E. & J. Gallo Winery has trimmed 20 jobs at its Turner Road winemaking complex in Lodi, easing off part of the grape crush and initial winemaking work as the company recalibrates for softer demand and shifting grape supplies. The Modesto-based firm continues to employ roughly 7,000 people worldwide.
Turner Road Cutbacks
The move was first detailed by industry outlet Wine Business, which reports that Gallo is halting crush operations at its Turner Road West facility while keeping blending, bottling and finished-goods distribution running across the street at Turner Road East. Coverage characterizes the change as a pause of the crush line that handles grapes for independent growers, not a complete shutdown of the Lodi campus.
Gallo's Statement
Gallo said the decision "reflects available capacity in our other wineries" and that workers caught in the cutback have been notified and offered individualized transition support along with a chance to pursue other jobs inside the company, according to the Modesto Bee. Company representatives are pitching the shift as an operational realignment rather than a retreat from Lodi.
Industry Pressure
The backdrop is not exactly rosy for California vineyards. Data from the Wine Institute show reported bearing acreage slipping to 424,032 in 2025 from a 2013 high of 469,790 acres. That pullback has already triggered other cuts in the wine world. Earlier this year the Los Angeles Times reported that Gallo closed a North Bay facility and wiped out about 93 positions across several locations.
Local Fallout
For Stanislaus County and the wider Central Valley, the Lodi reductions land on an already bruised jobs landscape. Bronco Wine Co. shed 227 positions last year and the shutdown of Courtside Cellars erased another 47 jobs, the Modesto Bee reports. Lodi growers are contending with smaller crush volumes and fewer custom-crush buyers, so any loss of local processing capacity threatens to tighten margins further for independent producers.
What Comes Next
Gallo's online jobs portal still lists openings across California, which could give some displaced workers a shot at internal transfers or new roles. Interested applicants can check Gallo Careers for current postings. The company continues to employ about 7,000 people worldwide, according to American Farmland Trust. State and local workforce agencies may help laid-off staff tap benefits and retraining programs, and industry analysts caution that more capacity tweaks could be on the horizon if demand remains sluggish, a trend flagged by the San Francisco Chronicle.
