Home Grown Vino!

Sure, Georgia is known as the “Peach State,” but in wine country, it’s all about grapes. When you step foot in wine country, you step foot into a whole other world! Just take a trip down the Ga Wine Highway and find out for yourself.

Georgia winemaking flourished in the 1880s, Georgia only ranked sixth in production among U.S. states. Prohibition ceased production. In 1907, the state adopted a full alcohol prohibition (11 years before it was implemented across the country). In recent years the Georgia wine industry has rebounded and are now producing some very good wines and they are getting stronger one glass of wine at a time. Visit one and you’ll be taken away to another world.

Here are a several of the great wineries in the state:

Black Stock Vineyards and Winery. Black Stock calls the Dahlonega Mountains home. They produce chardonnay, viognier, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese, and even a rose`. You can tastes these wines in the Appalachian-style lodge, which features a three-side “stovepipe” fireplace and impressive window views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, or take it outside to the 20,000 square-foot covered deck. The tasting room and gift shop are open daily.

Less than two hours away from Atlanta in Young Harris, Crane Creek Vineyards feels worlds away. Sitting high in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Crane Creek has a unique microclimate that produces delicious grapes. Its tasting room is set in the old Bryson farmhouse, providing an intimate and comfortable atmosphere where you can sip wine or find the perfect gift for your favorite wine lover. They produce several different labels that include reds, whites, rose` and even a sweet picnic wine that sounds pretty interesting.

Château Élan’s winery, in Braselton, is the largest producer of premium wines in Georgia, and it has been recognized by Wine Spectator for exceptional vintages. It is a little piece of the French countryside located in Georgia. Along with a tasting room and winery tours, it’s home to two restaurants - Café Élan and Le Clos - plus an art gallery and wine market. They produce chardonnay, cabernets, merlots, and recently started producing a pinot noir. In addition to these wines they also produce several varities of muscadine wines. These are usually too sweet for me, but some people love them.

At the foot of the Appalachian Mountains lies the 57-acre wine estate known as Frogtown Cellars. On its 40 acres of vineyard, Frogtown has 17 different varieties of grape vines – each planted in a carefully selected location to produce quality wine. Some of these varietals are: Whites – marsanne, rousanne, chardonnays, viognier, and several blends; Red’s – merlot, sangiovese, cabernet franc, and various different blends; and a rose`.

Habersham Winery has over 150 medals under its belt since it started producing wine in 1983. The Helen, Ga. winery isn’t just a place to see where wine is made; it’s where to go to relax and soak in the Georgia lifestyle. It’s a part of the Nacoochee Village and you can do much more than taste their wines. But some of the wines you can taste are: a rose`, a couple of rieslings, a couple of chardonnays, and a cabernet sauvignon and a scarlett.

Persimmon Creek Vineyards, a small, family- owned boutique winery, is nestled
in the beautiful mountains of Northeast Georgia in Clayton. Founded in 2000, Persimmon Creek now produces two rieslings (a normal and late harvest), a cabernet franc, a merlot and a seyval blanc. I am not familiar with this grape and apparently is it a hybrid grape developed by the French in the 19th century. They have a tasting room on the square in downtown Clayton as well at the 110-acre vineyard.

Tiger Mountain Vineyards is located Blue Ridge Mountains in the small town of Tiger. They plant both French grapes and Portuguese grapes while producing award-winning wines like cabernet franc, malbec, tannat, and viognier. The first grapes were planted in 1995 with the first bottles produced in 1999.

Located on the Dahlonega plateau, Wolf Mountain Vineyards and Winery produces wines that are produced from 100% Georgia grown grapes. They produce and have won awards with Bordeaux & Rhone style red blends, chardonnay, viognier and blended whites. This beautiful vineyard is located just 5 miles north of the Dahlonega town square and has a tasting room in town as well as on the grounds.

All of these wineries are located on the Ga Wine Highway and are worth checking out. Make a weekend out of it and stay in one of the great bed and breakfasts in the area. There are some really good wines coming out of Georgia and they will only get better. I have visited some of these wineries but not all of them. I hope to get to the ones I haven’t been to soon. They are definitely worth the drive and you could hit all or most of them in one day. This is a great way to help local farmers and taste some great wines!

Cheers!