Millésimé Cellars (Winemaker & Founder)

Sunstone Vineyards & Winery (Director of Winemaking)

Brittany Rice’s family has been in the wine industry since 1989. Her passion for food and wine came from planting grapes, hands-on work with the family’s wines, learning from the best mentors in the business, and working with great chefs who inspired her to enroll in culinary school. She had attended college to study fine arts and photography, but graduated from California Culinary Academy with a degree in Culinary Arts, Cordon Bleu.

Brittany began working in the wine industry in 1999 in the cellar at Sunstone Vineyards & Winery. From there she worked her way up to being named winemaker in 2005 and crafted Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah, among other varietals. She took a hiatus from Sunstone from 2010 to 2019 to focus on the launch of her own brand, Millésimé Cellars. She returned to Sunstone in 2020 as Director of Winemaking.

Brittany uses old-world techniques to make unfiltered wines from organically grown grapes at Millésimé, which is dedicated to creating high quality, handcrafted wild-fermented, and unfiltered wines. She also started Rustik Elements LLC to help spread the word about health and wellness through food and wine.

The photographs on the labels for Millésimé Cellars wines are from Brittany’s travels throughout Europe.