The Parallel Universe
Photography: Courtesy of Parallel Wines
Park City bursts at the seams with success stories. But few are as intriguing or long lasting as the Parallel Wines story. It’s a tale of four pairs of people who live life the way wine should be enjoyed: with gusto and feet firmly planted on the ground. Or in this case, planted in the soil. The Parallel Wines story is all about roots, risk, relationships, and really good wine.
The Parallel Wines Cabernet Sauvignon label is distinguished by intersecting parallel lines. The geometrically-inclined artwork symbolizes the lines carved by skis on the day’s first run in fresh snow. But the lines also mean something more. They capture the parallel universes and commonalities between Napa Valley, where the wine is made, and Park City, where the eight partners behind Parallel Wines have paralleled, merged, and intersected over the past three decades.
Like parallel lines, this wine company is all about twos. Four Park City couples—Steve and Val Chin, Joe and Paula Sargetakis, Mac and Ann MacQuoid and Mike and Toni Doilney—are the heart and soul of Parallel Wines. Add to that group a pair of wine industry pros—Jim Barbour and Philippe Melka—and you round out the ten-person team that is Parallel Wines.
The four husband/wife pairings behind Parallel Wines have much in common. Most were out-of-state transplants to Park City, but they have roots here dating back to the ’70s. The Chins came to Park City 30 years ago from Los Angeles and “never looked back.” The MacQuoids also emigrated from L.A., although Ann’s accent betrays her earlier Texas roots. The Doilneys moved here from Washington D.C., stayed for 30 years, and have since relocated to St. Helena in Napa Valley, which they describe as the beginning of a “new adventure.” Joe and Paula Sargetakis are locals, but spend part of every year working crush in Napa’s vineyards.
The lives of these four couples have intersected in many ways over the past three decades. They all share a love for Park City, skiing, good food and wine and, maybe most importantly, a respect and concern for the community that they’ve nurtured and enriched over the years—not at all unlike the love and care that goes into making fine wine.
Joe Sargetakis is board chair of the Ronald McDonald House and Paula Swaner Sargetakis is board chair of Rowland Hall St. Mark’s School. Of course, the denizens of Park City know the couple for their generosity and their nurture of nature in donating the land to create the 1,200-acre Swaner Nature Preserve just outside of town. Meanwhile, the names Mac and Ann MacQuoid are well known to nonprofit organizations in and around Park City, where the couple share the good fortune and success they’ve had in real estate, historic renovation, and stock brokerage.
Steve Chin has served on the Chamber of Commerce and Kimball Arts Center’s boards while Val is the Park City Performing Arts Foundation’s vice president, a board member of the Utah Natural History Museum, and co-chair of the U.S. China Peoples Friendship Association. As ex-Parkites, The Doilneys’ love of art, architecture, and nature can still be found in our community even though they are now based in Napa.
Although good deeds link the four couples behind Parallel Wines, it’s decades of friendship that really characterize the company, the couples, and their mission: “Along the way, we’ve enjoyed many memorable times together, from countless ski days to casual evenings in our kitchens and living rooms. All of these memories have the thread of great wine woven throughout. It’s that feeling that we wish to perpetuate for ourselves and others through our wine.”
Even so, why wine? Wine appreciation and the wine business can be two very different things. According to Val Chin, it all started when she and husband Steve joined the MacQuoids for a weeklong golf clinic in California’s wine country. At the same time, Mike and Toni Doilney were buying a house in the area. “Toni didn’t want a vineyard,” says Val. “She wanted to be closer to a town, shopping, and that sort of thing.”
However, on the same trip the Chins came across a gorgeous vineyard property for sale in Calistoga. They called the Doilneys and, perhaps over a glass of wine or two, decided “Let’s do it!” Ultimately, the offer on that property fell through, but eventually resulted in the couples purchasing their Napa vineyard. Laughing, Val Chin says, “None of the four couples or our families ever had any experience in the wine business. It would be like four couples from Palm Desert buying a ski resort!”
Says Val, “We were smart enough though, to surround ourselves with people who really know the business.” So in addition to the Park City families, a couple of award-winning winemakers round out the Parallel team. Parallel’s winemaker Philippe Melka is a Frenchman who was trained in Bordeaux and is renowned worldwide in the wine industry. Food & Wine magazine named Melka “Winemaker of the Year” in 2005 and he was also given the American Wine Awards’ “Winemaker of the Year” honor. In France, he worked with the prestigious world-class estates of Chateau Cheval Blanc, Chateau Haut-Brion, and Petrus. Not surprisingly, Melka brings a French approach to winemaking in Napa: “The wine must tell the story of the native soil,” he says.
According to the Parallel partners, “When we decided to create Parallel Wines, we knew there was only one name to know when choosing a vineyard manager: Jim Barbour.” A Napa Valley native, Jim Barbour has been tending to grapes (along with plums and apples) since the ’60s. Like any superb food and wine match, his pairing with winemaker Melka is spot on. “The key to successful winemaking is matching the soil type to the vine,” says Barbour. “We don’t farm anymore, we garden. We tend to our vineyards on a vine-by-vine basis.”
The Parallel Wines story is partly one of fate and chance; mostly one of friendship. Four couples met in Park City three decades ago, converging via diverse routes and origins. Their marriages and friendships blossomed and flourished, right along with Park City itself. As the partners put it, “The unique personalities of our group make each of our friendships better, just as the different aspects of winemaking work in harmony to make a truly great bottle.” How rewarding it must be, bottling a lifetime of adventure, community and friendship!
Ted Scheffler is a Park City writer and radio host with a sadly depleted wine cellar.
The Wine
The instant Parallel’s tobacco, cherry, dried herbs, and blackberry aromas hit your nose, you’ll think you’re in Bordeaux. Taste-wise, Parallel envelopes the tongue with hints of vanilla, oak, cherries, and Asian spices. That’s all good news. The bad news is that according to Steve Chin, the 2003 Parallel Cabernet is mostly a distant memory and collectors’ item. But look for the much anticipated 2004 vintage to appear in stores and on wine lists soon. 2003 Parallel Wines Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $39.95.
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