Stonewall Creek Vineyards

We have not been to many Center for Life Enrichment (CLE) events this year, but one that we had signed up for was a tour of the Stonewall Creek Vineyards, located in beautiful rolling countryside south of Clayton in an area called Tiger.  I had always wondered about the origin of that name, and it took only a few clicks of the mouse to discover that it came from either the name of a Cherokee chief named Tiger Tail or the cry of roaming panthers.  Even more surprising was to learn that Tiger, Georgia, has its own Wikipedia page.

Rather than driving to CLE headquarters in Highlands, 20 minutes out of our way, we had arranged to drive straight through Warwoman Dell (named by the Cherokee after a Revolutionary-war era woman – and yes, there is a Warwoman Dell Wikipedia page).  We had never visited this area before now, even though it was not far away, and we learned that there were two other vineyards nearby as well, Tiger Mountain Vineyards and Noble Wine Cellar.  The vineyards are part of the Georgia Wine Highway, an August event that we now want to explore next year.

The area seemed to be a prosperous one, with nice homes and well-maintained yards, and we were surprised by the amount of grape vines, which we later learned amounted to seven acres, planted in the rolling fields. 

 
The main building, where the wine is fermented, had a tasting room and some outdoor tables in a beautiful setting overlooking the vineyard.  We were the first to arrive, followed shortly by another couple who had driven directly here as we had.  It was nice to finally be able to socialize, in an open-air setting, after being so confined by the circumstances of Covid. 

The owner, Mark Diehl, a retired orthopedic surgeon, had bought the vineyard in 2018 from the original founder, also an orthopedic surgeon who grew up in an Italian family that had always made wine.  It was obviously a labor of love for Mark and his wife Sandi, and he gave an articulate and informative tour of the vineyard and the winemaking process to 15 CLE wine enthusiasts.  We had visited big vineyards in Napa Valley in 2016, but it was nice to find that smaller vineyards like this were so nearby, and also that they were making good wine.  Most of the wines were varietals, chosen from French grapes specifically for the climate in Northeast Georgia, with its abundance of rain.  There was Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and a wine I was unfamiliar with, Petit Manseng.  We walked down into the vineyard to see up close some Cabernet grapes behind protective bird netting, ripe and ready for harvest later in the week.

After the tour, which included tasting some Chardonnay straight from the barrel – fizzy and very cloudy, but tasting very much like Chardonnay should taste – we adjourned to the tasting room and then lunch out on the patio.

Each of us was given four wines to taste.  I chose reds and Martha whites, and while we are not wine connoisseurs, we have been to a number of wine tastings over the years and we thought they were all very good, better than expected for a region not known for producing wine.  We ended up taking home a bottle of the Red Velvet Ruby Port, made from a blend of Norton grapes fortified with American brandy (distilled just down the road a little) and aged in American oak for 18 months. 

Lunch was salad with homemade dressing and classic Quiche Lorraine, and for desert, wine brownies.  We shared part of a bottle of the Petit Manseng, which complemented the lunch perfectly.  We lingered a little at the table, as others did, reluctant to leave, enjoying these last days of an unusually warm October, the leaves just beginning to turn a little in the higher mountains in the distance. 

As we eased out of the parking lot, top down on our Mini convertible, I looked over at Martha and said, “Life is good, isn’t it?”