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Our History
The Historic Galleano Winery was founded in 1927 by Domenico Galleano. The winery complex remains largely unchanged today.
Galleano is the oldest Prohibition-era winery in the Cucamonga Valley still owned by the
family and operating at it’s original location.
The winery is proud to be recognized as a Riverside County Historic Landmark, a State of California Point of Historic Interest and to be listed in the National Register of
Historic Places.
Galleano Winery
John, Angelo and Domenico circa 1940 in front of the original shop building
Nino and Domenico Galleano in front of Cantu-Galleano House (1939)
Galleano Winery is located in Mira Loma’s Wineville area and is still much the same as it was in 1927 when the Galleano family purchased the land. The winery is located at the southern fringe of the Cucamonga Valley, made famous for winegrowing by Secondo Guasti, who like Domenico came from northern Italy’s Piedmonte region. The name means foot of the mountains and would be appropriate to Cucamonga, an alluvial plain that sweeps down from the eastern reaches of the San Gabriel Mountains.
In the 1940’s there were more than 45,000 acres devoted to vineyards in the area, and approximately 60 wineries.
The Galleano family is honored that the Landmark Cantu-Galleano Ranch complex is listed on the California and National Register of Historic Places.
Wineville Road facing West-Cantu/Galleano outbuildings
1928
The Cantu ranch consisted of a two-story house, built in the late 1890’s, a large barn, smaller out buildings and a vineyard, most of which remain today.
The vineyards prospered under the direction and hard work of Domenico. Using a mule team and a Fresno earth scraper, he expanded the vineyard, burying the vine cuttings and other scrap vegetation in the hollows carved by the wind and then having the mules drag a covering of sand from the dunes. Domenico Galleano contributed a lasting legacy of soil preservation with the invention of the Noble Blade and the co-founding of the West End Resource Conservation District.
Domenico cared for his family, tended his fields and made wine all the rest of his life at the winery on Wineville Road. He guided his family through the Great Depression, Prohibition and the Great Recession. Friends and family members remember the hospitality that waited for them all as they met at the ranch during those times. The ranch was again a safe haven, a place to seek refuge, a place to renew the spirit.
Esteban Cantu and Domenico Galleano had many common threads, conviction, honesty, integrity and inner strength. Each man was dedicated to his family, country and chosen way of life.
The Cantu-Galleano ranch is a story of two men. One young man involved in the Mexican Revolution seeking a safe haven for his family and continued with another young man seeking a better standard of living, fleeing the economic depression of Italy’s Piedmont Region. The former became a great statesman and governor of Baja California Norte; the latter would live 95 years to see his dream passed on to his son Nino and grandson Donald.
Nino in front of vinegar shed (1940)
Galleano Winery (1950)
