Given that, his historic Galleano Winery seems out winemaker of place among the encroaching industrial buildings and freeways. 

"This was the largest wine grape region in the country earlier in the century," Galleano said. "There were about 35,000 acres of vineyards. There is only about 1,000 acres left today." 

Galleano is determined to preserve the tradition his grandfather Domenico Galleano started when he bought the home of Baja California Gov. Esteban Cantu in 1927. 

His Mira Loma winery is the largest in the valley; it produces 1.5 million bottles of wine a year. Now, it's listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. 

As part of his commitment, the 45-year-old, third-generation wine maker is expanding his operation into Fontana. 

Although Galleano has harvested grapes from two Fontana vineyards for years, he recently purchased a 47-acre parcel from Walter and Ruth Nichols. The Nichols Ranch is between Citrus and Oleander avenues in south Fontana. He also leases the San Sevine Ranch in north Fontana. 

Workers last week plowed under weeds, reinstalled the irrigation system and planted rooted cuttings of Zinfandel grapes at the Nichols Ranch. 

"We will have a special label on it designating that the grapes are from the Nichols Ranch," Galleano said. "We're growing two varieties there -- Zinfandel and Mourvedre -- both reds." 

Gino Filippi, vice president of Joseph Filippi Winery in Rancho Cucamonga, said Galleano's award-winning wine is respected by experts around the state. 

"Don Galleano makes a very good wine," agreed Joe Bono, whose family also has a winemaking tradition in the valley. "I would say his wine is comparable if not superior to wines in Northern California." 

"Fontana can be proud that we're making high-quality wine in the valley," Galleano said. "We're dedicated to preserving what our pioneering forefathers started." 

Filippi, whose 93-year-old grandfather Joseph planted vineyards in the valley in 1922, said the type of soil here is suited for growing grapes because it drains well and discourages diseases from taking hold on the vines. 

Bono, owner of Bono's Restaurant and deli on Foothill Boulevard in Fontana and the grandson of one of the valley's original wine makers, said the loss of the vineyards in Fontana and the valley is a tragedy. 

"It was called Grapeland," he said. "It was a bucolic, pastoral rural scene -- sort of calming. You weren't making much money, but it was beautiful. All the ranchers kept beautiful, well-tended vineyards." 

The history of wine making in the valley dates back to the 1880s when settlers planted vineyards in what was a dry, barren place of high sand dunes. 

Around the turn of the century, the valley became a haven for Italian, French, Spanish and Croatian immigrants seeking to perpetuate the wine cultures of their homelands. 

"My grandfather was a latecomer to the area when he planted vineyards in 1926," Bono said. "I'm not bragging, but I believe these were the best grapes in the world at the time. They were not irrigated, and they had extremely high sugar content, and the quality was there. 

"When you drank the Zinfandel, it tasted like grape juice. It was just deliciously sweet. When you've got 28 percent sugar, you've got 40-proof wine. It would hit you like whiskey. A little glass of that, and your eyes were spinning." 

Domenico Galleano fled the economic depression in the Piedmont region of Italy for the United States in 1913. As a young man, Esteban Cantu was seeking a safe haven for his family from the Mexican Revolution. 

Their paths crossed when Galleano purchased Cantu's ranch. Don Galleano now lives with his wife, Charlene, and family in the two-story house, kept largely in its original condition. 

During Prohibition, from 1919 to 1933, heads of households throughout the country were permitted to make up to 200 gallons of wine a year for personal use. 

Cucamonga region supplied the country, especially the East Coast, with grapes by the train load. 

The era also saw the rise of bootleggers. 

"Some of these people secretly made stills," Bono said. "Whiskey and brandy were illegal. You can go into some of these old house -- like Al Capone's house (in Fontana) -- where there is a secret cellar for making alcohol. When (you put fermented product) in a still, the (wine) turns into very powerful alcohol -- 180 proof. 

One of the most colorful bootlegging stories Bono remembers is that of a man known as "Mr. Joe" or "Mr. Amendola." His real name was Luigi Gugino. 

One day during Prohibition, a black limousine pulled up at Base Line road and Sultana Avenue, and men wearing overcoats and fedora hats told "Mr. Joe," "Excuse me, you're infringing on our territory in L.A." 

"He didn't stop," Bono said. "The second time they came out, they threw him to the ground, shot him six or eight times, squashed his face and left him for dead." 

With blood all over, Gugino asked two "old maids" across the street for help. Shocked, they refused. He drove to a hospital in San Bernardino where doctors told "Mr. Joe" they couldn't save him. 

"He lived until the 1960s," Bono said. "He was almost 90 when he died chopping wood. 

"When I was a kid he'd come down, and after a few too many glasses of wine, he'd take off his shirt and show us his bullet holes. They never took the bullets out. He'd drink a gallon of 40-proof wine. He'd finish that old gallon by himself and drive home straight as an arrow in his Model T and be up for work at 5 a.m." 

Galleano said it is the stories, the history and the tradition that keep him in the business. 

"We're committed to preserving the winery," he said. "We'll have a foundation set up to make sure this place lives on for another three generations."