Description
Scythian Wine Co. is a new project from sommelier-turned-vigneron Raj Parr that highlights the nearly lost viticultural heritage of Los Angeles. Before prohibition, the city was the center of the California wine industry, producing highly regarded wines from varieties like Palomino, Mission, Garnacha Tintorera and Zinfandel planted on sandy soils. A few of these own-rooted, dry-farmed, vineyards endure, largely due to the stewardship of the Galleano family. With a few collaborators, Raj Parr started exploring, then rehabilitating, some of the most interesting plots of these vines in 2019. The vineyards are relics, sandwiched between warehouses, corporate headquarters, neighborhoods and highways around Los Angeles County. The vines are almost all over 100-years-old, and none of the vineyards have ever been treated with pesticides fungicides, or even sulfur or copper. From these marvels of endurance and survival, Raj makes low-intervention wines in a small cellar near Boyle Heights, working with minimal additives and neutral vessels. The Scythian Wine Company wines are a fascinating opportunity to taste a fundamentally different side of the history of California wine.
Homage is 80% Alicante Bouschet and 20% Palomino from the Galleano Home Vineyard in the Jurupa Valley, planted in 1912. The soils here are fine sand over granite bedrock, and the vineyard is located over an underground water deposit that helps to feed the plants in dry years. The vineyard is dry farmed, the vines are own-rooted and have never been sprayed or treated in any way. The grapes were harvested by hand and fermented whole cluster in open-top neutral fermenters, then rested in 500L old French oak barrel. A small amount of SO2 was added after malolactic fermentation. Bottled without fining or filtering.
