Destinations | Local Discovery
You Had Me at Merlot Homegrown hobby to burgeoning business By: Caroline R. Freeman Photos: Rachel Durrent
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ebbie and Dan Parker’s award-winning wines are the toast of the town in Rockport, TX.
Dan Parker, co-owner and operator of Winery on the Bay has been making beer and wine at home for 35 years. What spurred the change from backroom hobby to flourishing business? A Christmas card. Dan recalls, “Ten years ago, while living in Gruene, our family needed to do a Christmas card for that year. So, I made the sauvignon blanc that we still serve here, and we put our Christmas picture as the label. We gave that wine to all our friends and family.” Half of those creative holiday card recipients came back for more and encouraged Dan and his wife, Debbie, to begin making wine for a living. “Two years later, we opened our first winery in Gruene, called Winery on the Gruene, and it’s still there,” says Dan. Dan and Debbie loved vacationing in the charming beach town of Rockport. Three years ago, the family decided to relocate from Gruene to the Coastal Bend area for what Debbie calls “a working retirement” and open their second
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winemaking business, Winery on the Bay. The Parkers still keep the Gruene location up and running with Dan’s monthly visits and a childhood friend, John Czajkowski, as their partner. The success of Dan and Debbie’s business steadily grows. Winery on the Bay has expanded and moved to a larger location in downtown Rockport. This colorful boutique winery features a large tasting room and comfortable seating options including their wonderful front patio. Through a large window behind the bar, you can see into their winemaking room filled with wine barrels and bottles. For $5, in their tasting room you can sample 4 of any of their 28 wines. They also offer cheese, salami, crackers, olives, and chocolate to pair and snack on. But what really makes Dan and Debbie’s wineries different is that they use grape juices from all over the world. Dan explains, “We get our juices from many countries. Because of this, we have a wide variety of wines we make; if you like sweet, dry, traditional whites and reds, custom blends—we have it. There’s a little bit of everything for everybody.”
[the lifestyle magazine of the coastal bend]