Complimentary
Subscription
Wine review email sent weekly.
|
|
November 2nd,
2006
Georgia Wineries |
 |
Many times, people
ask me what I think of Georgia wines. Often, their faces are
distorted in a look of disapproval, and I know what’s happened:
They’ve visited one or two that weren’t particularly good,
and used that information to discredit the entire lot of now
30 vineyards and wineries scattered around the state.
Most, of course, are concentrated in north Georgia, where
topography, soil and climate combine to make the best conditions
the state has for growing Vitis vinifera, the genus and species
most of us know as Chardonnay, Viognier, Riesling, Pinot Gris,
Pinot Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, Sangiovese, Merlot,
Syrah, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Petit Sirah and a whole
list of less familiar varieties that also belong to this classification.
Georgia grows a good chunk of this line-up.
And this vintage--2006--may turn out to be one of the best
ever for Georgia's grape growers and vintners. While our corn
and soy bean farmers have been struggling in this drought,
Georgia's viticulture relished the warm, sunny, dry summer,
the perfect circumstance for a fine vintage.
From the biggest, Chateau Élan just north of Atlanta,
to newcomers such as Sharp Mountain Vineyards in Jasper which
opened December 1, 2005, Georgia has a wide range of wineries.
They vinify everything from vinifera to French-American hybrids,
such as Seyval Blanc, Vidal Blanc--Three Sisters in Dahlonega
does an outstanding job with Vidal Blanc--and Chambourcin--see
Creekstone's Dessert Chambourcin--to fruit such as blueberries
and peaches. And of course, there are wines from the native
Scuppernong/Muscadine, or vitis rotundifolia (round leaf).
Years ago, there even was a fellow doing tomato wine down
near Forsyth, but the phone number on the badly weathered
sign that announced the enterprise never produced me a human
voice at the other end of the line, so I conclude this endeavor
is, shall we say, concluded. And peach wine in Georgia is
nearly as old as the state itself.
Georgia's colonial records show that the Trustees were interested
in fostering viticulture in the state, to wean British oenophiles
off their taste for French wines. But it didn't work in the
colony, as climate and soil were inimical to viticulture.
But Georgia produced enough wine from fruit and other grapes
up to Prohibition to claim a high spot in the national wine
production rankings. General James Longstreet, CSA, in his
retirement in Gainesville, GA, planted a vineyard and produced
wine from it that he sold at his hotel.
Post-Prohibition, Georgia's winery history is littered with
some now-closed operations that succumbed to financial failure,
while yet others found the labor just too daunting. Indeed,
Alan Wilson, who has some 1,000 Cabernet Sauvignon vines,
plus some Chambourcin near Cumming, admits there are days
when he thinks about digging up the whole business. But he
persists, selling his grapes to Eric Seiferth at Crane Creek
Vineyard near Young Harris. Seiferth, a retired Army colonel
and West Point alum, was posted to Italy, and spent every
free moment in the wine world while there. So did Wilson,
a sculptor, who went to Italy to hone his stonecutter's skills,
and got roped into the grape-growing business as a way of
paying part of his rent. Seiferth also works with Lee and
Laura Kay and their partners Chris and Kathy Sterns, who have
a couple of acres of Norton (a/k/a Cynthiana), Chardonel (a
crossing of Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc), and Chambourcin.
The Kays also got bitten by the grape bug on a trip to Italy
back in 1999, and planted their vines forthwith. Seiferth,
who does a superb Seyval Blanc at Crane Creek, is their sole
customer.
Growing the grapes is the major interest for a number of Georgians,
including Glen and Beckie Olsen of Beca Farms near Cleveland.
The couple has five acres planted to Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon
Blanc. Olsen has no illusions about developing a winery, as
he doesn't want to have to get into the promotion end of the
business. So he sells his Pinot Grigio grapes to Chateau Élan,
whose winemaker, Dan Baldwin, produces a Pinot Grigio that
sells at the winery for $21.
This vineyard business is a labor of love. No matter how tough
the work, folks who love it keep doing it. When Mary and Victor
Boutier bought Acoustic Vineyard near Danielsville (formerly
Gene Marra's Melon Ranch Vineyard), they actually MOVED their
vines from near Summerville in northwest Georgia to Acoustic,
then renamed the operation for themselves. With a tasting
room still located in Acworth, the couple is in the process
of building a facility at Danielsville. Their most successful
wine to date is the "Skinny Bitch," a blend of blueberry
and Syrah. "People can't get enough of it," says
the indefatigable Mary, a native of the other Dublin (Ireland,
that is).
