A South Orange business works to elevate the local wine game
Many of us pay attention to where our food comes from and how it is grown and made. We support small growers and craft artisans. We seek out the delicious. Do we extend that same approach to what we drink? Two local women, friends and now business partners, are doing what they can to bring this level of mindfulness to more wine drinkers.
Some of the best wine available is coming from Bonhomie Wine Imports, a female-owned South Orange-based business. Angela DeLuca and Eva Zorad, both West Orange residents, are the co-owners of this boutique wine and spirits import and wholesale company.
As wholesalers, they do not have a storefront. You may have crossed paths with them at tastings in Village Wine Shop or Lum’s Cellars in Maplewood, Neighbor’s in South Orange, or at past wine dinner collaborations at Bistro d’Azur, Porta Rossa or Luna Stella. “Living here, working here, having employees and friends here, we do try to be visible in the community, with local businesses and supporting local entities,” says DeLuca.
Bonhomie was founded in 2008 by another local resident, Charlie Woods. It is located out of plain sight in a walk-up office on Vose Avenue. With the entirety of his wine experience in the New York City market, most of Woods’ early accounts were based there. Bonhomie still enjoys a strong presence there today. Award-winning restaurants such as Estella and Blue Hill and famed Tribeca wine bar Terroir are among its clients.
It is restaurants, or “on premise accounts,” that have always jumped for the small production wines in its portfolio. On this side of the Hudson, Bonhomie wines can be found on the lists at perennially top-rated Jersey restaurants such as Restaurant Serenade, Summit House, Byrd, and Blu on the Hudson.
What are “Bonhomie wines”? The wines and spirits in the portfolio come from more than 40 different producers from the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal, Chile, and most recently Canada. Many of these relationships go back to Woods’ founding of the company, although DeLuca and Zorad have made significant additions to the roster of wineries.
“Maintaining and growing relationships with producers is the easy part,” says DeLuca. “It is what makes us who we are.” The typical winery is small, specializing in craft-level production, often family owned and multi-generational. The wineries rely on having a personal and professional relationship with a similarly sized and like-minded wholesaler such as Bonhomie.
Wine is personal. Members of the Jaboulet family in France’s Rhone region, and Lang & Reed in Napa Valley, have moved from bigger players, specifically seeking out DeLuca and Zorad.
Accounts are added judiciously to give proper attention to building and solidifying new relationships. “We have a list of target producers we would love to consider partnering with but like to add only one or two every six months or so,” says DeLuca. In part, it is a size consideration. In addition to the co-owners and four wine sales representatives in the New York market, the team includes Valerie Corbin, who lives in South Orange with her husband and children, and Carol Berman, another West Orange resident.
Corbin has distilled a broad background in wine and hospitality into the role of import operations manager and has been with Bonhomie the longest, more than 10 years. Berman has been in the wine trade and in wine media for more than 30 years. The saying “she has forgotten more about wine than most people know” applies to her, if one got the sense she has forgotten anything at all.
Wine is connective. It is how DeLuca and Zorad got connected with each other and eventually, Woods and Bonhomie. Zorad was raised on a small family farm in Kansas, something that informs her attitude and draws her toward winemakers who are honest agricultural stewards. She and her husband, Ryan, moved east in the early 2000s. In 2005, she partnered in September Wines, a Lower East Side shop specializing in a then budding interest by hip consumers in the types of wines she remains passionate about 20 years later.
The Zorads, along with their daughters, moved to West Orange in 2013. Four years later, having had a friendship with Woods in New York wine circles, she took a part-time role at Bonhomie. Eventually, Woods convinced her that her approach and knowledge were conducive to the sales side. Many in the wine community would wholeheartedly agree.
DeLuca was working in IT for Whole Foods, with an interest in wanting to become more involved in wine, even studying to become a certified sommelier. With no work experience in wine, in 2016 she bravely launched her new chapter in sales with Martine’s Wines, the first woman-led wine import business in the United States, founded in 1979.
DeLuca and Zorad crossed paths regularly as they trekked from account to account in New Jersey. They realized they were philosophically in alignment when it came to wine, but they also liked each other personally. When they learned they both lived a short distance apart in West Orange, they started hanging out, even talking about how they might someday work together professionally. A wine bar concept was up for discussion at one point, no doubt over great wine.
DeLuca wanted to consider advancement opportunities in the business and Bonhomie was looking to add someone. In February 2022, she and Zorad became official teammates. Since Woods was interested in pursuing other passions, he decided that putting the leadership of the business he built in the hands of the two women was the right move for all of them.
The agreement was reached shortly after DeLuca joined the company. In November 2022, they became the new owners of Bonhomie Wine Imports.
“Charlie built a great foundation. We wanted to keep it alive and independent and build on that,” says DeLuca. Realizing that the opportunity to seamlessly step into their new roles was rare in the industry, their first goal was to keep their existing book of producers intact. Not having investors and not being leveraged has allowed them to enact their vision, starting before they officially took ownership.
Zorad primarily heads up the sales function while DeLuca is more infrastructure focused, although they both wear and share multiple hats. They have found that their strengths complement one another but they are also able to work seamlessly on all major decisions.
To an industry observer, their camaraderie was apparent back before they were teammates. Both are deeply passionate and knowledgeable with excellent palates. They also are highly respected and well-liked. Many of their accounts rely on them to not just bring good wine but to impart some of their wisdom in a consultative manner. They don’t fake it.
They face challenges: the threat of tariffs, the impact of climate change on the supply chain, and being a smaller player in a world of conglomerates. They plan to keep focused on maintaining their business and expanding it where they see greater potential.
“We feel really fortunate to be able to keep doing this, so close to home and from within this community,” says DeLuca.
Visit bonhomie.com for information about the company and the wineries it represents. For more timely updates, follow @bonhomiewine on Instagram. You can also ask a local wine shop for wines from Bonhomie WineImports.
Hank Zona is a Maplewood-based wine and food event planner, speaker and writer.
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