Congrats to Ian Brand...

…named SF Chronicle’s winemaker of the year.

(Sorry if this behind a pay wall and if it has been posted already).

Well deserved.

Bravo!

Well deserved Ian. The vineyard whisperer of Monterey County and beyond.

Excellent new!!!


BTW, K&L had the I.Brand & Family’s “Enz Vineyard” Mourvèdre for ~$21 yesterday for Insiders.

Today…$39.99.

Very happy to see this - and well deserved!

Amazing and well deserved!!!

Congratulations Ian!

When are you coming back down for Falltacular? I always enjoyed talking to you there, and certainly miss the rose, which was one of my favorites a few years ago.

Glad I went to the Ian Brand dinner at Deetjens last month. I knew him when.

I think they did a nice job of relaying both the dream and challenge of making and selling real wine with a sense of place at affordable prices. Keep up the good work and congratulations!

Can’t believe I missed that. I am going to try and catch a Brand wine dinner at Grasings in February.

Very nicely done article on Ian. It’s great that Ester plucked him from obscurity and lifted him
to fame & fortune!!
With so much plonk & industrial scale farming in Monterey, it’s nice that an artisan can make his
mark. There’s always been visionaries in Monterey, like DougMeador (now living in Missouri), Bill Jekel, Bill Durney,and
Dick Peterson. Ian is right up there with them, I think.
Tom

Congrats to the Wild Man indeed! And Tom, as always, you are dead on with noting the Pioneers that came before him.

Cheers

Wel, Larry…not sure everyone would agree w/ the inclusion of DickPeterson there.

But I’m on Ian’s side that there is a lot of unrealized potential in Monterey (using Ian’s definition of Monterey, not just MontereyCnty).
Because of the industrial-scale farming and the mass of commodity wines, there is a lot of unrealized potential there.
They’ll eventually get there. The next NapaVlly?? Well…prolly not.
Tom

Thank you, guys. This is amazing and a major endorsement of the work we’ve quietly been doing. It bears noting that we would have never gotten this far without the knowledge, perspective and friendships gained here. I’m sure most of you have a long enough memory to recall when I was a young punk who had no idea what he was talking about. If not, I’m sure you can search the archives.
Still, all this changes is the spotlight, still lots of work to be done locally… the recognition, however, feels great.
Happy holidays. I’ll see what I can do about Falltacular. Unfortunately my travel schedule just blew up for the spring. Gotta strike while the iron is hot.
Ian

Dude, how can your website be down and under construction when you just got tagged the “it” guy?!?

And congrats!

I have some 2016 Little Wings on deck, looking forward to trying your wines.

We’re hard at work on it. It’ll be back up soon. We weren’t aware this was coming.

Attended an I Brand wine dinner last night at Grasings, Carmel. Really an outstanding event.

Appetizers (including caviar and abalone), with '18 Le Ptit Paysan Rose

Clams, shrimp, octopus and oysters with '18 Albarino (Kristy, Monterey)

Wild mushroom & Duck Lasagna w/ truffles with '16 Bayly Ranch Paicines Cab Franc and '16 Bates Ranch SCM Cab Franc

Foie gras with '15 Enz Mourvedre (old vine, baby!)

Bison Rack with Gremolata Crust and turnips with '14 I Brand Cabernet Sauvignon (Monte Bello Road, SCM)

Creme Brûlée with '12 I Brand Chardonnay, Monterey

Ian does such great, eclectic work. My favorite wines were the Albarino, the Mataro, the SCM Cab and the '12 Chard. Nice to see Ian and Heather again!

Also hats off to Grasings, Chef Grasing did a magnificent job of matching foods to the wines. Great event, still stuffed!

I so wanted to get down to Monterrey for that event but work schedule did not allow. Seems like I missed a great dinner

Sean

Nice out of the box thinking by SF Chron. Congrats to Ian!