Carmel Magazine

Holiday l 2013

Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/205395

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 63 of 163

046-074 Shortcuts_SU05 Carmel Magazine 10/26/13 10:28 AM Page 10 SHORTCUTS BUSINESS Photo: Kelli Uldall Creating a New Brand of Monterey County Wine Ian Brand sources unlikely plots of land to grow grapes for his Monterey and San Benito County based vineyards. His label is Le P'tit Paysan. Wine Enthusiast recently awarded Brand the recognition of "top 40 American tastemakers under age 40." hen Wine Enthusiast magazine included Monterey County's Ian W Brand on its May list of 40 American tastemakers under age 40, editors hailed him as "innovative, experimental and eager to push the envelope in the Salinas Valley and beyond." It's particularly high praise for someone who only fell into winemaking about a decade ago, after moving to coastal California for the surf. Brand, who first cultivated his skills at vineyards in Bonny Doon and Big Basin, looks for remote plots of land with what he calls "unrealized potential." "I find the pieces that have been missed or looked over, the places where I can get fruit that over-delivers—the high-value fruit—and turn it In addition to crafting his own wines, Brand does consulting and cus- tom production at his Salinas facility.There, he encourages boutique clients to think big while defining their own competitive advantage. "It's all an extension of a similar idea, which is using wine as a lens or medium to get in touch with your landscape," he explains. "The most important thing with wine is the vineyard, the raw material. It's about finding the expressive places." Brand views his Wine Enthusiast recognition as reinforcement of the risks he's taken. "We've been doing this all ourselves, putting my whole family's future into high-value wine," he says. on the line to do some adventurous things. To actually have it understood hard-to-access hilltops and small Monterey and San Benito County parcels hope I can build it into a bit of a movement down here." Brand's recent releases exemplify those efforts. He spins grapes from into rose, viognier, petite sirah and more through the Le P'tit Paysan label. His La Marea-label Albarino uses fruit from Salinas Valley soils that fall outside of American Viticultural Area designations. 62 C ARMEL M AG A Z I N E • H O L I D AY out in the marketplace and to get that support is tremendous," he says. "I Ian Brand's wines are available at select local restaurants and at Trio Carmel on Dolores. Learn more at www.leptitpaysan.com. —Renee Brincks 2013

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Carmel Magazine - Holiday l 2013