As I am unpacking the last of the three wines that we received from “A Taste of Monterey” I am always interested, naturally to see the wines. I also enjoy reading the enclosed newsletter and the lead article is “To Blend or Not to Blend.” There was a side bar article on Sauvignon Blanc and another one was on the cheese Raclette. There was also an interesting recipe for Prawns Sambuca, where the dish will undergo a step known as flambé, but the recipe does not mention if it is White or Black Sambuca, but since the dish calls for Chardonnay, I will presume that it is the White. The other thing that amazes me, each time I get a shipment of wine, is the packing used. Originally alll wines were shipped in wooden crates, so the odds of the crates being flung around was rather limited, but then I think of how large the cartons and the Styrofoam pockets that I had to purchase years ago, when I had to ship “olive oil” from California to the felony State of Michigan. Now I just marvel at these engineered pressed “cardboard” containers that will adapt to most of the classic wine bottle shapes, and as of yet, I have not had one damaged carton, knock on wood.
The last wine in the carton is a bottle of Folktale Winery and Vineyards Le Mistral Joseph’s Blend 2017. Folktale Winery and Vineyards was originally founded in 1982 by Bob and Patty Brower, as Chateau Julien Wine Estate and they wanted to replicate their wine experiences in France to the Carmel Valley. In 1996 they expanded the property and structures to ensure that they were making great wines, and my Bride and I visited Chateau Julien each time we had holidays in Carmel-by-the-Sea. In 2015, the property was purchased by local winemaker, Gregory Ahn, and renamed Folktale Winery and Vineyards; and as a side note, from what I gather the label Chateau Julien is still property of the Brower family. The five-acre vineyard at the winery is one-hundred percent organically farmed, and they are working towards this goal in the three-hundred acres in the Arroyo Seco that they maintain. The winemaking team is led by David Baird who focuses on the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes that produce great wines in the area.
David Baird also works on his Rhone varietals for Folktale’s Le Mistral brand, which was founded in 1992 and named for the Mediterranean wind. Joseph’s Blend is a single vineyard blend from the Arroyo Seco vineyard. The wine is sixty-four percent Grenache, thirty-three percent Syrah and three percent Petite Sirah. The wine was aged for eleven months in a mix of French Oak barrels, with just over nine-hundred cases made and an aging potential of ten to twelve years. The winemaker strove to create a wine big enough to stand up to food or elegant enough to drink on its own. With the grapes used, it is no wonder that the tasting notes call for notes of cherry and raspberry, black pepper, Herb de Provence and a finish of vanilla and crème Brulee. Since the wines of the Rhone were some of the original wines that I enjoyed as a teenager, because they were priced so well, is it any wonder that I am always interested in trying “California Rhone” wines.
The Wine Raconteur 
Great post 😊
I received an email today promoting this wine and there is a totally different story told from yours without any mention of Bob and Patty Brower or Chateau Julien. And not that I doubt you but, I’m puzzled. Here it what was in the email: Joseph Phelps built one of the great legacies in Napa Valley, but not everything he touched was Cabernet. In 1974, Phelps made history by becoming the first California winery to bottle a varietal Syrah, sourcing fruit from a 40-acre planting of Grenache and Syrah in the Arroyo Seco AVA of Monterey County. That wine later became Le Mistral, and for two decades it was one of Phelps’s best kept secrets.
When Phelps eventually shifted focus back to Napa and Bordeaux varieties, he sold the brand and the vineyard to Ventana Vineyards, the local Arroyo Seco growers who had been farming the fruit all along. It has since passed to Folktale Winery, a Carmel-based operation run by Gregory Ahn, who kept the label alive and the vineyard intact. The bottling I have on offer today is called Joseph’s Blend, named in tribute to Phelps himself, which tells you something about how seriously the current team takes the history. And the name itself is worth a moment.
Michele Duval,
Thank you for your query. I have received my Le Mistral wines over the years from a membership in “A Taste of Monterey” and I am not receiving any new shipments, because Michigan is now a “felony state” for receiving wine to individuals. I have wrote articles in 2013 and 2022, as I looked back and seen that I had attributions to Joseph Phelps. I was led to believe that Folktale Winery took over from Chateau Julien. Most of my notes were from the wine club flyers that accompanied the wine selections at the time.
I think that I shall have to do some more research, when I have the chance.
Thank you,
– John