Bonita Bonita Wine was founded in 2019 by former professional wrestling twins, Brianna (Brie) and Nicole (Nikki) Bella (maiden name, Garcia). In 2016, they founded the wine label, Bella Ridiccio, meaning ‘beautiful roots in Italian’ and paid homage to their Italian mother’s side of the family. This label was in partnership with Napa Valley vintner Ryan Hill and Guage Branding co-owner and creative director Mark Wiegard. This label is no longer being produced; Ryan Hill was also a partner in Bonita Bonita until 2024. Today Bonita Bonita is a partnership between Brie and Nikki.
The Bella twins initially met Ryan when they were in Napa attending Bottle Rock. In conversation, Nikki and Brie mentioned something like, “when we retire we would love to have our own wines”. Ryan told them, “why wait until retirement, why not start making your own wines now”. So they did, and by 2020, both moved to Napa Valley to be closer to their brand.
Bonita Bonita, meaning ‘pretty pretty’ in Spanish pays homage to their Mexican heritage on their father’s side of the family. And Brie was listening to the song Maria Maria by Carlos Santana one day and was inspired but its duplicate word title to use something similar to describe their own wine brand.
Both Brie and Nikki have enjoyed wine for many years, starting like some of us do with our wine journeys, with boxed wine while in college. Their passion for wine grew, eventually combining art and fashion. To both, some of the most valuable attributes of wine are its ability to bring people together including family, friends and community.
They began to search for a brick and mortar space to host visitors when in Napa Valley. Their search lasted several years but timing and spaces were never the right fit. Finally they found the perfect space in downtown Napa to showcase their wines.
Hospitality
The ‘speak easy’ feel space was built out and occupied for short while in 2023 by Hibou Wines. Prior to their occupancy, the space was a law office; the downstairs was converted into a speakeasy-like hideaway with access through an interior door that doubles as a bookshelf. The founder of Hibou, Jason Driscoll was raised on the east coast; he always noticed more of these types of spaces in that part of the country and often visited them when he was on wine focused trips. Those speakeasy-like spaces inspired him to create this tasting lounge.
Bonita Bonita opened for tastings by appointment in May 2024. Walking in here is like walking into another era. The interior was originally decorated with items from flea markets and was very masculine in its decor. It has since been decorated with a more feminine touch. One item that survived the transition in occupancy is a dark wooden bench in one room; this formerly served as a pew in a church in Sebastopol in neighboring Sonoma County.
Guests will push their way inside, opening a what appears to be a bookshelf. Once inside, they are greeted by a glass of Bonita Bonita bubbly served from a small bar area. Worth noting are the evocative paintings by the talented Paris based artist, Margot Van Huijkelom. Huijkelom also created the label for the Bonita Bonita wines. Several other rooms are available for hosting tastings including one with its small tables and Parisian style lamps. A dedicated room is where Brie and Nikki host The Nikki & Brie Show podcast – an inside look into their lives including appearances by selected guests.
Wines can be enjoyed as flights, by the glass or by the bottle.
And a small outside patio is convenient place to relax before or after your tasting here and or take a selfie with the neon Bonita Bonita sign.
After spending some time inside the space, one will have been sufficiently seduced by the interior atmosphere, the wines, and the soothing music. When ready to leave, we won’t fault you if you think you will step outside onto cobblestone streets of some major European city at dusk. But instead you haven’t really left California and you will walk outside into the welcoming embrace of downtown Napa.
Select Wines
Brie and Nikki had been looking for a sparkling wine to bottle under their label; finally they found the right vineyard and style that appealed to them. This is the first bottling under Bonita Bonita; it was released in 2022. The fun label shows the twins sitting in a glass of champagne. The Non Vintage Blanc de Blanc Sonoma County is medium yellow in color; this wine offers light aromas of white toast, red apple, white nectarine and springtime white florals. This wine offers flavors of red apple, pear, and honeydew melon. Bright, crisp and refreshing, the palate lingers with flavors of grapefruit and pomelo. Easy drinking, and goes down far too quickly. And that is not a bad thing. Internally this wine is referred to as the ‘wifey’s and bubbles bottling’. Future plans include producing a sparkling rosé.
The 2022 Bonita Bonita Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley, Stewart Ranch is Napa Valley’s lowest elevation vineyard (located just south of the city of Napa) and perhaps most known for its Albariño but is also planted to several other varieties including Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is medium straw in color; the bouquet offers a light herbal note without being green or grassy that sometimes cooler weather sites express from this variety. These scents include young pine needle shoots, lemon zest, gooseberry, and passion fruit, green apple and hay that is not fully yet dry. Brightly lit across the palate, it is minerally and refreshing with flavors of apple, mandarin orange, lemon and pomelo. Citrusy but not overly so. Its rounded texture complements the vibrant palate. The acidity twirls lively, like an elegant dancer portrayed in a Degas painting. This an elegant styled wine from this variety which pairs exceptionally well in the dimly lit Bonita Bonita speakeasy accompanied by the sultry sounds of a female singing a slow moving French song.
The 2022 Bonita Bonita Pinot Noir Knittle Vineyard Rosé of Pinot Noir (Napa side of the Carneros District) is pale copper in color; lively, bright and energetic, the higher toned bouquet offers forward aromas of wild strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate and slate rock. Generous across the palate, its minerally character is complemented by flavors of strawberry, raspberry, red cherry, kiwi and an herbal character similar to lemongrass. Its supple and creamy texture is balanced nicely by a refreshing zip on the finish. Mouth watering, this wine begs another sip. Pair with a lightly dressed fresh garden salad, a pool and the lengthening shadows of a warm summer evening.
