The old farm which houses the winery is in the Brand family’s ownership since 1750 and was originally a polyculture farm with wheat, animals, and tobacco. In 1950 the grandfather of Philippe Brand slowly transformed it to today’s 10 hectares. Charles Brand, his father, who is still working at the winery, changed everything to organic farming in the 1990s and early on included his son in most of the jobs at the winery. In 2008, after stints in Burgundy, Greece and Australia Philippe took charge of the winery. Slowly he began to start making natural wines and nowadays makes all wines without added sulfites and on top of that all the grapes are certified bio-dynamic.
The grapes for this red wine don’t come from the Brand vineyard, but from two friends in the areas around Nimes and Lyon. Philippe, like many winemakeres right now, likes to use grapes from friends, and also sometimes shares his grapes with other winemakers. The whole grapes are being macerated for ten days after which they are pressed and left in demi-muid barrels (450 litre) for eight months of maturation. With about one year in the bottle, you get some excellent aromas of ripe fruit and flowers followed by light but structured tannins. For a change try this one with various cheeses or your typical French bistro fare.