UPCOMING:
SAVE THESE DATES:
Sunday, August 10: Five-course wine dinner featuring five Tiger Mountain wines at Fleming's Prime Steak house and Wine Bar on Olde Perimeter Way - one of Atlanta's hottest suburban restaurants. Details to come!
Saturday, September 20: Tiger Mountain's annual harvest party for Tigerwine Tasters and their guests. Grape picking, live music, gourmet vineyard picnic. Click on Tigerwine Tasters on the home page and find out how to become a member!
Bill and Leckie Stack welcome guests to the winery.
Awakening the vines with fanfare at Tiger Mountain
photos by Peter McIntosh
Malbec is a Tiger Mountain Exclusive in Georgia
Welcome new vendors!
The New York Times calls Restaurant Eugene Chef Linton Hopkins' "southern safari." Now Tiger Mountain wines are part of that special food and wine adventure. Hopkins shares his passion for locally grown delights in creative dishes such as shrimp stuffed crispy squash blooms on authentic southern grits and buttered new potatoes with quail egg and minced Vidalia onion. Hopkins' wife, Sommelier Gina Hopkins, paired both dishes at a recent Georgia Organics dinner with Tiger Mountain's award winning Petit Manseng, a dry citrusy white wine made from a French grape cultivated exclusively in Georgia at Tiger Mountain. Hopkins has won regional and national acclaim and was recently named "one of 5 chefs to watch" by Bon Appetit magazine. Check out the Hopkins' latest venture across the street from Eugene, Holeman & Finch Public House, a casual food experience in keeping with the Hopkins' love for all things southern and locally grown.
Try Tiger Mountain's Petit Manseng with Chef Michael Touhey’s softshell crab, or TMV’s earthy, inky Tannat with wood grilled artisan duck or Jamison Farm roasted lamb at the award winning Woodfire Grill, 1782 Cheshire Bridge Rd, N. E. in Atlanta. Wine director Seth Roskind has great pairing advice. The restaurant, which features seasonally influenced organic dishes, opened in 2002, and has been recognized in Gourmet Magazine and the Wine Spectator. For reservations, call 404-347-9058 or see www.WoodFireGrill.com.
Whole Foods has long featured local produce - and now, local wines. Tiger Mountain is proud to add two more metro Atlanta Whole Foods stores - Briarcliff and Sandy Springs to its list of five where our wines are available. At the Sandy Springs store, wine buyer Bryan Willis is excellent advice on pairing local wines with local produce. Todd Sellmansberger offers his wine expertise to customers at the Briarcliff store. Other stores featuring Tiger Mountain wines include State Bridge, Marietta and Alpharetta, where well know wine expert Don Reddick welcomes questions about regional wines. Debbie Fraker, formerly with the Buckhead store is the new buyer at the Ponce de Leon store where she stocks a number of Tiger Mountain wines and stages regular "taste of ..." events with a large following of young wine lovers. See our home page " where to buy" for store locations or check www.wholefoodsmarket.com for more information.
J's Bottle Shop on Prince Avenue across from the Naval School in Athens is the latest addition to our growing list of Athens vendors. Wine buyer Jennifer Lang shares her wine savvy with customers at a shop known for its eclectic wine offerings including Tiger Mountain's Touriga Nacional and Tannat. The staff at J's is unusually knowledgeable and always open to questions about which wines to choose for special occasions. Tiger Mountain is pleased to be among Lang's carefully chosen selections.
Roll out the Rabun County welcome mat for Bon Appetit, Fromage, Rumor Hazit and Tallulah Gorge Grill, all of which serve Tiger Mountain wines. Stop by Goats on the Roof to pick up fresh vegetables, gourmet foods and Tiger Mountain wine, as well as Sweet Grass Dairy cheeses and local jams and jellies. Meet and feed the goats, Moka and Ila, while you're at it. Located at the Tiger Connector and Highway 441.
Click on "Where to Buy" for contact information on all of our vendors.
"Proud to Pour"
at Tiger Mountain and other Georgia vineyards!
