Nick Jonas and John Varvatos Are Launching a Tequila Brand

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Nick Jonas and John Varvatos Are Launching a Tequila Brand
The Jonas Brother has teamed with designer John Varvatos on Villa One, a new line of tequila.
By Jean E. Palmieri on August 29, 2019


Courtesy Photo

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
NEW YORK — Nick Jonas is a major multitasker.

Not only is the singer/songwriter/actor in the throes of a nationwide tour with the Jonas Brothers, he’s also juggling a number of other projects, including writing a musical and preparing for the release of his newest film later this year.

But he still found time to create and introduce a new brand of tequila with his bestie, designer John Varvatos.

On Wednesday afternoon, a day before the Jonas Brothers were slated to headline a two-night gig at Madison Square Garden, Jonas joined the designer to introduce the tequila at an event at the Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca.

Called Villa One, the tequila was created by the Stoli Group and will make its debut to the public this week at an invitation-only activation lounge at the MSG show tonight. It will roll out to other markets as it follows the Jonas Brothers’ concert tour around the country before a nationwide launch in the first quarter of next year.


Jonas is hardly the first entertainer to jump into the lucrative spirits market. George Clooney and Ryan Reynolds have launched their own brands — Clooney sold the Casamigos tequila brand he cofounded with Rande Gerber to Diageo for $1 billion two years ago — and even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is creating his own take on tequila.

Jonas, who was dressed in an Ami hoodie and chinos at the event, said that he doesn’t view the launch of Villa One as a potential cash cow. Instead, he and Varvatos said its origins were much more organic.

“We’ve been friends for three years now,” the designer said. They first worked together on a dual-branded apparel capsule this spring and expanded their relationship into fragrance, which Varvatos said has been “a runaway success. We’re launching our second fragrance at the end of September and the first one continues to climb. But we became friends over a bottle of tequila.”

During a trip to Mexico in 2018 with family and friends, they sipped tequila and talked about “doing something special,” Varvatos said. The evening led Jonas to remark that this was “life as it should be,” the expression that ultimately became the mantra for the tequila.

It took 18 months to create Villa One, which is named after the property in which the group was staying in Mexico. The line, which includes three different versions — Silver, Reposado and Añejo — was created by Stoli’s “godfather of tequila,” Arturo Fuentes Cortes. Varvatos and Jonas worked together to design the bottles and the packaging that purposely don’t have their names on it. Varvatos said Villa One needs to stand on its own and garner fans due to its taste. “If you love it, you’ll buy it,” he said.


[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
The Villa One bottle was designed by John Varvatos and Nick Jonas.


For Jonas, this is just his latest endeavor.

“The very fortunate position I feel that I’m in is that I’m able to add things to my resume that are my passions,” he told WWD. “The fragrance was one thing I did to step outside my comfort zone and was a new experience, and also something I’m passionate about: I’ve always been a fan of fragrance and wanted to learn more about it. And thankfully, I had a great friend and partner in John to help me. And this is a similar thing. I’ve always had a passion for tequila, it’s what I drink so to be able to actually partner up with the right people to bring that dream to life was really special. For me, it’s less work than it is aligning with great people and following my passions.”