Terroir Wine Cellars
About Paul Clear and Terroir Wine Cellars
Terroir Wine Cellars was founded in 2009 by wine industry veteran Paul Clear.
Clear got his start in the wine business in 1994, working at one of the top Wine and Liquor stores in the USA, Premier Liquor in Buffalo, NY. Starting as a stock boy at the ripe age of 18, Clear quickly became curious about wine. This tends to happen when you’re surrounded by 10,000 wines and hundreds of millions of dollars in inventory. Clear worked his way up the ladder at Premier, raising his status to Senior wine consultant in just 3 years.
In 1998, Clear left Premier and moved to Washington, D.C. to persue his political interests working for the Human Rights Campaign for nearly a year. Working 24 hours a day for little money convinced Clear to move back to Buffalo where he landed at Georgetown Square Wine and Liquor as Wine Manager. Georgetown quickly went from neighborhood liquor store to the 17,000 square foot wine power it is today, a major player in Western New York.
After various sales-rep positions with Mullen & Gunn, Lauber Imports and Martin-Scott, Clear moved south to the warm confines of Florida.
After working over a year running the state for Zyr Vodka, Clear got back into the wine business working closely with Michel Rolland at Virginia’s Kluge Estate where Clear was in charge of sales for the Southeast US.
In December 2008, while sitting in a famous coffee chain, Clear mentioned the idea of producing and importing quality wines from around the world and starting a company that gives back to the environment and the Terroir.
In 2010, Palarea Tinto 2005 landed on the shores of New York looking to make a splash and change the wine industry back to the way it was by proving that with hard work, dedication and ethics, the small guy can win, and sales reps everywhere can begin selling wines they love again.