Thank you for visiting MerBon. MerBon is the marriage of Paul (Bon) and Merrill Bonarrigo. It was love at first date and we married in 1977.  Paul was a Physical Therapist and came to Texas after serving in the Navy. Merrill was a realtor and native of Bryan-College Station.  We thought our future was set, but the Lord had other plans for us.

We wanted to live in the country and bought land in Brazos County, Texas. After watching the miniseries Roots, we became interested in our own heritages. Paul’s family was from Messina, Sicily and Merrill’s was from Hof, Germany. Because of that we named our new land Messina Hof.

Planting vineyards began in 1977 when the Lord presented the idea through a graduate student at Texas A&M University.  It was a leap of faith.  From that first experimental acre, the Lord has opened so many doors and has blessed the work of our hands.  Messina Hof is a family and veteran owned winery and vineyard operation.  Today we harvest from over 700 acres of Texas vineyards and have wineries in the Brazos Valley, Fredericksburg, Grapevine and Richmond, Texas.  Our son Paul, a Naval Academy graduate, and daughter-in-law Karen, a graduate of George Washington University, own and operate Messina Hof today.

The vines and Messina Hof wine have provided opportunities to teach, to travel, to tell our inspirational story and the story of the Texas wine industry in over thirty-six countries. We have been called the Johnny Appleseed of Texas.

We tend our Sagrantino vineyard, share the meaning of John 15 in the vines, write historical fiction books based on the Texas wine industry, lead travel groups to wine regions around the world, produce fun instructional wine and food videos and sell products online through our MerBon store.

We pray that someday you will come to visit us at Messina Hof.  If you would like to know more about our Messina Hof journey, you can find our book “The Messina Hof Story: Family, Tradition and Romance” in our MerBon store or at Messina Hof.

Please follow us on our life journey of family, tradition, and romance at MerBon, A Blessed Life of Love.

Blessings to you,

Paul and Merrill