Rob grew up far away from Oregon’s wine country in Buffalo, New York. His eyes were first opened to the world of wine when he visited his Uncle in England at 17 years old, where he tried a 1961 Bollinger Brut. He went on to earn a degree in biochemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and had a short career in the biochemistry labs at Baylor University in Texas. He then enrolled in viticulture and enology courses at U.C. Davis, where he was advised by Dr. Anne Nobel. This led him to begin his winemaking journey on the bottling line at Hans Kornell in Napa, California, then to Southern Oregon’s Valley View Vineyards, and eventually to Staton Hills in Yakima, Washington where he made wine for ten years. Rob returned to Oregon in 1994 when he became the winemaker at Erath Vineyards. After making wine for other producers for more than twenty years, Rob and his partners founded R. Stuart & Co. Winery in 2001. 

 

Rob often travels around the country, hosting winemaker dinners and meeting with distributors – not because he needs to be “the face” of R. Stuart, but because he genuinely enjoys tasting with consumers and industry folks, seeing their reactions to his wines. When Rob talks about his favorite parts of the winery, the list is expansive and encompasses every part of the winemaking process. “In all the years I’ve been making wine, there have never been two vintages alike. There’s always a challenge to problem solve, and yes, sometimes we make mistakes, but we also learn every step of the way. Ultimately, that process makes our wines better each and every year.”