Phelan Farm Trousseau 2023
HK$ 658.70
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Trousseau is aromatically expressive from the first pour, leading with a nose of back and purple fruit aromas flanked by dried herbs and grilled plum accents. The palate is poised and dark-fruited, with extremely fine, elegant tannins and lifted, energetic acidity that gains power and grip with time in the glass. This was still very wound up and inward on the finish; I look forward to revisiting it after it has had time to unwind in bottle.
Features
Type of wine
Pairings
Style
Occasions
Winery
Size
Country
Region
Appellation
Alcohol
12.0%
Grapes
Serving
Between 14ºC and 16ºC
Winemaking
Fermented with indigenous yeasts and stems with 14 days of skin soaking in stainless steel tanks. Aged for 7 months in neutral toasted oak barrels. Bottled unfined, unfiltered and with no added sulphites.
Description
On the wild coast of San Luis Obispo, where redwood forests look out over the Pacific and morning mists drift through the hills, the radical vision of Rajat Parr, renowned sommelier and inquiring mind behind Phelan Farm, was born. After leasing the estate from Greg Phelan in 2019, Parr set out to transform this corner of Cambria into a living experiment in regenerative viticulture and hands-off winemaking. Nothing in his path has been orthodox: he eliminated the use of sulphur in the vineyard and winery, replaced chemical treatments with milk, nettle extracts and homemade compost, and replanted with Jurassic varieties such as Poulsard, Mondeuse, Savagnin and, of course, Trousseau.
The latter, rare in California, found an unlikely home here. The soils are a mix of fractured shale, decomposed granite and coastal loess, loose, airy, almost unmanageable for conventional viticulture. But Parr wasn't looking for control. He wanted expression, tension, soul.
The climate is cool, with short sunny days and nights dominated by sea mist. This Atlantic influence - unusual in most Californian wines - gives Phelan Farm Trousseau an austere, almost European vibe, without the excesses of fruit or oak you'd expect on this side of the world.
Winemaking
The grapes are harvested by hand in the cool of dawn, seeking a taut balance between acidity and phenolic ripeness, almost on the edge of rawness. The bunches enter the vat whole: no destemming, no forced extraction. Spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, without temperature control, because "the wine must live its life", as Parr says.
Phelan Farm Trousseau rests for about 10 months in neutral French oak barrels, without battonage, without added sulphites until bottling (and even then, in homeopathic doses). It is not filtered or clarified. It is wine as it came into the world: no make-up, no frills. A liquid provocation.
Taste
From the outset, Phelan Farm Trousseau does not seek to please, but to unsettle. The nose is ethereal, very light, with an almost secret perfume of wild cherry, dried hibiscus, fresh tobacco leaves and a shady background of damp soil and pomegranate. Nothing jumps out, everything floats.
The palate is pure texture. Light as a Pinot, but with the edge of an obsidian knife. The acidity is nervous, like lightning gliding across the tongue. Notes of tart raspberry, rhubarb and a kind of earthy, almost brackish rusticity, reminiscent of walking barefoot on wet gravel. The tannin is subtle but present, like a hint rather than a structure. The finish is long, enveloping, dry, almost meditative.
Shipping to Hong Kong
Estimated transit time: 3 working days.
| Bottles | Price | Complete box |
|---|---|---|
| 1-5 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 6 bottles, Free shipping! |
| 7-11 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 12 bottles, Free shipping! |
| 13-17 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 18 bottles, Free shipping! |
| 19-23 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 24 bottles, Free shipping! |
| 25-29 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 30 bottles, Free shipping! |
| 31-35 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 36 bottles, Free shipping! |
| 37-41 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 42 bottles, Free shipping! |
| 43-47 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 48 bottles, Free shipping! |
| 49-53 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 54 bottles, Free shipping! |
| 55-59 bottles | HK$ 134.48 | 60 bottles, Free shipping! |
