Wes and Michelle Parker are an impressive husband-and-wife team crafting luxe wines under their newest label, Parker Family Wine. Wes wears the title of head winemaker and Michelle is assistant winemaker. Their oldest son, Ty Parker, manages the tasting room located inside the new Mountain Timber Market shopping complex on the beautiful waterfront in Kalama. Their daughter, Carmen Parker, is a wine steward there as well.
The Parker’s wine journey began in Sonoma County, CA where Wes grew up in a family business immersed in the service sector of the industry, and then later met Michelle in Willamette Valley, Oregon. The young married couple worked together at some of the prestigous Willamette Valley wineries before finally moving north of Portland to the southwest Washington area.
Washington Tasting Room Magazine first covered this wine duo in 2015 after the launch of Koi Pond Cellars in Ridgefield, WA. Several years later they commenced Geisha Wine, and now Parker Family Wine has been added to their string of wineries.
“We fell in love with the winery lifestyle, the farming, community, family and living the farm-to-table life. Our intention is to continue to create quality wines as organic as possible for years to come,” comments Michelle. “Wes and I believe in this lifestyle so much that we have raised our children to be entrepreneurs right along side us, and we have grown these companies while raising a family.”
The wines are highly worth seeking out for their pleasure alone, but guests will enjoy watching ships sail up and down the Columbia River from the large covered patio perched above the waterfront. There’s first-rate dining at nearby restaurants and boutique lodgings, too.
Visit: $18 tasting fee, waived with bottle purchase; 254 Hendrickson Dr, Suite 103, Kalama, WA; (360) 281-2716, open daily. Learn more at www.parkerfamilywine.com.
Below are three releases we recently reviewed:
Parker Family Wine 2020 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
93 pts.
The elegant structure boasts a core of ripe blueberry and blackberry, revealing expressive layers of cocoa, leather, thyme and sage. Elegant overall, this ripples with fine tannins and notes of barrel spice that fill in on the supple finish. $48
Parker Family Wine 2018 Yakima Valley Malbec
95 pts.
Sharply focused, this concrete-aged red is made from organically-grown fruit. Structured with minerally-propelled elegance, the palate flows with unadulterated blackberry and boysenberry gilded with a pretty floral edge. Escalating hints of mineral and loam permeate the extremely well-balanced finish. $58
Parker Family Wine 2022 Pinot Noir Dundee Hills
94 pts.
Suave, with a minerally structure and lithe feel, offering Bing cherry, rose petal, fine-grained tannins and restrained oak. Juicy on the satisfying finish with a light hint of earth. $58