Sometimes, it’s better to focus on a casita — a cozy cottage — and how it centers one’s life.
That’s the step Fabian and Megan Bravo took when they renamed their wine brand Casita de Bravo to celebrate, perhaps, how when one door closes, another door opens.
The couple, residents of Buellton with their son, Elliot, 4½, and dog, Yogi, have combined decades in winemaking, hospitality and wine marketing. Megan Bravo has worked in marketing/sales and hospitality, and Fabian Bravo in winemaking, mostly for Brander Vineyards.
The couple’s initial label, Bravo Wines, comprised just pinot gris and sangiovese, and was more of a wholesale project than Casita de Bravo, now more of “a real business,” Megan Bravo said.
Current vintages are a 2023 rosé of sangiovese, a 2023 pinot gris, a 2021 chenin blanc (sold out) and a 2020 sangiovese. Total case production is 400.
I tried all four wines on an 80-degree December day in the courtyard at Brander, joined by the Bravos and Yogi.
I’m a fool for a good, crisp chenin blanc, and I was not disappointed with Casita de Bravo’s 2021.
The 2023 pinot gris from Kick On Ranch in Los Alamos showcased that grape’s classic “heft” and packed a lovely finish.
The 2023 rosé of sangiovese (“rosé de sangio”) from Open Gate Vineyard offers an aromatic nose with bright acid and essence of watermelon rind.
“People are definitely interested in tasting a rosé of sangiovese,” Fabian Bravo said. “The tannins, structure and acid of sangiovese grapes all help the rosé.”
The 2020 sangiovese is a brilliant hue of red, with a rich flavor and elegant tannins.
It seems natural that three of Casita de Bravo’s wines hail from Italian grapes — the sangiovese, pinot gris and rosé of sangiovese.
“I am obsessed with Italy,” Megan Bravo said, adding that the couple honeymooned there.
The Bravos have sourced grapes from the same vineyard sites for several vintages; among the vineyards are the Open Gate (formerly Faith) Vineyard in Los Olivos, planted in 1998 for Foxen Vineyard & Winery; Tres Hermanas Vineyard & Winery; and Kick On Ranch.
In the works are a 2023 mencia from Nolan Vineyards, and a chenin blanc and vermentino, both from the newer Stagliano Vineyard in Happy Canyon, according to Fabian Bravo.
They also hope to incorporate one or two additional reds into the program.
In 2019, Megan Bravo said, Bill Wathen of Foxen reached out and offered the couple 11 rows of sangiovese vines at Open Gate to farm for their own wines.
“There’s no cell service in the vineyard, so working out there was great marriage counseling,” she said with a laugh. “It was just us, talking, doing something we loved, watching the sunsets.”
In 2020, when the Bravos’ son, Elliot, was just 3 months old, her mother died.
“My mother collected photos of doors … every day doors, like the colorful ones you’d find in Mexico,” Megan Bravo said.
She turned the idea of photos of lighthearted doors into labels for the Casita de Bravo line. Each wine sports an art-style door of a different style and color — white, teal, blue or a natural, stained wood.
In 2021, with a Type 2 (production and sales) license secured, the couple separated Casita de Bravo Wines from the umbrella of Brander Vineyards’ production. Fabian Bravo has 17 vintages under his belt as Fred Brander’s winemaker.
In 2024, the couple signed on with a wine broker in Camarillo who has secured their label good placement at various sites, according to Megan Bravo. Among them are Renegade Wines, The Liquor & Wine Grotto in Montecito, the Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café and the Santa Ynez Valley’s El Rancho Market.