1978 Ernest & Julio Gallo ''Limited Release'' Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon

Bid on this 3-bottle lot of 1978 Ernest & Julio Gallo ''Limited Release'' Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine represents one of the California wine giant's first efforts to surface from the lake of bulk "red blend wine, " and name some of their ongoing sources of great wine--many of the best coming from Sonoma County--in a varietal wine. In a 1992 article for Sun Sentinal, By Bob Hosmon noted: "Carmen Castorina, Gallo`s company communications director, says the first vintage-dated, varietal wine from Gallo was the 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by a vintage chardonnay in 1983. Priced at $5 a bottle, both were made 'according to Julio Gallo`s philosophy of wine making, ' Castorina says, 'so that the varietal character of the grape comes out in the wine."