Interview: Gallo Chief Commercial Officer Britt West

Britt West, the veteran Gallo executive who previously helmed the drinks giant’s spirits business, was promoted to chief commercial officer last September, overseeing the full commercial range of the Gallo portfolio. West has played a key role in Gallo’s development into the third-largest spirits marketer in the U.S. by volume at an estimated 37 million cases, according to Impact Databank, propelled by the runaway success of 25-million-case RTD brand High Noon. 

But Gallo is of course best known for wine, leading the U.S. market by a wide margin at an estimated 85 million cases. Its Barefoot brand is the second-largest wine label in the market by volume at 15 million cases, while La Marca Prosecco—at 3.4 million cases—is now by far the biggest sparkling wine brand in retail value terms at an estimated $700 million, well ahead of second-ranked Veuve Clicquot. SND executive editor Daniel Marsteller recently met with West to discuss progress within the Gallo portfolio and key priorities looking into the second half of the year and beyond. 

SND: What’s going well within the portfolio?

West: The things working well are things that have strong brand differentiation, know who their consumer is, and are able to target and focus and win. One example on the spirits side is (spicy Tequila-based shot brand) Gran Malo (30% abv, $20 a 750-ml.), which was founded by Casa Lumbre in Mexico. We started with it in California last year, and it is absolutely on fire across California, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado. Chicago is also performing at a very high level. Same with VMC in the RTD space. Both of those have a highly focused Mexican-American consumer, and therefore you can very effectively use data, use targeted retailers, and focus in.

La Marca Prosecco is now a top-10 beverage alcohol SKU. That shows the continued consumer interest in sparkling at particular price points. And again, it’s connecting with the target consumer. Vibe (a fruit-flavored, wine-based label packaged in Tetra Paks) is doing very well for us. I don’t think consumers see it as wine-based. They just see it as a single-serve cocktail-style beverage. We’ve got work that’s going out now in the 200-ml. Tetra space, which allows the consumer to drink by-the-glass on a higher frequency, and creates an opportunity in c-stores, sporting events, music festivals. Even brands like Barefoot—where it had seemed growth would be hard to find for a few years—had velocity growth last year and we’re seeing that momentum continue in 2025.

SND: Are there any areas where you’re looking to fill gaps in the portfolio?

West: We need to continue to work on the red side of our portfolio. With the strength of Whitehaven, Nobilo, and others, we have white-focused brands that have really found a connection, as have our sparkling brands. Even a turnaround brand like Clos du Bois—this summer it will be at the U.S. Open of tennis.

Our acquisition of Hahn with the Pinot Noir SKU and Smith & Hook Cabernet continues to present opportunities, but we can continue to expand on the red side of the portfolio, because from a recruitment standpoint, we understand that not everybody comes into wine the exact same way, and may need a different brand proposition.

SND: What price points are you most attuned to in wine currently?

West: Everybody has a job to do if wine starts at $18 by the glass on a menu. When wine by-the-glass is closer to parity with a cocktail and beer within a beverage program, you see a significant increase in velocity. We know the data suggests consumers drink across all categories, so people are making the trade-off based on price. It’s similar in terms of bottle prices at retail to by-the-glass on-premise. That $10 to $15 space is where a good piece of the action exists.

SND: Do you see opportunity in the low- and no-alcohol wine segment?

West: Yes, but it matters how you get to low-alcohol. If you’re spinning out the alcohol it can destroy mouthfeel and lead to a blander product. I don’t think that’s the answer. Ecco Domani is a good example of a brand for which we pick higher-altitude grapes with lower sugar, and therefore we have a lower-abv Pinot Grigio, but the mouthfeel and complexity is still there. And we’re seeing that it does resonate.

We’ll have more with Gallo CCO Britt West in the second part of this interview.

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