Wineries & Vineyards

The Chateau Elan Win­ery was opened in 1984 by Don and Nancy Panoz and cur­rently sits among acres of vine­yards. The Win­ery also hosts two din­ing estab­lish­ments: the ele­gant French Le Clos restau­rant and the relaxed Mediter­ranean style bistro, Café Élan. Upon enter­ing the Win­ery you will first dis­cover the Wine Mar­ket, which fea­tures Château Élan wines along with a wide vari­ety of wine-​related and culi­nary gift items. The Win­ery also hosts The Viking Culi­nary Stu­dio, which offers week­end cook­ing classes and Sat­ur­day cook­ing demonstrations. The Art Gallery is also located in the Win­ery on the 2nd floor.

The Chateau Elan Inn offers 275 deluxe guest rooms. The gue­strooms are inspired by the Château Élan archi­tec­tural and inte­ri­ors style that emu­lates ele­ments of a French coun­try estate.

In addition to the Winery and Inn, there’s also a Spa, Golf Course and Event Center.

In 1998, Atlantans’ Craig and Cydney Kritzer founded Frogtown Cellars in the “Frogtown District” of Lumpkin County; a viticultural area carefully selected for quality wine grape production and outstanding mountain views. Frogtown’s principal estate property is a 57 acre vineyard and winery complex located at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains between Dahlonega and Cleveland, Georgia, which is within the geographically defined “Dahlonega Plateau.” Since 2010 Frogtown has been awarded 2 Platinum, 36 Gold, 82 Silver and 92 Bronze Medals in major US competitions.

Frogtown’s winery is specifically designed to take advantage of the steep changes in elevations created by the topography of our rolling, hilly terrain. The winery is constructed as a tri-level gravity flow winery. Each of the three levels has a different elevation and serves different functions in the winemaking process. The top level is the crush pad, where the initial stages of winemaking occur. The second level, 12 feet below the crush pad, is the principal tank room, where fermentations occur and wine is stored and blended in stainless steel tanks. The third and lowest level, six feet below the tank room, houses the barrels where red wines and some white wines are aged. The third level also contains the bottling area. These three separate and distinct levels promote the movement of grape juice and wine by gravity. Using gravity to primarily move juice and wine is significantly less invasive and more gentle than moving juice and wine with the aid of even the gentlest of pumps.

Frogtown’s North Georgia vineyards are at elevations from 1675 feet to 1825 feet above sea level. The estate’s land is divided into separate blocks based on the diverse soil, climate, terrain and vine row aspect of each block. Different white and red wine grape varieties are planted in each distinct block based on the block’s viticultural characteristics.

Frogtown hosts Vineyard Weddings and Wine Taster’s Dinners and Brunches. Check the event calendar on the website for details.

As you drive into the entrance of the 35-acre Paradise Hills Resort property, there is a small test vineyard roadside, below some of the rental cabins. The main vineyard at Paradise Hills stretches beyond the centrally located Lodge with the winery production building alongside it.

The vineyards were originally planted in 2012 with a variety of grapes to include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Reisling, Chardonnel, Traminette and Sangiovese. The vines are closely managed and cultivated with specific seasonal techniques to enhance their growth and enrich the grapes’ quality.

Here, we strive to balance the regions impact on the grapes with our personal vision of the finest wines. Local wine with European flare. Our vineyards and farm winery are a family operation that involves every member contributing to every aspect and stage of the process. Grapes-to-glass (winemaking) is a process that is an evolving, forever-learning craft.

Tiger Mountain Vineyards, a boutique North Georgia winery, cultivates all of its grapes and produces all of its handcrafted wines in the mountains of Rabun County. The winery, along with its historic Red Barn Cafe, is jointly owned by four native Georgians, John and Martha Ezzard and John and Marilyn McMullan.

In January of 2009, John and Marilyn McMullan joined the Ezzards as partners in the winery. Together, the Ezzards and McMullans created a new business strategy and, in 2011, began refurbishing the historic 75-year-old barn into what is now the cafe and events venue. Dr. John began planting European vinifera grapes in 1995 on his five-generation-old farm at Tiger Mountain where he was born. He and his wife Martha, with the assistance of a successful Virginia vineyard, carefully selected the varieties of grapes suited to the climate of the southern Blue Ridge, creating the first vinifera vineyard in the state. Tiger Mountain Vineyards now grows six French vinifera varieties: Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Mourvedre, Petit Manseng, Tannat, and Viognier, as well as the Portuguese Touriga Nacional. In addition to the European varieties, John also planted the American Norton grape, native to Virginia. The first Norton vines were rooted from Virginia cuttings. In addition, Tiger Mountain Vineyards is currently the only producer of Petit Manseng in Georgia.

Tiger Mountain Vineyards is proud of the old-world methods used in creating its handcrafted wines. Tiger Mountain produces traditional dry wines in the European style from each of its grape varieties, three red blends, and an award-winning semi-dry Rose as well as a late-harvest dessert wine. Red wines are fermented in small-batch open tanks. Each tank is meticulously monitored and tended by hand. White wines are fermented in French oak barrels and bottled precisely when the desired crispness is achieved. Tiger Mountain barrel-age its reds for two years in American oak. All of its wines are delicately pressed using water pressure.