The Scythian Wine Company is the Southern California winemaking project of Raj
Parr, who also grows grapes and makes wine on his estate in Cambria, Phelan Farm.
The Scythian Wine Company is devoted to making wine from the magical old-vine vineyards south
and east of Los Angeles. The chief sources are two own-rooted vineyards, vigorous and thriving on
the deep sand of the Cucamonga Valley: the Lopez Palomino vineyard, planted about 1912, and the
Lopez Zinfandel vineyard, planted in 1918. Both of these vineyards are farmed by the Galleano
family, who have been making wine in Cucamonga since 1923.
Raj also makes wine from three other, smaller, old vine vineyards: the Galleano Home vineyard,
planted to many red and white varieties about 1918; the Francis Road vineyard, planted to Grenache
and Mission and Rose of Peru about 1905; and the Munoa family’s Lone Wolf Vineyard. This is
perhaps the most special vineyard of all: it was planted on its own roots on the Pechanga
Reservation in Temecula in 1896— with Listan Prieto cuttings brought directly from Spain.
The ancient vines in all of these vineyards have always been farmed organically and without
irrigation. The vines are strong in the deepest sense, yields are naturally low, and the wines that
they make convey their noble histories transparently. All of the wines are marked by freshness and
elegance and open a new window on the possibilities of California winemaking.
The origin of the name is a fascination and respect for the Scythian nomads of the Ancient world,
who defied the efforts of the Greeks and Romans to tame them. It is a sign of the wine company’s
devotion to history and unconventionality