The 2022 Bonita Bonita Red Blend is 56% Merlot along with 6% Malbec, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petite Sirah, 4% Zinfandel, 4% Pinot Noir and 3% Chardonnay. The grapes are primarily from Carneros and the Oak Knoll District. This wine is deep ruby and nearly opaque; the fruit-forward bouquet immediately opens to notes of ripe plum, dark cherry, boysenberry preserves, with layers of darker baking spices including cloves, cardamom and nutmeg. Balanced and bright this wine is a savory union of both red, darker fruits and spices. These include spiced plum, crushed pink peppercorn, dark peppercorn, dried herbs including sage, dark raspberry and red licorice. Some of the other varieties in this blend dominate the Merlot. The tannins are well integrated at this early stage and show a very light grainy texture. Its spicy characteristic would pair well with a medium rare piece of beef, covered in a spicy dry rub of assorted herbs. If you want to describe the wine as savory, we won’t argue with you.
The 2021 Bonita Bonita Brian Allen Vineyard Pinot Noir 100% varietal was aged 11 months in French oak barrels. This wine is pale ruby in color; the elegant bouquet offers a balance between both its fruit core and the inherent spice characteristics that this variety often expresses. These scents include cherry cola, raspberry, a hint of root beer and a light kiss of white pepper. Superbly balanced in its youth between flavor, acidity and texture, the palate sports flavors of strawberry, red plum, raspberry, cherry and red licorice. Lingers with a savory herbal character, white pepper and lightly grainy textured tannins showing more on the front of the palate than the rear. The bright and red-fruits outpace the tannins on the finish. While tasting this wine we thought of pairing it with pepper dry rubbed grilled salmon.
Exceptionally talented winemaker Alison Doran (50 + vintages) has made the Bonita Bonita wines since their inaugural release. All the wines are sourced from properties farmed by Doug Hill Vineyard Management and the wines are produced at Hill Family Estate in Yountville.
Agricultural Heritage
Brie and Nikki were born in Brawley, CA merely 16 minutes apart in 1983. Their mother never had an ultrasound so she thought she was only going to have one child. Nikki was born first, but then the nurse noticed another baby, Brie. Remarkably some 37 years later, both would have sons born within 22 hours of each other.
Both sides of their family have deep agricultural roots. Their great great-grandfather Giuseppe Colace on their mother’s side of the family, immigrated to Philadelphia from Naples, Italy and setup a produce shop in front of a candy store on one of the corners of South Street and South 21st Street in this city. His wife was Carmella. The building that used to house multi-generations of the family is no longer there and is currently a parking lot.
Their grandfather Joseph Colace (died 2006) and his two brothers Vince and Tony were drafted and served in World War II. After the brothers returned, they heard that land was cheap in parts of California. All three uprooted from Philadelphia and settled in El Centro in the far southern part of the state and initially oversaw crews picking carrots.
Brie remembers hearing a story relating to when her grandmother Alice moved from Toronto to the Imperial Valley with her family in the summer of 1942. Her grandmother stepped off the train and thought the train station was on fire because it was so hot outside. She looked at her father and asked something like, “daddy, where in the world did you move us to?” Hearing this story reminded us of the little girl that wrote in her diary when moving to Bodie, CA, “Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie”.
Brie told us the story of how her grandfather met his wife Alice (maiden name Dessert). They met at a church BBQ prior just prior to Alice becoming a nun. Alice consulted one of the nun’s she knew about this man she had just met and she said something like, “God may have a different path for you”. Joseph and Alice married in 1952; Joseph began working for Alices’ family’s business, Dessert Seed Company.
A large contract was awarded to the company by the federal government during World War II to grow onion seeds. By the early 1950s they were the world’s largest exporter of onion seeds and were shipping other seeds to countries around the planet. According to the Stockton Evening and Sunday Record edition dated Saturday Mar 14, 1959, Dessert Seed Company operated two seed farms/stations in California and three in Oregon. The article went on to state the company produced 714 different types of seeds and 204 types of flowers. They also produced their own variety of lettuce by crossing Red Romaine with a variety of Green Great Lakes.
Alice’s sister, Captain Anne C. Dessert served in World War II as a Women’s Airforce Service Pilot. In 2010 she was posthumously given a Congressional Gold Medal. A framed photograph of her is displayed on a shelf in one of the rooms inside the tasting lounge.
In 1953, Joseph and his brother Tony founded Colace Brothers, originally focusing on growing iceberg lettuce and cantaloupes. An article dated Sunday January 28, 1979 in The San Francisco Examiner indicated the Colace brothers ranch in El Centro was planted to 618 acres of lettuce and 800 acres of cantaloupes overseen by 235 employees.
El Centro Mementos
The company shipped products marketed under both Colace and Yama; Joseph and Tony closed operations permanently in 1983. But in the mid 1980s Joseph and his sons started a new packing and shipping company called Five Crowns Marketing in honor of Joseph and Alice’s five children. It is now called Majesty Five Crowns Marketing and has since significantly expanded its agricultural footprint to Arizona and to northern California. And their product selection is now extremely diverse, encompassing citrus, corn and several other types of melons. In 2020, the company opened a 160,000 square foot cooling, packing and shipping facility near the town of Tracy.
Their fathers side of the family immigrated from Mazatlán in Mexico to El Centro.
Total production is small but growing. For more information, to book a visit, to purchase wine or to join Club Bonita Bonita, visit: www.bonitabonitawine.com
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