Open: Memorial Day - Christmas

If wine lovers keep an open mind and have enough self-confidence to trust their own palate, they will find that many of the wines now produced in north Georgia are as good as or better than mid-level premium wines from California and other well-known wine regions. Each year, the wines are getting better. One North Georgia winery has won more awards in national competition than any winery east of the Mississippi. Two winery tasting rooms opened last August in Rabun County, bringing the county's total to three.

Currently, Stonewall Creek is probably the smallest winery in Georgia. Carl and Carla Fackler, the owners, were drawn to the Northeast Georgia mountains by the cool climate, clean air and relatively easy access from their home of 30 years in Atlanta. They visited friends many times over the years at Lake Burton and Lake Rabun, both Georgia Power lakes created by a series of dams in the early 1900s to run Atlanta's electric streetcars. During a visit at the Tiger Lodge in the late 1990s, they stopped by a neighbor's house for a barrel tasting of local wine. On their next visit, they tasted Tiger Mountain Vineyards' 1999 Rabun Red. It was a well-made wine from local vinifera grapes and showed the region's potential.