Chefs’ Night Out Partner Feature: Parra Wine Co.
Long before Sam Parra established Parra Wine Co., he grew up in wine country: Napa Valley. His parents, who came to the US from Mexico via the Bracero work visa program, spent their entire careers in Napa, along with his uncles.
Though Sam has branched out into sales and marketing, wine has always been his passion. He operates the business alone, but says it barely feels like work because he is so passionate about the industry, and it comes naturally to him. Still, there are challenges as a sole-proprietor and person of color.
“You don’t see too many folks of color being brand owners,” Sam explains. “You definitely see a whole lot of us out in the workforce, out in the vineyard. But on the business side, there’s very few in Oregon.”
The family legacy is wine and it seems meant to be, the name, Parra, means vine. The Parra Wine Co. vine logo is a callback to Sam’s history, with the three ridges on the roots representing his place as the third generation in his family’s wine business.
Sam was 21 when he first visited Oregon in 1999, then he made the move to the Pacific Northwest in 2016, establishing Parra Wine Co. two years later. His product is self-distributed throughout the state, and without a tasting room, Sam has had to be resourceful in arranging popups at events like Chefs’ Night Out, and personally selling his wines to restaurants, wine shops, and retail stores.
The fast and furious harvest season is Sam’s favorite part of the winemaking process. While bottling can come at any time during the year, the smell of the grapes fermenting is a scent that brings nostalgia once per year.
That scent just brings me back to childhood,” says Sam. “Being brought up in such a small county, like Napa Valley, when fermentation is happening during harvest…you smell it in the air, yeah? It’s a lineage back to childhood and memories.”
Local grapes are at the core of Parra Wine Co. Sam sources primarily from vineyards in Salem and Dallas, with some sections from southern Oregon and Washington’s Columbia Valley as well.
“That’s the beauty with the Pacific Northwest,” says Sam, “that everything’s within a certain range of distance where the drive is not that extreme.”
Sam’s vineyard choices came from mutual friends in the industry who held contracts with the growers, as well as a Latino-owned vineyard in West Salem where he sources gewürztraminer grapes.
The move from California to Oregon appealed because of the opportunity to start a brand, and to be a homeowner. In the future, Sam would prefer to get his family involved in partnerships, but is focused on growing the company with baby steps, avoiding loans and programs.
With younger generations showing less interest in drinking, Sam says he’s shifted to meet demand, offering some wines in cans and half-bottles due to those demographics gravitating toward smaller formats. One of those half-bottles is a wine infused with hibiscus and cinnamon, inspired by the Jamaican agua fresca found at taquerias. Sam says he hopes to offer this fruity refreshment at Chefs’ Night Out if he can work out the logistics.
“This is very direct marketing for the Latino market, where it’s not sweet,” says Sam. “The whole point of a wine like that is to preserve how tart the flavors of pomegranate or rhubarb can be. I also encourage drinking it with an addition of 20-30% of sparkling water and ice, so you lower the calories and alcohol.”
One of Sam’s favorite wines in his current lineup is a Gamay Noir, a wine related to Pinot Noir, which he says has been gaining momentum in the valley. He plans to pour the Gamay at Chefs’ Night Out as well.
For folks hoping to get a taste of Parra Wine Co.’s local wines, Sam encourages people to attend his popups, where they can taste the wine and meet Sam himself. Details can be found on Parra Wine Co.’s website, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube channel.
