2023 Palomino Sparkling

The Scythian Wine Company is the Southern California winemaking project of Rajat Parr, who also grows grapes and makes wine at Phelan Farm, his estate in Cambria.The Scythian Wine Company is devoted to the ancient and historically significant vineyards of Cucamonga, under 50 miles east of Los Angeles, and Temecula, 60 miles north of San Diego. In the first half of the 20thcentury, Cucamonga was the largest grape growing region in North America. Today, however, due to soaring land prices and demand for development, only a few hundred acres of these original plantings remain. These parcels of old bush vines steadfastly survive, despite the encroaching motorways, motels and office headquarters. Here, the Scythian Wine Co primarily works with the 'Lopez' vineyard, from which they source Palomino (planted from 1912) and Zinfandel (planted from 1918). The vines are own-rooted and organically farmed by the incredibly devoted Galleano family, who founded their own winery in Cucamonga in 1927 (making it the oldest Prohibition-era winery in Cucamonga still farming and operating in its original location). In addition to Lopez, The Scythian Wine Company also works with two smaller vineyards; the Galleano’s old-vine 'Home' vineyard, planted to Palomino, Muscat, Rose of Peru, Zinfandel, Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) and an unusual, historic hybrid named Salvador, and the 'Francis Road' vineyard, planted to Grenache, Mission and Rose of Peru in circa 1905. Further southeast, near Temecula, The Scythian Wine Company works with one of the most unique vineyards in California. The Munoa family’s vineyard, nicknamed ‘Lone Wolf’ (both as homage to the owners’ wolf-dog Moyla,and to how resilient and remarkable this vineyard is) is located on the Native American Pechanga Reservation, home to the Pechanga Band of the Indigenous Luiseño people. It was planted in the 1890s, with Listán Prieto cuttings that are reported to have been brought directly over from Spain following a trip taken by the current owner’s great-great-grandfather. DNA analysis has proved that it is indeed true Listán Prieto. Due to the vineyard’s remote location, it was unaffected by the Pierce’s disease epidemic of the late 1990s. Own-rooted, these vines have always been tended organically, and since 2020, together with Abe Schoener (of the Los Angeles River Wine Company) and friends, The Scythian Wine Company has been pruning the vineyard back to full health. In the cellar, the winemaking philosophy behind these wines has transparency at its core. The goal is always to create pure wines that shine a light on these lesser-known areas of California’s wine country, to tell the stories of these vineyards in the glass once more, and to work to safeguard Californian wine history. These exceptional vineyards have defied all odds to remain rooted in the ground today. As such, Rajat named the company after the fierce nomadic ancient warriors of the Eurasian steppe, the Scythians. In a way, these extraordinary vineyards —and the people who work to keep them in the ground —mirror the Scythians’ own fierce resilience and determination.