A brand new concept is coming from Idlewild Wines owner Sam Bilbro. Dubbed Ciao Bruto, the new store will be opening up at 130 Plaza Street in Healdsburg.
Sam founded Idlewild wines back in 2012 in an effort to establish premium Piedmont wines from Northwest Italy in his own home in Mendocino. The youngest son of Marietta Cellars owner Chris Bilbro, Sam has grown up among generations of winemakers and carries that expertise with him in all of his ventures.
Ciao Bruto, whose tongue-in-cheek name roughly translates to “Hey Ugly!” in Italian, will be functioning as a sister business to Idlewild and is majority-owned by Sam. Opening up right next door to the Idlewild tasting room at 132 Plaza Street, Ciao Bruto will be a welcome addition to the Idlewild experience, which already offers tastings, pairings, and light refreshments like prosciutto and cheese.
Sam, who founded Ciao Bruto with his friends, envisions the new space as a brand new concept that will function in tandem with Idlewild. The three pillars of Ciao Bruto will be wine, art, and mercantile goods, establishing a kind of combination wine shop/gallery for local oenophiles (wine lovers).
Sam intends to stock Ciao Bruto with a majority of imported wines, as well as art that he describes as “Outsider art,” intending to feature less prominent artists who may not be well known to locals. Ultimately, Sam wants to fill the new space with “Things that we love and inspire us,” hoping to bring people together at a time when it’s most needed.
Replacing the Healdsburg Center For the Arts that used to occupy the building, Ciao Bruto is tentatively planned to open on September 15th, though according to Sam it could open up as late as October 1st, depending on how the next few weeks go.
