowed us to think more broadly and start expanding our footprint to more winegrowing areas around the world. It was the start of a 20-year evolution.”
That expansion has continued right up to the present, with Gallo making more premium acquisitions in recent months. Most prominently, the company purchased California Chardonnay powerhouse Rombauer Vineyards for an undisclosed sum in late August. That was preceded by an acquisition of Hahn Family Wines on the Central Coast in June. Prior to that, Nabedian helmed a longer-term acquisition drive that included such additions as Orin Swift, J Vineyards, Talbott, Pahlmeyer, and Napa Valley’s Stagecoach Vineyard among many others.
The premium import portfolio at Gallo has also expanded markedly during Nabedian’s tenure. The company has assembled a stable of iconic brands from Italy such as Allegrini, Pieropan, Jermann, and Renato Ratti in its luxury unit. “There was an opportunity to partner with other wineries in Italy, where we had been doing business for over 20 years, in order to expand our significance with our partner distributors and customers,” Nabedian told Wine Spectator.
Also on the import side, Gallo has become the leader in sparkling wine in the U.S. through its La Marca Prosecco brand, a 3-million-case label that leads all imported wines within the $15 and over segment in the U.S. and is projected to be among the top five labels in dollar terms by year-end.
Propelled by all of that growth at the premium tier—with Nabedian as a driving force—Gallo’s total volume has soared to above 100 million cases globally, according to Impact Databank, more than twice that of its closest competitor.
With Nabedian’s retirement, Gallo’s Luxury business unit (under Joe C. Gallo) and International business unit (under Bill Roberts) will report directly to company president and CEO Ernest Gallo.—Daniel Marsteller
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