Jen Parr: Oral History Interview

This interview is with Jen Parr of Valli Wines in New Zealand. In this interview, Jen talks about her plethora of experiences in different wine regions of the world. Jen talks about growing up in Portland and eventually heading to Stanford University pursuing a degree in English literature. During her time at Stanford, she discovered the wine industry for the first time. After graduating, she transitioned into financial software sales until she found she was hitting snooze on her alarm every morning, not excited to go to work. From there, she decided she wanted to work in the wine industry because she wanted to drink wine that was out of her price range and make a livelihood out of this passion.Jen discusses how she sent around 45 letters to wineries in hopes they would be willing to let her work a harvest. Since she didn’t have any experience at the time, she received many rejections, if any response at all. However, a special place responded and gave her a chance. After working her first harvest, Jen went around the world working at different companies and learning about the unique qualities of each place. Jen specifically notes her formative time in South Africa because of the team she worked with. Eventually, she settled at Valli Wines in New Zealand, where she works today and plans on staying. Later in the interview, Jen talks about the future of the industry. Jen believes the industry needs to work with consumers to help them find the language of wine and explain why they like what they like. Jen describes wine as “liquid language” as it connects people, place, and time. Jen compares the future of the industry to Darwinism, and explains how the wineries that are able to adapt and listen will survive. This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Jen’s childhood home in Portland on June 8, 2026.