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.  Cucamonga means "sandy place" and is represented appropriately as an alluvial plain that sweeps down from the eastern banks of the San Gabriel Mountains.

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In the 1940’s there were more than 45,000 acres devoted to vineyards in the area, and approximately 60 wineries.

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Colonel Esteban Cantu was born on November 27, 1880, in Linares, Nuevo Leon, Mexico to a family of descendants from conquistadores who arrives in 1570 from the Spanish region of Navarra.

He attended the Colegio Militar de Chapultepec, the oldest military school in the western hemisphere, established by Hernan Cortez. Upon graduation in 1889, Col. Cantu dedicated his life to serving his country. 

Colonel Estaban Cantu became the first territorial governor of Baja California Norte, and was an extraordinary military officer. He was a visionary who had an unusual capacity to understand and extend compassion for others. In 1911, the Federal army sent Cantu to Mexicali, Baja California to colonize and protect the territory. He quickly declared Baja California as neutral territory and implemented educational and economic reforms. One of his most outstanding accomplishments during his time as governor was road construction through the mountains that joined the desert and coastal regions.

In 1913 Col. Cantu married Ana Carlit Dato Feliz, a member of a prominent Sonoran and early Californian cattle ranching family. Mr. & Mrs. Estaban Cantu had five children.

In the 1920's, the national power fell into the hands of a political trio: Obregon, Calles, and Rodriguez. The Cantu's power and independence was in grave danger and Cantu exiled himself to the United States. Once in the states, Cantu purchased the ranch in Mira Loma. It was used as a means to provide his soldiers, who in the tradition of good cavalrymen, were now vaqueros. His most trusted friend, Lt. Luis Parma and his family, were assigned as caretakers of the ranch. The Parma's remained in the Riverside area to become very prominent in business and politics.

Many times, the ranch served as a safe haven for friends fleeing the Mexican revolution. There was abundant game for hunting, and plenty of land for vegetable and herb gardens, vineyards for wine production, and a small dairy herd. The Cantu children have vivid and fond memories of the ranch and its vaqueros.

Colonel Esteban Cantu later decided to return to Mexico. Upon making this decision, he sold the ranch to the Galleano family. Colonel Cantu later followed mining interests until he was elected first constitutional Senator in 1956 of the newly proclaimed State of Baja California. He became a legend in Mexicali, Baja California and passed away on March 15, 1966.

 

Domenico Galleano was born October 17, 1888, in Magliano Alpi, a village between Genoa and Torino in the Cuneo Region of Piedmont in the Alps of northern Italy. Because of the economic depression and political climate in his beloved Italy, he, his wife and family, including brothers, emigrated to the United States in 1913. He came to the United States with knowledge learned from generations of winegrowers and dreamed of continuing his family's traditions in the New World. The Galleano's settled in Los Angeles, where on March 11, 1914, a son Bernard "Nino" was born to Domenico and Lucia Galleano. Domenico and his brothers, Angelo and John, worked hard and prospered, farming and investing in several small parcels of real estate. In 1927, Domenico and Lucia, welcomed daughter, Madalenna. During that time, they also purchased the Cantu ranch which included 160 acres of good Mira Loma farmland. Domenico's brothers, Angelo and John, continued to farm the Bonita Ranch in Los Angeles, California. The Cantu ranch consisted of the 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 Galleano. Using a mule team and a Fresno earth scrapper, he expanded the vineyard by burying vine cuttings and other vegetation in the hollows carved by the wind and then having the mules drag a covering of sand from the dunes. Domenico 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 Galleano Winery on Wineville Road. He guided his family trough the Great Depression, Prohibition and the Great Recession. Friends and family members remember the hospitality that waited for them during those times as they would gather at the ranch.

The Cantu-Galleano Ranch once again, was a safe haven, a place to seek refuge, and a place to continuously 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 continuing with another young man seeking a better standard of living by fleeing the economic depression of Italy's Piedmont Region. Both men, leaving a legacy and many traditions to be carried out for generations.

 

Domenico Galleano would go on to live 95 years and to see his dream passed down to his son Bernard "Nino" Domenico Galleano. The legacy continued on to his grandson Donald Domenic Galleano and great-grandson Domenic Bernard Galleano. Domenic is fourth generation and current winemaker of Galleano Winery who continues to tend the land and make wine in the tradition of the generations before him. 

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