Tiger Mountain wins four awards in '07 Jefferson Cup Invitational, four medals in '07 Vino Challenge International and a silver medal in the 2008 International Eastern Wine competition
"It's about defining a sense of place," says Michael Tuohy, renown Woodfire Grill chef who last year chose Tiger Mountain Petit Manseng and Tiger Mountain Tannat for his wine list. "Tuohy tells Edge he appreciates the Petit Manseng's "citrusy bite" as well as where it comes from. "Better to support Tiger Mountain than Howell Mountain," he says, comparing the locus of an emergent wine industry northeast of Atlanta to one of the most precious locales in Napa.
photos by Louie Favorite, AJC
Tiger Mountain's latest award, announced June 5, 2008, is a silver medal for it rare Petit Manseng in the international competition sponsored by Vineyard & Winery Magazine. The 32-year-old contest attracted more than 2,000 wine entries from around the world and wines from 38 states.
Tiger Mountain Vineyards was the only Georgia winery to take a top medal in the recently announced '07 Jefferson Cup Invitational. The "American Example of Greatness" medal went to the '06 Petit Manseng, winner of a similar award for it's '04 vintage. The '04 Rabun Red, '05 Tannat and '99 Norton won certificates of merit. Of the 650 wines selected for the competition, 325 received merit awards, noting wines exemplary of their regions and varieties. Only 113 wines, including TMV Petit Manseng, were chosen to receive medals as "American Examples of Greatness."
The 26th annual Atlanta based 'VinoChallege International, the oldest international wine competition in the United States, attracted wines from over 30 countries and a judging panel that included every stratum of the wine and food trades. Tiger Mountain's '05 Cabernet Franc took a gold medal, bringing to 16 the number of medals the Rabun County grown varietal has won since 2001. This is the third gold medal the winery's Cabernet Franc has taken in wine competitions. The 05 Rabun Red won a silver medal and the '05 Tannat and '05 Petit Manseng won bronze.
Wines of the South contest:
Tiger Mountain's '06 Viognier won a silver medal in the '07 Wines of the South contest. Bronze medals went to the latest vintages of Tannat, Cabernet Franc, Norton, and Petit Manseng as well as a bronze to the newly bottled TNT Touriga Nacional-Tannat, prior to its official release at the winery!Shelly Ezzard Smith designed Tiger Mountain's labels which have won awards in the San Francisco International Wine Festival and the Los Angles County Fair.
Georgia Mountains Foodways Alliance to promote locally grown food and wine
Locally grown food and locally grown wines go hand in hand. Celebrating and promoting both, the newly incorporated non-profit Georgia Mountains Foodways Alliance will sponsor a series of events in '08 involving farmers, vintners, chefs, artisans and culinary tourists. The founders are herbalist and author Patricia Howell, Glen Ella Springs owner/chef Barrie Aycock, Tiger Mountain Vineyards co-owner Leckie Stack and Beechwood Inn owner/chef Gayle Darugh. Tiger Mountain Vineyards co-owners Leckie Stack and Martha Ezzard have joined in to help plan the year's calendar of events which will include wild food gathering, bee keeping, cheese making and dinners featuring locally grown food prepared by renown Atlanta chefs and paired with local wines. For details on the Alliance and upcoming events, check www.georgiafoodways.org.Supporting local wines can reduce our carbon footprint
Tyler Colman in a piece in the New York Times writes about wine's carbon footprint. According to Coleman, the difference between organically - and conventionally - grown grapes is relatively small in terms of carbon intensity. Its the journey your wine takes from the winery to the shop that is the issue.For example, a Napa Valley wine in a glass bottle emits 2.6 pounds of carbon dioxide during its production and transportation from Napa to San Francisco. But send it to the East Coast, and you're looking at 5.7 pounds of carbon emissions; ship it by air and its carbon footprint quadruples.
But what's the best answer according to Colman? Drink locally-produced wine.
