CRAFTING LA DOLCE VITA IN CALIFORNIA WINE

Plenty of us stumbled through job after job before we settled on a career. It was almost a rite of passage, one of the last steps (along with home ownership and parenthood) in becoming a “real adult.” But some folks know early on what they want to spend their lives doing. Count vintner Matt Bonanno among them.

Bonanno—who lives in Kenilworth with his wife, Kristen, and their daughters Eva and Siena—grew up in Ohio, where for two generations, his family had been in the wine business. “My grandfather began importing wine from Italy in the ’60s, my father continued the business, and I knew at an early age that I wanted to follow in their footsteps.” In 1994, still in college, Bonanno visited Napa Valley with his father, where they met with renowned grower and winemaker Dick Steltzner, who had helped any number of individuals— including Al Brounstein of Diamond Creek Vineyard and Bernard Portet of Clos du Val—get their operations rolling. Over lunch at Mustard’s Grill in Yountville, a seed was planted: “I realized then,” says Bonanno, “that I wanted to make wine in California.”

While his friends spent their summer internships in offices, Bonanno got his hands dirty in the vineyards of Italy. “It was all about immersing myself in wine.” When he wasn’t in the fields, he traveled around, tasting wines from local wineries and wine shops, comparing wine styles within and across regions. After college, he took a job in Chicago with the wholesale company Union Beverage before heading West to work the harvest and help in the winery at Clos du Val, the Napa Valley vineyard established by Bordeaux-bred Portet in 1971.

After building contacts with grape growers and distributors, Bonanno felt he was ready to launch out on his own. Sensing the need for a quality wine in a contemporary style geared toward young consumers at an affordable price, he founded Bonanno Vintners in 2004 (bonannowine.com). In 2009, Bonanno teamed up with winemaker Fritz Stuhlmuller, whose parents had been growing chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and zinfandel grapes in the Alexander Valley since the 1980s. The two began to produce wine under the Matthew Fritz label; in 2019, he purchased Fritz’s share of the business and folded it into Bonanno.

Bonanno Vintners’ very first release (under the BonAnno label, meaning “good year” in Italian) was a cabernet sauvignon made from Napa Valley grapes. While still the backbone of his business, Bonanno has expanded his portfolio. “I made my first vintage of chardonnay in 2012 with grapes from Carneros and I am currently releasing a Black Label cabernet sauvignon from the Alexander Valley,” notes Bonanno. “This wine is just being released and is really targeting the restaurant ‘wine by the glass’ program. Napa Valley prices keep going up and up and are being priced out of these programs in many restaurants. My goal with Black Label is to keep BonAnno accessible through my wine in the glass pours.” (BonAnno wines are served in a number of restaurants across the North Shore, including Pomeroy in Winnetka, Sophia Steak in Wilmette and Lake Forest, Le Colonial in Lake Forest, Fred’s Garage in Winnetka, Great Coast in Kenilworth, Frank and Betsie’s in Glencoe, NaKorn in Evanston, and the Wildfire Restaurants).

The wine business, notes Bonanno, is dominated by four or five producers, with Gallo being king of the hill. “They have been gobbling up the competition forever, but especially so over the last year,” says Bonanno. “So we are in a very competitive marketplace. And after COVID, wine consumption is trending downward. But I see this as an opportunity, because we are making authentic wine and most restaurants don’t want to serve wine that is mass-produced or that has saturated the retail outlets.”

While Bonanno admits that it’s tough going head-to-head with the big companies, for someone who grew up in an Italian family, where good food and wine were as essential as air, he’s up to the challenge. “Although it’s really competitive, I feel very fortunate that I love what I do and that I get to work with such good people. I’ve been in this business for almost 30 years and those relationships run deep—my clients are fantastic and loyal. We really support each other.”

We can all drink to that. Saluti!

For more information, visit bonannowine.com.