Raj Parr & Envinate, Phelan Farm Misturado de Cambria 2021

Mencía and Trousseau

San Luis Obispo, California, USA

From the Phoenix vineyard at Phelan Farm, where in 2019 Raj Parr grafted own-rooted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines planted in 2007 to many cool climate varieties, including Mencía from Envínate’s Camiño Novo vineyard in Ribeira Sacra. The climate here is cold and marginal: grapes struggle to ripen, and harvest ends in the last week of October. Soils are felsite and pink quartz. The Trousseau and Mencía were harvested by hand and cofermented whole cluster for 14 days in neutral oak barrels, then raised in the same vessels. Unfined, unfiltered, NO ADDED SULFUR, VEGAN.

Phelan Farm is the visionary project of Rajat Parr, one of the most accomplished and celebrated wine professionals in the industry. Raj grew up in Calcutta, India where he found his love of hospitality working within family restaurants in New Delhi. It wasn’t until age twenty that Raj experienced his first taste of wine in London with his uncle in 1993, and from that point forward he found a calling that would lead him on an odyssey to the coastal enclave that today is called Phelan Farm.

Raj graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. He then went on to become the Wine Director for the Michael Mina Group for nearly two decades and co-founder of the acclaimed RN74 wine bar in San Francisco. He helped reshape the role of the sommelier as a public figure and educator, introducing broader audiences to the ever-evolving world of wine. In the second act of his career, Parr turned his attention from the cellar to the vineyard, becoming a driving force behind a new generation of California wine. 

Farming and viticultural integrity are the soul and foundation of Phelan Farm. The land upon which Phelan Farm was built was home to indigenous peoples for thousands of years who worked and lived from the land to provide bounty and nourishment for their communities. Phelan Farm acknowledges with deep respect that they are only the latest in a long line of stewards of this land. Raj and his team have developed their own farming practices that incorporate the use of permaculture, regenerative principles along with the preservation and building of soil culture through regenerative agriculture. The vines are treated with natural composts from the farm aided by ferments from organic materials such as kelp, herbs, barks, sea water and raw milk to fortify their overall health and vitality. Minimum sulfur and no copper are used on the property.

Winemaking at Phelan Farm is as simple as possible. All of the wines are fermented using natural yeasts, moved using gravity to flow to older, oak barrels of various sizes without any additives (except a tiny amount of sulfur if needed). The wines are bottled, corked and labeled by hand. Production is small with a little less than 1,000 cases produced. Raj Parr has artfully distilled his many years of real-life experience and passion into a place that showcases not only his love for the land and but also his commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the world of wine.