“This is one to watch …”
            “Wonderful balance and long finish …”
                        “Smooth, rich, sleek and plush ...”

Nestled in the hills of southeastern Napa Valley, Arlene and Gerry Phelan’s vineyard and winery are small and personal. The vines and the wines are pure expressions of the terrain and the people who nurture it.

The vineyard climbs a steep, seven-acre site. Here the rocky, rugged soils produce Cabernet Sauvignon grapes with unparalleled intensity. The wines are rich and full-bodied, with a complexity that is distinctively Phelan.

Our Story
The Phelan vineyard can well be described as a labor of love. Arlene’s deep connection to the land stems from her upbringing in an Italian family. Her parents’ large garden provided plentiful produce, and homemade wine was on the table every night.

An elementary school teacher, Arlene moved from Oakland, Ca. to Napa Valley and shortly after discovered a rugged hillside in Napa’s southeastern Vaca mountains. In 1969 she purchased the land, confident that someday she would build a home on the spot with sweeping valley views.

Some fourteen years later, after marrying and moving to Cleveland, Arlene and Gerry returned to their Napa mountainside. While building the house, they realized an old olive orchard was ideally situated for growing Cabernet Sauvignon.

Passionately committed to the notion that great wines begin in the vineyard, Arlene personally undertook the development of the site. There’s nothing like hands-on experience to strengthen a personal bond. Untold hours, nights and weekends were spent planting, pruning, mowing and watering, sandwiched around her fulltime position teaching school. Imagine the deep satisfaction when the first harvest of grapes was sold to Silver Oak.

With the combination of volcanic soils, a 1200-ft. elevation, ideal sun exposure and Arlene’s careful stewardship, within just a few short years the Phelans’ Cabernet grapes were sought after by acclaimed Napa Valley wineries. Arlene and Gerry knew it was time to complete the circle. In 2000 they took the next step and their small mountain vineyard became a winery as well.

With undying passion, a little luck, and an incredible amount of hard work, the wines of Phelan Vineyard were born. Caves were built, a winemaker was selected, and Cabernet Sauvignon wine was carefully crafted. It is truly a wine of the heart. Today Arlene still manages the vineyards and now also handles the daily tasks of running a small winery.

The Phelan Label
The Phelan label was a collaboration between Gerry, Arlene and a designer from St. Helena. The label is etched in pure copper foil, a testament to Gerry’s thirty-year career in the copper business. Arlene’s personality shows in the prominent red color. The label shape replicates the side of Mount George, where the vineyard is located in southern Napa Valley.

The small figure on the top of the foil is an Eskimo sculpture the Phelans bought on a visit to Montreal almost thirty-five years ago. They feel the Eskimo’s determination to catch his fish and to survive represents the difficulty and many hurdles they encountered in starting and running their winery.