Phelan Farm (USA, Rajat Parr)

The roots of Phelan Farm stretch back to the founding of the Phelan family homestead a few miles from the Pacific on Steiner Creek in 1851, just after California became a state. Inspired by his land’s potential to grow great grapes, Greg Phelan planted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines on their own roots in 2007, choosing four sites within the farm best suited to viticulture.

Noted Sommelier and wine celebrity Rajat Parr is the head winemaker of Phelan Farm, and he works hard to ensure the wines he works on are of the highest quality, and they have amazed us before.

The US estate uses ferments to spray on the vines from a panoply of native plants—nettles, willow bark, oak bark, milk thistle, Lupin, Honey, Thyme and horsetail. These treatments also include (some foraged and others purchased locally) kelp, seaweed, Pacific ocean water, fish bone emulsion, and milk from a local cattle farmer. By applying these homemade treatments throughout the season, Phelan Farm strives to create a healthy ecosystem for the vines, which fortifies the equivalent of the plants’ immune systems. A complex and diverse microbial population is the best defense against problematic fungal populations. Instead of working with hindsight to ‘fix’ a problem, we rather focus on the farm as an entity, working holistically to provide support for its overall health. No sulfur or copper are used on our property.