Gallo wants to build bottling plant in South Carolina

E. & J. Gallo plans to build a new bottling plant in South Carolina, a facility that would serve as Gallo’s main hub in eastern Mississippi, according to several reports.

The world’s largest wine company plans to build the factory on more than 600 acres in Fort Lawn, Chester County, in an area that was once known for its textile factories, according to several sources. Fort Lawn is about 45 minutes south of Charlotte Douglas International Airport and an hour north of Columbia, SC.

Modesto-based Gallo plans to invest more than $ 400 million over the next eight years and hire nearly 500 employees, Rob Donoho, head of Gallo’s global chain functions, told state legislators in South Carolina on March 9. It would only be the first of the five phases, Donoho noted.

“This is really the goal of being our home on the East Coast for the Gallo enterprise for decades and decades,” said Donoho.

The plant, which could be reached by rail, would be designed to bottle wines in various formats, such as glass, cans, bag-in-box and small plastic bottles, according to Donoho. It will also be a storage and distribution center for bottled wine in California and shipped to Chester County, according to the presentation by Donoho. The company could also produce its own cans on site, said Donoho.

Gallo, an importer and exporter, also plans to “double or triple” the operation in the port of Charleston, according to Donoho.

No schedule was provided. Donoho and other representatives also spoke of the company’s commitment.

“We really want to come to South Carolina. There has been a tremendous verification process,” said Donoho to the South Carolina Senate subcommittee, which is considering a bill to allow Gallo to have up to four satellite tasting rooms for purposes educational and marketing. “We are very close to closing the deal,” he said.

Donoho cited the economic and environmental benefits of having the plant in South Carolina, as around 70 percent of its customers are on the East Coast.

“Being a producer of wine grapes on the West Coast puts us at a logistical disadvantage in bringing the products to our consumers,” said Donoho. Sending “heavy” glass bottles and cardboard across the country, he said, was “very expensive”.

Instead, it is “much cheaper” for the company to ship its wine to the East Coast and obtain the glass and other packaging locally, said Donoho. “There is a tremendous logistical advantage in doing this.”

Donoho also noted the “sustainability” benefit of “not burning so much fuel to bring the product to consumers”.

Other state benefits would include revenue from the supply chain and demand for road transport services, according to the presentation. In addition, the satellite tasting rooms that Gallo wants to open can stimulate tourism, said Donoho and others.

The minimum wage in South Carolina is $ 7.25 / hour.

Among the factors that led Gallo to choose South Carolina to build his “home on the East Coast”, Donoho cited the favorable business climate in South Carolina, its location in the port of Charleston and SC Ready, a professional training program sponsored by the state. “It is really one of the things that attracted us to the state,” he said.

Donoho addressed the subcommittee while the state legislature considered S. 619, a bill that would allow Gallo to have up to four satellite tasting rooms in the state. Gallo’s representatives consider the provision to be a “critical” point for the company’s coming to the state. The tasting rooms will be a marketing and educational tool and will create brand awareness, said Donoho. Their locations for the tasting rooms, which could be between 800 and 1,200 square feet, according to Donoho, were not specified.

South Carolina’s top elected officials, including Governor Henry McMaster, strongly supported the Gallo project in Chester County.

In a March 9 letter to state lawmakers, McMaster asked for support for S. 619. Gallo was “very close to announcing a $ 400 million capital investment in Chester County that will create nearly 500 jobs,” McMaster wrote. The investment will “transform the community and contribute a lot to South Carolina’s economic prosperity”.

E. & J. Gallo, he wrote, “is a well-respected family business, with products that are distributed around the world.”

South Carolina state senator Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, expressed support for Gallo, mentioning the jobs that could be created. “We are looking forward to having them,” said Hutto, referring to Gallo.

The Senate Judiciary subcommittee was scheduled to meet again on Thursday on S. 619. The current state wine law does not address satellite tasting rooms. The legislation was drafted after the South Carolina Department of Commerce, which is helping Gallo to come to the state, approached the Department of Revenue to define the next steps, according to testimony before the state Senate Judiciary Subcommittee.

The state Department of Commerce has applied to the US Army Corps of Engineers for a license to build the factory. The construction would require the filling of about 1 acre of wetlands and about 8,000 feet of tributaries, according to the public notice. The environmental assessment of the project is in progress, according to the federal agency.

Gallo’s name was not mentioned as the candidate behind the Fort Lawn project until recently.

The financial agreement between Gallo and the local authorities has also not been revealed. The Chester County Council discussed the project, code-named “Project Magma”, in closed-door sessions.

Secrecy did not go well with Michael McLain, who lives near where the proposed Gallo facility can be built. He discovered the identity of his potential new neighbor through the U.S. Corps of Engineers, he said. “You are not looking out for us,” McLain told the Chester County Council early March.

The plant will “crush the value of my property and my home and it will irritate me as hell every morning and every night for being across the street, lighting up my house and getting out of it,” McLain said.

This week, however, a manager at The Wagon Wheel restaurant in Fort Lawn said the Gallo plant would bring jobs to the community.

The South Carolina Department of Commerce and a Gallo representative declined to provide further details about the company’s plans for South Carolina.

“AND. & J. Gallo Winery is constantly reviewing its business strategic options in order to meet growing global demand; to that end, we are exploring potential operational investment opportunities on the east coast. Nothing is finished at this stage and we have no specifications at this time, however, we continue to explore strategic options in our business, as we plan for the future, ”said Gallo representative Natalie Hoch Henderson by email.