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Le P’tit Paysan, Cabernet Sauvignon

California, United States 2016 (750mL)
$25.00
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Fruit
Earth
Body
Tannin
Acid
Alcohol
SommSelect

Le P’tit Paysan, Cabernet Sauvignon

After tasting today’s wine, we all racked our brains as to the last time we encountered a California Cabernet value of this magnitude. None of us could come up with anything. Yes, there are many other California Cabernets at this price point, but not of this quality—this one tastes like it comes from someplace, and has a very ‘retro’ feel to it to boot. Serious California Cabernet Sauvignon tends to be expensive by nature, but rising-star winemaker Ian Brand of Le P’tit Paysan has shown a knack for finding diamond-in-the-rough vineyard sources. That’s really what this label is all about: Showcasing small farmers and undervalued terroirs.
We’ve offered a wide assortment of wines from Ian Brand over the years: He has quickly established a ‘brand’ of his own by producing wine for a dozen different labels while managing three himself. Le P’tit Paysan is one of those three, and is designed for value-seekers who also desire some authenticity and soil character in their wine, not some sweet, engineered ‘beverage alcohol’ product. Today’s 2016 is California Cabernet at its most balanced, bursting with finesse and freshness, which instantly makes it eye candy for lovers of classic Bordeaux. To me, Ian is a vineyard hunter first and a winemaker second; his wines put terroir on a pedestal. He has studied the Californian lands for over a decade, searching for a deep relationship between grape and place, and he summarizes it perfectly on his website: “This is farm land, desolate hills, and solitude. What we do is simple, without artifice, and we enjoy it.” And, in a full-circle way, we thoroughly enjoy the fruits of his labor. You will not find another California Cabernet that delivers this much at such a low price, so don’t miss out!
With his Le P’tit Paysan and La Marea labels, both crafted in the agro-town of Salinas (known as “The Salad Bowl of the World”), Ian has hit on a winning formula: Find unique, often obscure California vineyards planted to grapes that make sense in those places and result in wines that mirror those sites. With “La Marea,” his focus is on Spanish varieties such as Albariño, but today’s “Le P’tit Paysan” label has a French bent. His 2016 Central Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from sustainably farmed vineyards he selected after countless hours of far-flung travel. A blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot, the former hails from two vineyards: One at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the other near the foothills of the Diablo Range. His small portion of Petit Verdot is sourced from Paicines, a sub-AVA within San Benito, just due east of their home base in Salinas. The grapes underwent a long, cool, whole-berry fermentation in separate lots before blending and aging for one year in neutral French barrels. The wine was bottled without filtration. 

Brand’s 2016 Le P’tit Paysan Cabernet shows a deep ruby core with crimson hues moving out to a slightly hazy and soft magenta rim. Due to it being bottled without manipulation, there’s some suspended sediment, so stand the bottle upright a day prior and/or give it a quick decant before drinking. We don’t mind a little cloudiness so we poured the wine into our glasses right after pulling the cork—and it was breathtakingly accessible. Wild red, black, and blue fruits laced with rich, earth-driven aromas erupt from the glass and continue to deepen and intensify as time passes. Expect ripe currants, huckleberry, black and red plums, crushed stones, black raspberry, purple flowers, peppercorns, damp clay, tobacco leaf, fresh herbs, cocoa, and slight baking spice. The vibrant, ultra-fine palate is medium, nearly medium-plus bodied—proportions we typically associate with Bordeaux, not California—and oozes elegant fruit and savory spice. Cabernet shows itself in pure form here: delicate red and black fruit, a touch of pepper, crushed minerality, and a faint herbal component rounding out the lip-smacking finish. This is too good not to enjoy now, but it will certainly last over the next 5-7 years should you want to track its evolution. Invite everyone over for a large, no-frills dinner, and serve this around 60-65 degrees in Bordeaux stems with a spread of cheese, charcuterie, and a self-serve duck stew in your largest pot. Cheers!
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Country
United States
Region
California
Sub-Region
United StatesCentral Coast
Soil
Various
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Cabernet Sauvignon 92%, Petit Verdot 8%
Alcohol
13.4
OAK
Neutral Barrels
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Bordeaux Stem
Drinking
Now-2026
Decanting
30 Minutes
Pairing
Duck Stew

United States

Washington

Columbia Valley

Like many Washington wines, the “Columbia Valley” indication only tells part of the story: Columbia Valley covers a huge swath of Central
Washington, within which are a wide array of smaller AVAs (appellations).

Oregon

Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has become an elite winegrowing zone in record time. Pioneering vintner David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyard, planted the first Pinot Noir in the region in 1965, soon to be followed by a cadre of forward-thinking growers who (correctly) saw their wines as America’s answer to French
Burgundies. Today, the Willamette
Valley is indeed compared favorably to Burgundy, Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. And while Pinot Noir accounts for 64% of Oregon’s vineyard plantings, there are cool-climate whites that must not be missed.

California

Santa Barbara

Among the unique features of Santa Barbara County appellations like Ballard Canyon (a sub-zone of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA), is that it has a cool, Pacific-influenced climate juxtaposed with the intense luminosity of a southerly
latitude (the 34th parallel). Ballard Canyon has a more north-south orientation compared to most Santa Barbara AVAs, with soils of sandy
clay/loam and limestone.

California

Paso Robles

Situated at an elevation of 1,600 feet, it is rooted in soils of sandy loam and falls within the Highlands District of the Paso Robles AVA.

New York

North Fork

Wine growers and producers on Long Island’s North Fork have traditionally compared their terroir to that of Bordeaux and have focused on French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

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