At Georgia Trend’s second tasting of Georgia wines, judges looked for taste, balance, character and food-friendliness. They found three winners and five wines of distinction.
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Among the reds, our judges awarded Wines of Distinction designations to Persimmon Creek, for its 2005 Merlot, and to Wolf Mountain’s 2006 Instinct, a blend of the estate vineyards’ cabernet sauvignon, syrah, mourvedra and touriga nacionale.
Both are proud to declare their wines 100 percent Georgia grown, from their own vineyards. “We are huge terroirists,” says Mary Ann Hardman of Clayton’s Persimmon Creek, referring to the French term that links wine’s flavors to the earth in which the grapes are grown. (When Hardman takes wines to suppliers and restaurants, she often takes a bag of her soil with her.)
“The general public doesn’t understand why Georgia wines taste different from French or California wines,” she says. “But our wines express our sandy, loamy, alluvial soil.” She adds: “People should remember that we are farmers first. Wine shouldn’t be a snob sport.” Evans wrote: “Smells like ripe black fruit, currant, blackberry, strawberry, wet cinnamon. Palate: Nice depth, good balance, oak, integration. Great finish length. Yeah! Tannin!”
by Krista Reese published September 2008: full article Homegrown: Georgia's Winning Wines
