Ms. Hawkes contended that Joseph Gallo Sr. shot his wife, Susie, to death and then turned the weapon on himself. The deaths were ruled a murder-suicide by the police, but the author reported that the motive was never known.

She argued that it was the elder Mr. Gallo who founded the Gallo Wine Company, in 1909, and that Ernest and Julio simply continued the business. The company's official history, however, said the two sons founded the company outright. It said the two were untutored in winemaking when their parents died and had to learn the art from a booklet they found in a library. A Matter of Pride

The company grew primarily because of the popularity of Gallo's inexpensive wines. The company's success was a matter of fervent pride for both Julio and Ernest Gallo. Fred T. Franzia, a nephew of Ernest who became the president of the Bronco Wine Company, a small rival, once said: "They want to go out being known as the greatest winemakers, as well as the greatest wine marketers."

The bespectacled Julio Gallo was in charge of orchestrating the wines' tastes and controlling production costs. He and his staff got the grapes largely from California growers who had signed long-term contracts with the company.

Under his guidance, the wine business was a technology innovator. It pioneered the use of stainless-steel winemaking vats and computers for wine blending.

Although most of the Gallo wine output is unpretentious, a Gallo vice president, Charles Crawford, once said that when Mr. Gallo began making a premium-quality Chardonnay -- which was introduced in 1981 -- he was so discriminating that half the crushed grapes were rejected.

Mr. Gallo was largely responsible for the company's longtime refusal to turn out vintage wines -- those made from grapes grown in a single winemaking year, or vintage.