Dahlonega, Ga.—Doug Paul, owner of Three Sisters Vineyard and Winery in Dahlonega, Ga., died of heart failure on March 7 at the age of 59.

Paul and his wife Sharon bought a 184-acre farm, planted grapes and opened the first winery in Dahlonega in the northern part of Georgia in 1996. His goal was to make high quality wine and to encourage the establishment of vineyards from Savannah on the Atlantic Coast northwest to Young Harris, Ga., on the border with North Carolina.

Partly because of his advocacy, the Georgia wine industry has grown to 54 wineries, many of them in North Georgia. According to Wines Vines analytics, Three Sisters Vineyard and Winery now has 21 acres of grapes and produces 3,500 cases per year. The Dahlonega Chamber of Commerce commented: “We will always have an image of Doug, in his denim overalls, giving a big, warm welcome to locals and visitors alike as he strove to make people feel welcome, with his expressed purpose of making wine and love of wine available to people of all walks of life — or as he put it, ‘taking the snobbery out of wine.’”

Paul was also well-known for his work in television and radio. He was the signature voice for GRIT TV (owned by Katz Broadcasting) and for Joseph A. Bank clothiers. A member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of TV and Radio Artists, he was the owner of Catspaw Productions and Catspaw Studios.