Tiger Mountain tasting room in Dahlonega
Now you can taste and purchase Tiger Mountain wines in Dahlonega at Naturally Georgia, located on Chestatee Drive in Dalonega. Owner Vickie Cooper offers expert wine and food pairing advice as well as gift ideas for wine lovers on your holiday list. In addition, the shop features popular Sweet Grass Dairy cheeses from Thomasville, Georgia as well as wine accessories and locally crafted gifts -- pottery, bees wax luminaries, hand made soaps and jewelry. Hours are noon to 6 p.m. Thursday, noon to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Check the web site, www.naturallygeorgia.com or call 706-864-0832 for driving directions and details on upcoming holiday events.Fleming's staff visits the vineyards
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar crew visited the vineyards recently and toured the winery so they can share with their customers what goes into growing and making handcrafted fine wines in Northeast Georgia! On August 8, Fleming's will showcase five Tiger Mountain wines at a special dinner - details to come!
Fleming's, located at Perimeter, serves Tiger Mountain's popular Malbec by the glass and otherwise provides some of the best dining in the metro area.
That's partly because manager Jerry Sinatra and his staff are knowledgeable about wines from grape to glass and about matching fine wine and fine food.
Enjoying wine and cheese in the tasting room following a vineyard tour are:( bottom left) bartender Stephanie Dennis, winery co-owner Martha Ezzard, server Janet Neely, hospitality coordinator Lisa Love, sommelier Melissa Hemmingway and server Wendy Patton. (top left) operating partner Eric Tousek, winery co-owner John Ezzard, manager Jerry Sinatra, and server Alex Fedianine.
Photo: Stephanie Dennis
Media spotlight on Tiger Mountain Vineyards
Rabun's Laurel Magazine now features "Vine Notes" a regular column written by Tiger Mountain Vineyards co-owners, Leckie Stack and Martha Ezzard. The publication covers all of the Northeast Georgia mountains and is now available in Atlanta as well.
See current story on Georgia wine and Tiger Mountain's grape growing on Appellation America's national web site: www.appellationamerica.com Click on Georgia wine, bottom left of home page under features.
Athens (and Birmingham) wine columnist Stephen Humpreys, visiting several North Georgia wineries, wrote in his weekly online column of Sept. 10: "Overall the experience at Tiger Mountain was by far the best of the day.
We had calm, friendly, knowledgeable people helping us behind the counter, who seemed in no hurry to bolt as the hands of the clock converged on closing time....Tiger Mountain also had scenic views of mountains and vineyards. And best of all, as one of the owners said, they were not trying to cater our wedding or sign us up for a credit card promotion — they were just making wine. And they gave us generous pours in real wine glasses, made of real glass, in a simple but roomy tasting room permeated, as it should be, with the aroma of the wines and the oak casks that lined the walls.". www.bhamweekly.com
Tiger Mountain Vineyards is featured in the September, '07 issue of Southern Distinction and in the new autumn issue of North Georgia Mountains Magazine.
Low Country Magazine, Sept.- Oct. 2007 (Charleston, S.C. ) gives Tiger Mountain Vineyards high marks for ambiance as well as fine wine: "A must see/taste/small are the multi -award winning wines at the pristine, contemporary Tiger Mountain Vineyards. The unforgettable view and vine offerings easily outshine vineyards in the California wine country." Tiger Mountain Vineyards wines and the nine-member Winegrowers Association of Georgia have received increased media attention recently. Tiger Mountain's back labels which tell the history of the vineyards were featured in Wines and Vines Magazine and Tiger Mountain's Tannat was the subject of an article in Wine America Trailblazers (on-line). Tiger Mountain wines and pictures were also featured by Atlanta Journal Constitution wine critic Gil Kulers, in Southern Living, the Macon Magazine, Savannah Morning News and the Jacksonville (Florida) Times. Tiger Mountain once again made Tom Stevenson's Wine Report, a recognition of outstanding wines around the world. The Winegrowers Association of Georgia and the Georgia Wine Trail were the subject of articles in Northeast Georgia Magazine, the Piedmont Review, North Georgia Mountain's Magazine and numerous other publications around the state.www.georgiawine.com