Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/748197
C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 6 167 merican folk tales are full of colorful characters: Paul Bunyan and Babe the Ox, Daniel Boone, Brer Rabbit, the Headless Horseman. Now, an equally interesting gentleman has created Folktale Winery and Vineyards in Carmel Valley, and word of great things going on in the worlds of wine, food and music at its Carmel Valley Road property is spreading like the lat- est celebrity gossip. Greg Ahn grew up in the hospitality industry. "My mom was a restaurateur in Los Angeles," Ahn says. "She saw I had the bug. I got my love of food and wine from her." Ahn star ted his career in Nor thern California corporate wine world, working first for Seagram Chateau & Estate Wines Company, then Constellation, the company that transferred him to Monterey County to manage Blackstone. He eventu- ally got the urge to go on his own. "I first invested in the Cannonball brand in 2006," he says. "I sold my interest in that, then formed "Cult of 8," the parent company that now owns Folktale, along with seven other brands. His company closed on the purchase of the former Chateau Julien Winery in April, 2015. After closing for remodeling, Folktale welcomed its first guests in August of the same year. "I lived in Carmel Valley for 10 years without ever setting foot on this property when it was Chateau Julien," he says. "When I finally visited, I was blown away by how beautiful it is." The bucolic, 15-acre property features a chateau- style building visible from Carmel Valley Road housing wine-making equipment, offices and a large, open and inviting indoor/outdoor tasting facility that sometimes doubles as a music venue. The Folktale property extends to the banks of the Carmel River, where Ahn plans to put in a vegetable garden. The site contains a cavernous Barrel Room (that also doubles as a music venue), a four-bedroom home used to house visiting musicians and a smaller A-frame cabin. A