“They make wine in Georgia?”
After 20 years in the business, I still occasionally get someone in the tasting room who quizzically walks in and questions the concept. But I am sure hearing it less and less.
Georgia was reported to have been the sixth-largest wine grape producer in the country prior to Prohibition.
When Georgia Prohibition was enacted in 1908 — 12 years prior to national Prohibition — the emerging industry came to a crashing halt. Upon Prohibition’s repeal in 1933, some parts of the country quickly recovered their wine-making. But Georgia’s languished for another half-century in the doldrums of strict blue laws in its counties and municipalities.
It was not until 1983, when a Farm Winery bill was passed in the Georgia Legislature, did the industry start to make a long climb back. From a slow start, growth has accelerated. There are now more than 40 wineries in the state, with many more in the wings. People are planting grapes with an eye on opening bonded wineries in the near future.
Following the footsteps of North Carolina and Virginia, the Georgia wine industry is healthy and flourishing. With the principle growing region the Appalachian highlands in the northeast portion of the state, the wine industry has found, like its North Carolina and Virginia brethren, a unique micro-climate of a long, warm growing season, cool nights and lower humidity, mimicking many of the premier wine-growing regions of Europe.
This impressive growth has had a significant impact on Georgia’s economy, with more than $14 million in revenues generated statewide.
This is especially true in the northeast mountains. In addition to wineries and on-site tasting rooms, the industry has benefited local economies through regional festivals, restaurants and lodging. An annual Wine Highway Weekend, started in 2004 as a sleepy, local, wine trail event, has exploded into a two-week-long “happening” with hundreds of participants and hospitality partners packaging lodging and food events with the highway event.
Also, Downtown Dahlonega, the “tasting room capital of the state,” offers many regional Georgia wineries setting up satellite tasting rooms in concentrations that would rival Napa, Yountville or Healdsburg, Calif.
Certainly, Georgia’s wine industry is here to stay.
In many ways, we are still at the awkward “teenage” stage in our development. In the vineyard, we are experimenting with wine grapes from around the globe, searching for that perfect fit for our region. In the cellar, we are experimenting with styles that reflect our region and terrior instead of simply imitating popular wine styles from established wine regions.
What helps is a growing, sophisticated and adventurous wine-drinking public from the Atlanta area that is game for trying new and different wines.
My conservative prediction is the number of wineries in Georgia will approach or surpass 100 in another decade. The industry will move into adulthood, and with that, the confidence to make wine with grapes that perform best in our region. That grape may be one we are working with now, or perhaps some obscure variety from elsewhere (Greece, southern Italy or Austria?) yet to be planted.
This is an exciting time to be in the Georgia wine business. We have a boundless future with a wonderful regional market ready, willing and wanting to embrace us and support us in what we love to do.
Eric Seifarth is president of Crane Creek Vineyards in Young Harris.
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