Rob Ramsey

Rob  has been around Tennessee wine for most of his life.  Rob’s mom Belle and dad Bob Ramsey and Mr. Fay Wheeler and his wife Kathy started Highland Manor Winery, the first licensed winery in the state of Tennessee, in 1980.  Fay and Bob started laying the frame work for this in 1977 (Rob was 8 years old at the time.) Fay and his wife Kathy ran Highland Manor for 10 years. When Fay and Kathy, Bob and Belle, Dr. Lloyd Hassler, and Martin and Jamie Clark opened Stonehaus Winery in 1990 Rob was in school at Tennessee Tech.  Rob was hired to work there part-time while in school.  He worked at the tasting bar, gift shop, on the crush pad, mowed the grass, and helped bottle wine.

Funny as it sounds, Rob’s first entrepreneurial contribution to Stonehaus was pitching the owners on the idea of adding home-made fudge to the gift shop.  He served as the first fudge maker at Stonehaus gift shop and the fudge was a hit from the start.  The idea paid for itself in a very short period of time and Stonehaus now sells around 4,000 pounds of home-made fudge each year!

After graduating from Tennessee Tech (with a BS and MA in Psychology) he was hired by Mr. Lyndon Rains in Jamestown to work as a Producer for The Rains Agency in Crossville.  Rob worked for The Rains Agency for five years. It was a wonderful job, but Rob just was not happy selling insurance.

About that same time, Dr. Lloyd Hassler (then President and CEO) of Stonehaus was looking for someone to help with the computer work at Stonehaus and someone to spearhead distribution sales in the wholesale market.  Rob jumped at the chance!  In addition to his distribution duties, he has been actively involved in the acquisition of new automated equipment and redesigning the branding (labels, promotional materials, audio/video/ and electronic media, etc) of the winery.  He has also spent hundreds of hours of grass roots political work for the winery, and the wine industry of Tennessee, at the state and national level.  He has served as the Tennessee delegate and on the Board of Directors of WineAmerica.

Rob married Jane Darrah, daughter of Dr. David and Marsha Darrah of Smithville, on July 14th, 1996.  Rob and Jane have two beautiful children, Jake and Darrah, who are spoiled mercilessly by their grandparents!

Rob’s job description has gotten a bit more complicated over the years. In 2006 Rob became one of the owners at Stonehaus.  His duties continue to expand, but he could not be more content.  Rob says that “Monday morning and Saturday morning feels pretty much the same to me. It does not get much better than that!”