In 1989, on the realization that America’s taste buds were heating up, Gil Tortolani opened up Gil’s Gourmet Gallery and Hot Shop on California Monterey's historic Cannery Row. Hot Shops, in those days, were a new thing: shops dedicated to making and/or selling specialty hot sauces. Gil’s was one of the original Hot Shops in the nation, offering up rare treats like Gil’s XXXtra Hot Garlic Salsa, one of the world’s hottest salsas at the time, featuring habañeros and garlic fresh from neighboring Gilroy. The business quickly evolved into a combination Hot Shop/Wine Tasting Room, where customers could try adventurous new food and wine combos.

“We started stuffing jalapeños and olives and soaking them in chardonnay, and letting people taste them with the wine. This did so well that we started making other products, like wine-soaked cherries in chocolate for instance. We put heavy red zinfandel in salsa and we started having tastings. People loved it.”

In 1993 Gil closed the Hot Shop on Cannery Row and moved the business into it’s current location, a bigger facility where he was able to build a full-size legal kitchen for the manufacture of his ever-growing line of popular gourmet sauces and appetizers. Along with his son, Dylan, they expanded their family business and product line slowly to the line-up you see today, with a vigilant eye on quality and a commitment to using only the finest local ingredients. Some of the classics are still there, along with a great line of new, unique, regional treats like Chardonnay Artichoke Salsa, featuring Artichokes from neighboring Castroville.

Gil’s Gourmet Gallery is a family business, rooted in the California central coast community, proudly supporting local farmers and businesses, while producing top quality gourmet products for sale in over 2,000 stores nationwide.