Danielsville, where Boutiers grow their grapes, is about the
most southern point for vinifera growing in Georgia. However,
that didn't stop Thomas DeRosset, Jr., and his father from
planting Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Thomson at the 1810
Bed and Breakfast Inn they purchased just off I-20. It soon
became clear that they should have followed the advice they
got from David Harris at BlackStock Vineyards (see below),
as that didn't work. Now planted to non-vinifera varieties,
the winery sources its Merlot and Sangiovese from BlackStock,
while making wine from estate-grown Chambourcin, DeChaunac,
Vidal Blanc, Blanc du Bois, and Spanish Black (a/k/a Lenoir)
from Texas, all much better choices for this region.
Years ago, when Fox Vineyard and Winery in Social Circle,
also just off I-20, was attempting to grow Chardonnay and
not being successful at it, the punch line was that I-20 was
the "Chardonnay line," below which vines succumbed
to Pierce's Disease. This ultimately fatal condition is spread
by a singularly nasty varmint known as the glassy-winged sharp
shooter. Above 1100 feet above sea level, or thereabouts,
the condition diminishes its impact as cold weather reduces
the insect's population. But hold on: There are some attempts
under way by plant pathologists at both the University of
Florida and the University of Georgia to inoculate vines against
this pest. So we could be writing a whole new chapter on this
subject in the coming years.
So what accounts for the sudden burst of wineries south of
I-20? Fruit wines, that's what. Plus Muscadine. Before you
smirk and dis these native grapes, know that Jenne Burgess,
longtime winemaker at Florida's Lakeridge Winery in Clermont,
FL, wins rafts of medals with her traditional method sparkling
Muscadine. And judging a few years ago at International Eastern
Competition in Watkins Glen, NY, I sat on a panel that reviewed
several really good dry Muscadine wines, an approach to the
grape that I thought ill-advised until I tasted those. Wine
made from Muscadine is notorious for being "foxy,"
or very grapey. And it is. But it also can be surprisingly
good with barbecue, for a total Southern experience, and never
mind how well a good one can accompany a strong blue-veined
cheese.
Not done with all that, Muscadine, which includes the bronze
variety known as Scuppernong, may provide more health benefits
than vinifera. Mississippi State University discovered more
than a decade ago that Muscadine grapes are higher in fiber,
zinc, iron, and calcium than most fruits and contain higher
amounts of resveratrol and other heart-healthy factors than
any other grape. Our own University of Georgia has found in
Muscadine grape seeds and skins supremely high levels of ellagic
acid, which seems to retard the growth of abnormal cells,
and that Muscadine outdoes any tested fruit in amounts of
total antioxidants.
So that said, what about Georgia Muscadine wine? With some
1100 acres planted to these non-bunch grapes, Georgia is the
nation's largest producer of the variety, and Paulk Vineyards,
which produces no wine, clams to be the state's largest producer.
In Bulloch County, Meinhardt Vineyard and Winery, which stakes
a claim to being southeast Georgia's first winery, now produces
wine from estate-grown Muscadine and operates as its own distributor.
But now it has a neighbor in nearby Effingham County, where
Butterducks Estate Winery makes a variety of fruit and Muscadine
wines, as well as purchases Merlot from BlackStock Vineyards.
At the top end of the state, Georgia Winery has expanded into
a bright new facility, and specializes in Muscadine and fruit-based
wines. I tasted through the line-up recently, and thought
the fruit-based wines were much improved and delightfully
fresh tasting. I was impressed enough with the blueberry and
the peach-flavored Muscadine to buy one of each.
Swinging south, Chesser Island Winery near Folkston takes
its name from the original pioneer family. A descendant, Tracy
Chesser, is a Jacksonville, FL, attorney, who has started
a winery on the family homestead, which sits on an island
in the Okefenokee. Production is focused on fruit wines, especially
blueberry, but he makes several as traditional method sparkling
wines. The blueberry, he says, tastes like a sparkling Shiraz.
Chesser is casting about for some vinifera grapes that might
hang tough in that neck of the woods. He's determined to experiment.
And in southwest Georgia, Still Pond Vineyard launched in
November 2003--on Thanksgiving Day, to be exact. Muscadine
wines are the specialty there.
Meanwhile, the pioneers are doing the best work to date. Below
is a sample of some of the better wines to come to my attention
in recent months. Plus, this year, I've reviewed two wines
from Three Sister's Vineyard, the excellent Vidal Blanc and
the barbecue-friendly Fat Boy Red, both nicely done.
Joining them soon is start-up Serenity Cellars, a project
of former Floridians Joe and Tina Smith. They are currently
building their facility near Cleveland, GA, on the back side
of Mt. Yonah, where he figures to plant 1400 vines, mostly
Cabernet Franc, this spring. He'll be purchasing some fruit
from other Georgia growers until he gets his stock up and
running. A music sound engineer, Smith is determined and clear:
"We're all about quality," he says, not about being
big, and is driven by the Bordeaux model. Are we talking Château
Cheval Blanc on the "Hooch? Well, nobody ever figured
we'd get this far in the first place, so let's face the future
of Georgia wine growing with high expectations.
Jane Garvey
|
