Working in Atlanta as clothing buyer at Nordstrom and having no training or education in winemaking, Trey Busch life took a drastic change in direction when he was offered the opportunity to move to Walla Walla and apprentice under winemaker Eric Dunham of Dunham Cellars. He continued his wine education working independently at another Washington winery, Basel Cellars. Then in 2002 he met Jerry Solomon at the Sun Valley Wine Auction's trade tasting, who shared his passion for outstanding wine, rock and roll, and fun. Trey, Jerry, and the winery's third partner, Sandy Solomon, started doing annual wine dinners in Sun Valley until in 2006 when Trey finally convinced Sandy and Jerry to come to Walla Walla for a visit.

That visit proved to be another life-changing moment for Trey. In less than 24 hours after their arrival, the Solomons had not only fallen in love with Walla Walla and its unique charm, but a deal had been struck to start the winery. In June of 2007 the winery officially opened its doors with a small storefront tasting room in Downtown Walla Walla, while renting space at another winery for production purposes.

Today, Trey’s wine acumen is well-documented by some of the industry’s top wine writers and publications, including Steven Tanzer, Robert Parker, The Rhone Report, Wine Spectator, and virtually every other wine critic who’s had the pleasure of tasting the wines of Sleight of Hand A cursory examination of those four sites produces 20 90+ wines already in the very brief history of the winery, topping out with the 95 points that Wine Spectator bestowed upon his ’08 “Illusionist” Cabernet