The story of Phelan Farm begins in 1850s, when the Phelan family founded a homestead on Steiner creek. They worked the land, planting a variety of crops and raising animals. In 2007, Greg Phelan planted four plots of own-rooted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in areas cooled by Pacific winds. Starting in 2019, Raj Parr has leased the entire farm, and grafted the own-rooted vines to a large variety of different grape varieties that are suited to the area’s cold climate. Working with famed producers in France’s Jura and Savoie and in Galicia, he has sourced cuttings of Trousseau, Poulsard, Savagnin, Mencia, and other varieties. The vines are farmed regeneratively, with close attention to the larger ecosystem and an emphasis on the interconnection between the vineyard and uncultivated nature.

The vineyards at Phelan Farm are nestled along the narrow banks of Steiner Creek, which separate two distinct geologic terranes on either side of the drainage. A steep ridge, with a sheer vertical cliff face looms over the vineyards on the south side of the creek, made up of hard, white, fine-grained Cambria Felsite. The hills to the north of the vineyard are made up of a messy rock unit called the Franciscan mélange, including argillite, greywacke, serpentinite, chert, greenstone, and schist.
The vineyards of Phelan Farm primarily hug the lower elevations that have been carved out by the creek over thousands of years. They sit on narrow alluvial terraces on either side of the creek, each site unique and separated from the rest. (Summary courtesy of Brenna Quigley)

At Phelan Farm, the belief holds that great wines are born in the vineyard, not assembled in the cellar. Raj and his small team strive to work in collaboration with the diverse species of microbes, plants, and animals on the farm to build the healthiest soil possible. This allows them to limit interventions during vinification. A mixed farming approach is inspired by permaculture, biodynamics, and regenerative agriculture in the pursuit of healthier soil. This approach includes several holistic measures that draw on the natural vitality of the vineyard and its surroundings. To boost this, compost is cultivated, brewed from the skins of our grapes and the manure from our animals who graze the vineyard to boost microbial life in the soil. To support the immune systems of the vines, Raj relies on fermented treatments made from an array of native plants (nettles, lupins, horsetail, willow bark) and other local ingredients including honey (from their local bee colony), kelp, seaweed, Pacific Ocean water, and fish bone emulsion powder... among others.
Phelan Farms follow a no-till philosophy to avoid disturbing the complex fungal network under the surface and to sequester carbon in the soil. Spraying sulfur and copper in the vineyard in avoided, to ensure that what is done, does not harm the earthworms and insects who are essential partners in our ecosystem.

All of the grapes are harvested by hand and brought to the winery by using low-impact four-wheelers for transport, as not to disrupt or compact the soils nature structure.

Most of the wines from the 2021 vintage were fermented whole-cluster in stainless steel with indigenous yeast before being transferred to neutral oak barrels for elevage. The wines were then racked off lees and immediately bottled by gravity with no SO2 additions, no filtration, and no fining. Bottling dates were determined according to the lunar calendar to harness the force of the moon to ensure the lees were as settled as possible.