FOR LOVE OF THE VINE

It began on a farm in Ohio, where he learned agriculture and soil first-hand. As a teenager he bought his first earth-moving equipment and never looked back — a construction career from 1976, formalised as Marshall Stuart Contracting in 1985, taking on large-scale general engineering projects across California.

The turn came on a job site. He was doing earth-moving and grading work at Callaway Winery in Temecula, spending his days around winemakers like John Moramarco, and found what he wanted to do next. In 1988 he began an apprenticeship with Carl Key at Keyways Winery, learning the craft hands-on while pursuing a degree in Winemaking, Viticulture and Enology at U.C. Davis. At Keyways he played a vital role in developing the winery's zinfandel programme.

Farming roots, a contractor's reading of soil, and academic training in enology make an unusual combination. It is the whole basis of how he works.

In 1994 he bought forty acres in the Temecula Valley at 1,425 feet — land Medieval Times had used to train horses. First vintage in 1995 from sourced grapes, vines in the ground in 1996, a horse barn converted into the Stuart Cellars tasting room by 1998, first estate harvest in 1999.

At its height he managed 36 acres of estate vines plus another 112 leased, producing roughly 26,000 cases a year and deliberately holding under 30,000 to keep the quality boutique. The goal was plain: to produce the best red wines in the Temecula Valley. Bold Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and distinctive red blends; new oak for complex tannin extraction; big standalone varietals blended into something more approachable without losing the fruit. The 2005 Long Valley Red took Best Red Wine of Temecula from the Temecula Valley Wine Society.

He sold Stuart Cellars in 2011. By then he had already joined Lorimar Vineyards and Winery as both vineyard manager and winemaker, developing wine styles in the lab at Stuart Cellars before Lorimar even opened — assessing what Temecula was missing and filling it. That period produced some of the most lauded wines to come out of the region, with multiple 90-plus scores from Wine Enthusiast.