Wine

Thursday, May. 21, 2009

Wine Notes: Hoy Buell, Paul Ayers of Hearthstone

Natural leap from Flowers

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Another new winery has joined the impressive lineup of tasting rooms along Paso Robles’ west side Vineyard Drive.

Joining the ranks of Denner, Jada, Dover Canyon and Opolo is now Hearthstone Vineyard and Winery.

Although Hearthstone’s owner, Hoy Buell, is new to the neighborhood, he is not new to farming in this county. As founder and owner of Greenheart Farms in Arroyo Grande, Buell runs one of the largest nurseries in the United States, selling his products to flower wholesalers all across the country.

“I’ve always just wanted to grow plants,” Buell says, “it’s just a fever, a natural fever of mine.”

Between his operations in Arroyo Grande, Santa Maria and Arizona, he propagates more than one billion plants a year. In addition to being one of the biggest growers of roses in the United States, he also grows seasonal flowers such as poinsettias for Christmas and cyclamen for Valentine’s Day.

About a decade ago Buell added grapevine plants to his farm, and it wasn’t long before his thoughts started veering toward wine.

In search of the perfect soil and climate conditions, he found a 40-acre property in the Templeton Gap area of west side Paso Robles, and started planting a vineyard with red and white Rhone varieties, zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir.

“I basically planted whatever I wanted to play around with and some day make into great wine,” Buell said.

Today there are a total of 15 different varieties planted in the vineyard, many with multiple clones of the same varietal.

As in his nursery operations, Buell is passionate about sustainability. He won’t allow any vehicles in the vineyard, and he uses a minimalist approach in every step of the growing process.

He also uses a minimalist approach in making wine. The first year he made wine, 2003, he used no oak in the aging process.

“I wanted to experience the pure essence of the fruit in order to get a good foundation for the future,” he says.

It didn’t take long for Buell to master the fruit from his vineyard. His 2004 Fireside Claret won a Gold Medal at last year’s San Francisco Chronicle competition.

In 2007 Buell brought in winemaker Paul Ayers, who previously worked at the Paso Robles Wine Services, as well as several other wineries in the area.

Ayers says he always wanted to work for a west side winery, and leapt at the chance to work with Buell’s extensive selection of varieties in his vineyard.

With a focus on creating unique blends, Ayers and Buell collaborate on most the wines together.

“I feel like we’re really doing all the right things to make this a success,” Ayers says.

They are still making small lots of wine, for a total of about 1,000 cases last year.

They opened the new tasting room on Vineyard Drive just last week, and hope to sell most of their production direct to the public, and avoid distribution.

“My model is to slowly grow a 40-acre vineyard into full usage through efforts both in our tasting room and wine club,” Buell explains. “The whole goal here is to have excellent wines at reasonable prices.”

Most their wines are priced from $18 to $32 — a value, they say, compared to other west side wines.

The new tasting room is not big — only 1,000 square feet — but it has sweeping views of the west side hills, and has the warmth, comfort and friendly ambiance that Buell initially intended the Hearthstone to reflect.

Hearthstone Vineyard and Winery

5070 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles, 238-2544

Owner: Hoy Buell

Winemaker: Paul Ayers

Cases produced: 1,000 in 2008

Tasting Room Hours: Thursday – Monday, 11 a.m to 5 p.m.

www.hearthstonevineyards.com

Janis Switzer can be reached at 434-5394 or via e-mail at janisswitzer@yahoo.com.