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"Rustic-elegant
Weekend Excursions with Some of Georgia's Best Winemakers during
the Height of Harvest!"
(All photos will expand when clicked, but file sizes are large!)
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| The on-set of our vineyard
lunch with Tiger Mountain in the background, and Martha Ezzard
in front. |
The view from the "back forty", our guests pose
with Craig Kritzer of Frogtown Winery.
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It’s great to stumble upon an idea that really works—for everyone
involved. Such was the case with the Wine Harvest Weekends,
a first-ever, action-packed Friday thru Sunday during the height
of Georgia’s grape harvest, coupled with rustic-elegant accommodations
and special cuisine. You may recall that last month was a daisy-chain
of hurricanes and tropical storms, yet both of our weekends
were completely untouched by rain—we didn’t even have clouds.
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| We ran two trips, one on September 10 – 12, with
accommodations at Glen
Ella Springs, and vineyard visits to Tiger
Mountain Vineyards & Persimmon
Creek Vineyards; the second on September 24-26, with accommodations
at Smithgall
Woods, and vineyard visits to Frogtown
Winery, Blackstock
Vineyards, and Habersham
Winery. While the two weekend excursions only differed in
price by $100/person, the trips were each unique. Each called
upon different Innkeeper charms to impress the attendees, each
Executive Chef created delicious multi-course wine dinners,
with a little help from some international wine selections,
and the winery operators and vineyards managers (sometimes the
same person) had different biases and philosophies on grape
growing and wine making to share. |
| Freshly Squeezed Grape Juice Becoming
Wine Before Our Eyes |
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Top: The grapes come in from the vineyard
in small plastic totes. "lugs"
Top Right: The Prathers check out the de-stemming
and crushing of the French grape Tannat (or was it Portuguese
Touriga?) All tasted this unfermented sweet juice, in addition
to multiple wine samples at various ages. Notice all are "involved"
but no one got their hands dirty! |
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| Above: An open-top fermenting
tub of Touriga Nacional. Right: Bill Stack
of Tiger Mountain makes a yeast slurry for another tub of Touriga
which has been cold-soaking. |
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Left: Kim Farr tries out the old-fashioned
corking machine at Tiger. He, like all of us, got a new appreciation
for what it meant to do this 60,000 times. |
| However, other than pulling off two different
weekends and seeing happy guests as a result of these endeavors,
the most satisfying moments came when we saw the surprise turned
admiration for our infant Georgia wine industry. To begin with,
most of our guests were somewhat skeptical about Georgia wines,
and their ability to ever be as good as an average California
wine. Our guests were introduced to grape growing on a level
that not only educated them on Viticulture, but gave them an
appreciation for growing grapes in North Georgia, and how our
vineyard managers utilize mother nature’s gifts in a way to
do what many said was impossible. Calling upon other well established
grape growing regions, it was not unusual to hear vineyard managers
build a case for why this Georgia terroir is like that of Burgundy,
or another area is more like another region. This “relative
basis” was helpful for guests to understand how similar Georgia
terroir can be in many respects to world-renowned regions.
In short, during the best of September’s weather we found
ourselves tromping through Georgia vineyards, picking grapes,
testing sugar-levels, and watching our favorite beverage take
form in the winery. Connect With Wine conducted the first
weekend wine harvest tours…not to be the last. Adventurous
wine enthusiasts allowed us to wine, dine and educate them
in luxury!
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Glen Ella Springs, Weekend
#1
We visited the upper northeast corner of the state, staying
in the quaint and historic Glen-Ella Springs Inn while visiting
Tiger Mountain Vineyards and Persimmon Creek Vineyards. At Glen-Ella
host Barrie Aycock, along with Executive Chef Chris Bolton,
treated us to superb dining experiences after hiking through
the vineyards, testing grape sugars, and enjoying tea in the
contemporary, artistic home of our vineyard hosts—Martha&
John Ezzard. We consumed chanterelle mushrooms in a Burgundy
wine sauce that were harvested by Barrie’s neighbors. We supped
mid-afternoon in Tiger’s vineyards on Barrie' s apple wood-smoked
pork and salmon. The first day we sipped Tiger Viognier &
Cabernet Franc with our lunches; the second day Persimmon Creek
Seyval Blanc & Riesling. |
“Thank you for putting together such
a nice trip. We really enjoyed ourselves. We have a completely
different perspective on GA wines now! Everything was first
class and I think we had a nice group of people. Look forward
to future events.”
