In pursuit of making world-class Riesling, Paul Hobbs chose the Finger Lakes, an emerging wine region in New York State, where his family roots lie. Winemaking began in the winery's own vineyards, and the winery, which was established in 2013, was named after his mother, Sean Hillick, and father, Edward Hobbs. The vineyards are located on steep slopes with high planting density. Paul Hobbs, who makes wine all over the world, began researching how to make world-class Riesling, and he ended up in the Finger Lakes, an emerging wine region in upstate New York, where his family roots lie. The winery's name, Hillick, is the surname of Joan Hillick, who met his father, Edward Hobbs, at Cornell University and later became Paul's mother. The winery, named after Paul's parents' surnames, was started as a project to use the latest cultivation and brewing techniques in the Finger Lakes to make Riesling that would rival the wines made by his European compatriots. When Paul lived with his 10 brothers and sisters on a farm in Niagara County, his father Edward visited the Finger Lakes. The stories he told over the dinner table sparked Paul's interest and led him down the path to winemaking, which would become his calling. When he was 16, his father instructed Paul to replant part of the farm's orchard into a vineyard. By the time Paul attended Notre Dame College, he was selling grapes to wineries in the Finger Lakes, and his father encouraged him to study wine. He then studied wine at UC Davis, where he naturally developed an interest in Riesling, and German Riesling in particular became what he would later admit was his first love. Later, as an established winemaker worldwide, Paul realized that the Finger Lakes had the right climate, slate soils, and slopes to produce great Riesling. So Paul and his brother David Hobbs thoroughly researched the area and found land south of Hector Falls that had a lot in common with the Moselle region. In 2013, when the purchase of the land was completed, they made a huge investment and built a vineyard from scratch on nothing, starting on Labor Day weekend in September. And from this 78-acre (about 31ha, of which 8.4ha is vineyard) winery, the first vintage was finally released after almost 10 years.
Dedicated solely to producing Riesling, the winery is dedicated to reviving the Hobbs family's legacy of growing grapes in upstate New York and to elevating the potential of this emerging wine region, with steep, hard slate soils that are nearly impossible to machine.