Famous winemaking duo behind Domaine de la Côte part ways
California winemaking team Raj Parr and Sashi Moorman have decided to sever their partnership, citing “creative differences” over how the three wineries they oversaw were run.
Raj Parr and Sashi Moorman became influential figures on the California winemaking scene after having first met in the early 2000s when Moorman, then winemaker at Santa Barbara’s Stolpman Vineyards, visited San Francisco to sell wine to Parr, who was the wine director at Michael Mina restaurant.
The two shared a passion for classic, “old-fashioned” wines, with Moorman telling the San Francisco Chronicle that both “were enamoured with these relics.” They went on to team up on a new wine label called Evening Land in Oregon in 2006, which had a distinct Burgundy influence. And by 2012 the pair were running point on the winery’s operations.
Their partnership led to the creation of a spin-off label, Domaine de la Côte, in 2013, making wines using fruit from one of Evening Land’s best vineyards located in California’s Sta. Rita Hills, as well as the launch of another wine brand – Sandhi. Parr and Moorman became well-known for their lighter styles of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and were a pivotal cog in Californian wine’s change of direction towards the latter.
Now the pair have decided to go their separate ways after almost a quarter of a century of working together.
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Spiritual importance
“That alignment that we had in the beginning has changed,” Moorman said. “We started with classical winemaking, and he (Parr) is now pursuing what is deeply and almost spiritually important to him.”
Parr is said to have embraced more of a low-intervention, natural wine approach of late, and is experimenting with unusual grape varieties including Jacquere and Savagnin via his own wine venture Phelan Farm in Cambria, San Luis Obispo County. Parr moved to Cambria following the Covid-19 Pandemic, which resulted in him spending less time at Evening Land and Domaine de la Côte.
“It wasn’t a partnership after I came to Cambria,” Parr said.
Moorman will continue to run the three wineries they once collaborated on – Domaine de la Côte and Sandhi (both in Santa Barbara County) and Evening Land in Oregon. Meanwhile, Parr will focus on his Phelan Farm winery, where he plans to plant additional vineyards. “I just want to farm vineyards,” Parr said. “I want a simple life. I want quiet.”
Parr did not own any part of Domaine de la Côte, Sandhi or Evening Land, which all belong to Texas venture capitalist Steven Webster.
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