Day 3 of our Dahlonega trip found us exploring downtown Dahlonega mid-morning Friday. It was pretty quiet and few shops were open yet, so we wandered around a bit. We found the old Presbyterian Church from 1900, now used by the Catholics since the mid-1960s. It had an interesting Japanese Maple growing by it.

One of the shops along the square was a pottery shop. The potter, Brad Walker, is quite an interesting character.

We also found local chocolatier Paul Thomas Chocolates on the next corner and bought a selection of truffles and caramels to go with our wine. Sorry, Mom! They didn’t make it back to Texas! Our original goal had been the Kilwins store for fudge, but it wasn’t open yet, so we killed time in the old-time General Store and a couple of other places around the square. When Kilwins’ opened, we made our fudge selections, then put all our confections in the cooler as we drove to lunch.

Lunch at Wolf Mountain Vineyards

One of the premier vineyards in the area, the award-winning Wolf Mountain Vineyards and Winery is also well-known for its Vineyard Café overlooking the vineyards. Paula had made us a reservation a couple of weeks beforehand and we were shown to one of the best tables for views in the room. The food was excellent and since we had to make room for the dessert sampler served for Keith’s birthday (albeit a week late), we had plenty of leftovers for later!

After lunch, we went downstairs to the tasting room. Despite all the awards, the wines weren’t our favorites, but we did purchase a bottle of their Brut Rosé sparkling wine which we really enjoyed. Like I’ve said before, wine is so subjective and variable – everyone’s tastes are different, and you don’t really know if you’ll like a particular wine until you’ve tried it!

Frogtown Cellars – Second Visit

Later in the afternoon, we decided to give Frogtown Cellars another try since it was only 10-15 minutes from the cabin. Similar to Wolf Mountain, Frogtown Cellars focuses on creating French-style wines with 100% Georgia estate grown grapes and have won many awards in wine competitions. Frogtown Cellars has a beautiful property and the views from the tasting room’s verandas are spectacular. However, I’ve decided that “French-style” wines aren’t my favorites, or maybe I just need to go to France for more “research”!

Another Day, Another Winery

On our 4^th day, we had another leisurely breakfast at the cabin – courtesy of Chef Keith – and just relaxed around the cabin. For lunch, we had a reservation at Montaluce Winery and Restaurant, about 25 minutes away. There are two dining options at Montaluce – the Restaurant and the Trattoria. They also have villas for rent. Our reservation was at the Restaurant. The influences here are obviously Italian, and the winery looks like it could be in Tuscany!

We ordered a bottle of their Pinot Grigio for the table. The wine, the food, and the views were exquisite – as were the prices! But it was definitely a meal worthy of the splurge. We skipped doing any tastings here so that we could move on to our next adventure.

Bavaria in Georgia

Our afternoon destination was Helen, Georgia, about a 50-minute drive from Montaluce. You’d almost think you were in Bavaria, except for the busloads of tubers floating down the Chattahoochee River! It was a really hot day and a float down the river would have been nice – except perhaps for how crowded it was. The town, especially with the floaters in the river, is reminiscent of New Braunfels, Texas – which at least was founded by German immigrants. It turns out that Helen, which was founded in the 1910s as a sawmill town, only turned to its Bavarian trappings in the late 1960s to attract tourists! I think it has succeeded!

There’s even a Hofbrauhaus Restaurant on the river where we ordered schnitzel, Schweinshaxe (Dave’s favorite German dish), sauerkraut, and potato salad. Dave and Keith had a German beer as we watched the river tubing traffic pass lazily by us. We had so much Schweinshaxe leftover that we had it for sandwiches the next day!

Back to South Carolina

We wrapped up the final two days of our visit back in South Carolina at Paula and Keith’s house. They took us to a local winery, Eagle Mountain Vineyards and Winery, where they are members. It was nice sitting out on their deck enjoying a guitarist playing live music while sampling their wines. The owner, Russ, came over and visited with us for a long while. After decades in the California wine industry, Russ and his winemaker, George, came to South Carolina. George’s wines in California received many high ratings over the years. They currently source most grapes for their wines from California but have established vineyards on the property for Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. If we lived nearby, we’d join that winery, too!   

One afternoon, we played bocce ball at their club house. Although Paula and I had won at cornhole in Georgia, Dave and Keith beat us at bocce ball – but not by much! Keith took us to one of his favorite spots, Grandad’s Apples in Hendersonville, NC, for cider donuts and we got some apples, too.

---