– Steve Saenz |
| Persimmon Creek Vineyards |
Dr. Sonny Hardman of Persimmon Creek talks about his
Cabernet Franc vines, the judicious use of pesticides, and the
soil & temperature differences throughout his vineyards. |
At the highest point of the vineyard, with Merlot to our right,
we look out upon a beautiful landscape. |
Their little slice of heaven. A babbling stream, Riesling over
to our right, and Merlot upper right. At 2,000 feet above sea
level, the humidity level is lower and the lower temperatures
help retain precious acidity in the grapes.
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Our weekend "vineyard lunches" were always a highlight.
On the Hardman's porch, Sonny and Mary Ann were the perfect
hosts. As we sipped wine in the mountain breeze, the dog pulled
a fish out of the stream below and headed to the woods for his
own snack. |
Smithgall Woods, Weekend #2
During our second wine harvest weekend, another group of wine
loving folks joined us at The Lodge at Smithgall Woods and got
a private look at Frogtown Cellars’, Blackstock Vineyard’s and
Habersham Winery’s operations. Smithgall is a private mountain
paradise with lodges built along a beautiful, “top ten” trout
steam, Dukes Creek. Trout, however, was not on the menu, but
artisanal cheeses personally served by Alon’s cheese monger
Matt Bonano, roasted corn with shrimp soup and Georgia Bank’s
scallops with fresh tomato cream were. |
“Food was fantastic. Wine was very good
and plentiful. Location, the lodge was beautiful. The staff
and service were superb. And most of all Connect with Wine really
knows how to entertain.” – Robin Porter |
| Frogtown Vineyards |
Craig Kritzer discusses the vine trellising system used for
Eastern US Viticulture, and how Frogtown has further adapted
it to their needs. |
The Kritzer wine-making duo give a primer on oak aging, allowing
guests to taste the differences of aging wine in & out of
oak, american oak or french. |
The "Geneva Double Curtain" trellis system, here supporting
Cabernet Sauvignon, has ensnared our guests! |
Tasting & Touring in the vineyard. Craig Kritzer discusses
the essentials to being successful in the unique Georgia terroir,
and the critical relationship between grape ripeness and grape
maturity. |
| Blackstock Vineyards |
The single most knowledgeable viticulturist in Georgia is likely
David Harris, shown here at left. David's company grows only
European grape varietals, selling them to other wineries in
and out of Georgia. |
After two hours of touring David's vineyards, Cindy Gibson of
Garden Gate Catering lays out a spread for us to enjoy amidst
the view of the Appalachian foothills. |
| Habersham Winery's General Manager Steve Gibson, and Winemaker
Andrew Beatty hosted us for multiple, vertical barrel samples,
and treated us to a bird's eye view of winemaking on a more
voluminous scale. Habersham, one of the two oldest farm wineries
in Georgia, produces more wine than the other wineries aforementioned
combined. Doing so and retaining quality means larger equipment,
high-speed bottling lines, and distributor relationships. |
Little known
fact: several of our Georgia grape growers and wine
makers hail from the world-recognized Viticultural programs
of UC Davis and Fresno State with previous employment in well-known
wineries such as Trefethen and Antinori. |
The Second Annual Wine Harvest Weekend
Based on guest feedback, and that of the hosting Inn's and
wineries, it would be a mistake not to run these trips again
next year. There is a good deal of preparation, considering
it is "just" a weekend. Yet the unique nature of
this hands-on excursion, while simultaneously being pampered,
wined and dined seems to be a great combination.
So keep your peepers peeled for the 2005 series of trips
which will likely have some new twists and turns to keep these
fresh and exciting. |
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