Night Train Express
| Type | Flavored fortified wine |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | E. & J. Gallo Winery |
| Distributor | E. & J. Gallo Winery |
| Origin | United States |
| Alcohol by volume | 17.5 |
| Proof (US) | 35 |
| Color | Red |
Night Train Express, typically referred to as just Night Train, was a discount, flavored fortified wine produced by E. & J. Gallo Winery in the United States. The wine typically contained 17.5% abv and was fortified with brandy to boost the abv.[1]
The wine was one of the products, along with Thunderbird, which helped Gallo become the top-selling winery in California and eventually the United States.[2]
The wine was discontinued in 2016, after a continual decline in sales since the drink was temporarily pulled from shelves in 1989.[3]
Controversy
Night Train, like all discount, fortified wines, was controversial amongst civic leaders in major cities who often claimed it contributed to vagrancy and public drunkenness of homeless people.[4] The wine has been described as a "cheap way to get drunk fast"[5] and "as usually hidden by brown bags on Tenderloin street corners."[6] Cities like San Francisco and Seattle banned the sale of Night Train in downtown and skid row areas.[7] In 1989, the Gallo winery, as the result of a federal court case, agreed to stop directly marketing Night Train in "skid row" neighborhoods.[1]
Cultural reception
The wine inspired the song Nightrain on the album Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses.[8] The wine is referenced in the song "See You Later", on the album Mic City Sons by indie rock band Heatmiser, the lyric is unchanged in the Elliott Smith rerecorded version from the posthumously released album New Moon. It was repeatedly referenced in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, most notably in a scene in which Joliet Jake finishes a bottle and later proclaims "That Night Train is a mean wine".[9]
See also
References
- ^ a b Mathews, Jay (22 September 1989). "GALLO, REACTING TO PRESSURE, HALTS CHEAP WINE SALES IN 'SKID ROW' AREAS". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ Humes, Edward (22 October 2013). A Man and his Mountain: The Everyman who Created Kendall-Jackson and Became AmericaÕs Greatest Wine Entrepreneur. PublicAffairs. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-61039-285-3. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ Dent, Bryan. "Last Stop for Night Train Express". Modern Drunkard Magazine (63). Retrieved 17 October 2025.
- ^ Veseth, Mike (17 July 2013). Extreme Wine: Searching the World for the Best, the Worst, the Outrageously Cheap, the Insanely Overpriced, and the Undiscovered (19 ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-29753-6.
- ^ Blackburn, Ian; Levine, Allison (21 April 2008). The Learning Annex Presents The Pleasure of Wine. Turner Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-470-33324-2. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ Holmes, Robert (26 December 2012). A Traveller's Wine Guide to California. Interlink Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62371-015-6. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ Murakami, Kery (December 7, 1998). "Alcoholics finding way around ban". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (17 June 2025). Guns N' Roses at 40. Motorbooks. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7603-9399-4. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ Martin, Scott C. (16 December 2014). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Alcohol: Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives. SAGE Publications. p. 1404. ISBN 978-1-4833-3108-9. Retrieved 5 September 2025.