I have known Christina Skinner, the vintner and proprietor of Middle Oak Wines, for a few years now. Her journey is a curious one because for the longest time she really hated wine.

Parable Wines is a family project for the Austin-based Eppright family. Their company, FTM Investments, has the initials of Fred Eppright, the father, and his two sons, Trey and Matt. But it was Trey, and his passion for wine, that set them on this journey.

Bruce and Ronda Prothro met shortly after graduating college and had their first date in Napa, California. Bruce, a chemist by education, was fascinated by the chemical reaction that is fermentation. That led to a homemaking wine operation in their garage way back in 1991 when they lived in California.