2022 Paysan, Rosé, Central Coast.
Just when you though this wine couldn’t get any better, along comes a new label and vintage to show you it can, with Ian Brand’s 2022 Pays Rosé delivering crisply dry and refreshingly delicious radiant fruit, spice and mineral tones in very confident and delicately pale salmon hued Provence style wine. Formerly know as Pierre’s Pirouette and with a playful cartoon label, the Paysan Rosé has joined the rest of Brand’s Paysan lineup with a new look with labels that better reflect the authentic nature and quality found in the bottle with an earthy feel and artist simplistic look, which I really like. The latest dry pink from Ian Brand and his team comes from selected vineyard sites to best produce this Bandol inspired wine with San Benito County and Monterey County forming the core here with Mourvedre again playing the key role here and giving this Rosé its soulful and structured profile with crushed raspberry, sour cherry, ruby grapefruit, watermelon and orange fruits along with steely wet stones, dried herbs, rosewater and saline notes. This is just what the doctor ordered with almost Spring like sunny days were are now having after a long cold and wet Winter here in the local region. As mentioned before, Brand, a noted geology (dirt) geek and vineyard whisperer has found some incredible vineyards to craft his collection of Paysan, La Marea and signature I. Brand & Family wines, with his latest Paysan Sauvignon Blanc and Rhone Blend Le P’Tit Pape, Le Marea Albarino and the I. Brand & Winery Grenache, Bay Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings being some of my personal favorites.
Much the same as last year’s 2021 Le P’Tit Paysan, Rosé, Pierre’s Pirouette, this 2022 Paysan Rosé by Ian Brand & Family Winery, based in Salinas California, is a blend of mainly the mentioned Mourvedre, along with a good dose of Grenache, that provides the joyous fruit element, along with with a small bit of Counoise and Cinsault that add complexity and vibrancy in a wine that is a tasty local favorite, as well as getting some nice national attention. The quality to price ratio here is outstanding and this Rosé joins a select set of California versions of dry pink wines that deliver an almost old world, Mediterranean influenced like character, including exceptional offerings by Arnot-Roberts, Bedrock, Randall Grahm’s Language of Yes, Tribute to Grace, Filomena (made from Cabernet Pfeffer) and Stars & Dust, all worth chasing down and enjoying this coming Summer. The direct press Rosé saw stainless steel fermentation, seeing only a few hours of skin contact, and tank aging with no malos, it was cold stabilized and sterile filtered and was bottled early to preserve intensity and vitality. The grapes are picked early and benefits from that fresh acidity and the stony elements that come from, what Brand calls, the calcium rich Aguajito Shale as well as the calcareous alluvial soils. There’s a tons to admire and like here with Ian’s current set of wines and some new varietals in the mix that are very intriguing, like the recently reviewed Cabernet Pfeffer and Escolle Vineyard Gamay Noir, along with Brand’s all new and exciting Flint Vineyard Pinot Noir, which comes from a limestone influenced site not far from the famous Calera and near Mount Harlan.
($19 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive