After graduating from Texas A&M, Trey’s pursuit of wine knowledge took a backseat to his family’s real estate career. That changed when he visited Napa Valley in October 2013. For the first time he had the chance to experience world-class wineries. He joined wine clubs, including VGS Chateau Potelle, which “was the one that would change my life.” That relationship took him to Bordeaux in ‘14. “This is when I decided that I wanted to be in the wine industry one day.”
After that trip, he started making wine from home kits and traveling several times a year to Napa Valley. During Covid, he found himself at a friend’s organic farm in Oregon. He learned that he loved agriculture. ”Putting my love of wine and farming together, it was clear that I wanted to be in the wine business.”
It was then that he asked his father Fred and his brother Matt if he could go to Napa to look for a property in which to produce wine. “They told me to go for it.” He did. He moved permanently to Napa Valley, and the family shortly thereafter bought the Dutch Henry property and started Parable Wines. Email wineflak@gmail.com https://www.parablewines.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your winery brand?
It was March 2021, that I’d been thinking for a while: this – my first trip to Napa Valley – is why I wanted to get into the wine business. I guess the universe put an opportunity in front of me when a piece of property we were selling in Texas came up for discussion with my family (My family is in the real estate business in Austin), and a yelling match between me and my father and brother ensued; and I said, “I quit”.
My father called me afterward and said, ”What do you want to do?” We had money from the sale, and no plans yet with what to do with it. So I asked, “Can I go look in Napa for wine property?” Because of me, we had this extra money, my father (Fred Eppright) said, “Get on it.” I thought there was a slim chance I could find something. But I made one call and the Dutch Henry Winery fell into our lap. (Dutch Henry had been in operation since 1992 south of Calistoga on the Silverado Trail. Except for the wine cave and a 2 ½-acre vineyard, the winery and tasting room had burned to the ground in the 2021 Glass Fire. Which is when the Eppright family purchased the property.)
The location is fabulous. It’s in the far north in the Valley, across from the famous Three Palms Vineyard and next door to the highly regarded Hourglass Winery. The whole hillside was burned. It looked apocalyptic, but with a little bit of farsightedness, I thought this could be an amazing property one day. Being developers like we are, and me with a construction science degree and with a little bit of vision and a lot of hard work, it seemed like it was going to be great deal.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained. Sky’s the limit!
My dream is to make 5,000 cases of Napa wine and Chards from outside of Napa. But my focus is on Napa Valley. Without constraint, I’d make Pinots from Santa Barbara and Anderson Valley and Syrahs too.
With those parameters in place in real time, we now have vineyard sources such as Beckstoffer Bourn, on the St. Helena bench; Vangone on Atlas Peak next to Pritchard Hill. They are hard to get. And we have recently secured Trailside Vineyard in Rutherford. And Beckstoffer To Kalon in Oakville. I think we were able to get those because I’ve formed good relationships here in the Valley; and I was very fortunate my first couple of months here because I was able to make a good foundation.
And I’m making more friends in the Valley. Napa Valley’s all about connections and those friends have friends. Getting coveted fruit is one of the hardest things to do. With other lesser tiers now, people will pay you to take their fruit. But, it’s hard to grow a brand when you’re searching for the good stuff; and there’s little of the good stuff. But we see lot of advantages in this turndown.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
The Vangone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is representative because we’re focusing on Cab production. It’s a great expression of mountain fruit – Atlas Peak – and we’re trying to make the best representation of the vineyards we’re buying from. That wine (the 2021 vintage) will be good longer than I’m alive. It has the structure and acidity. It’s a wine I’ll stand by for 50 years. I’ve had wines from the ‘70s from Napa that are amazing. Napa lost its way in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it seems like people are appreciating the swing back. It’s a nice time to be coming into the market. Click here to check out this wine review.
Bonus Question – Why Winemaking?
Coming from the business I was in – real estate – it was thankless. No one cared; none of my clients or tenants, ever called me to say, “want to go to lunch?” or “thank you for being a good landlord.” You’re dealing with angry people, who only call you when something is wrong. To be able to have people taste your wines and to appreciate it, is a very different business. A much harder business than real estate to be in, but it’s much more rewarding on a personal level because people care about your product. If someone is going to be putting their money down to buy your wine and like it, that’s an amazing feeling. I get to share my passion. I can’t do that in real estate.
They ask me to tell them about my wine; what did you do making it? Everyone I have spoken with did say the wines were balanced; that’s the best compliment. To hear people tell you honestly, “this is not what I was expecting,” is wonderful. People in Austin told me that, that’s pretty cool. It also tells me that we’re doing something here. Austin’s my old home. The restaurants I’ve been to, I now want to go to them and see my wines are on their lists.