Atlanta Is Finally Selling Local Georgia Wine

There is now a place to find locally made Georgia wine in the city.

Vine Fine Wine in Decatur is the first wine shop to stock the state’s wine. Earlier this February, Eater Atlanta sparked a discussion in the wine community about why Atlanta restaurants don’t serve Georgia wine. Since then, Cloudland Vineyards and Winery in Buford, Georgia, has landed three of its wines at the Decatur shop, including a Marsanne skin-contact white wine, a pet-nat bubbly made from chardonnay, and a red wine made with a local hybrid called lomanto. All are priced at around $30.

“It seemed like a no-brainer for us,” says Madeline Long, co-owner of Vine Fine Wine. “We have local sourdough crackers, local honey, local ceramics … it only seemed natural to extend that to wine.”

Long and her husband Sam Pilch opened the Decatur shop in April. Since then, Long says many people have inquired about local wine. The shop only takes on organic and sustainable farming wines, which is hard to find in Georgia. Cloudland Vineyards is one of the only wineries in the state making unfined and unfiltered, natural wines with some organic farming, bringing Georgia winemaking up to speed with modern times.

Quality and consumer demand are the biggest reasons why local wines don’t make an appearance in the city. The next reason is an information gap on distribution. According to the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, winemakers with a Georgia Farm Winery License may sell their wines directly to restaurants. A wholesaler license allows them to self-distribute in Georgia, eliminating the need for a distributor. This is a major missing piece of the puzzle for restaurant sommeliers and wine shop owners who believe they need a distributor to buy Georgia wine for their inventory.

North Georgia is an agritourism destination, from pumpkin patches and orchards to vineyards. Most of the sales from these farms happen by direct-to-consumer business, meaning visitors buy directly from the farms. Wineries with a wholesaler license can sell to Atlanta shops and restaurants, albeit taking a profit hit on wholesale price. But there are other benefits.

“Wholesale is a really good way of getting people interested in our product,” says Blessy Devasia, general manager and assistant winemaker at Cloudland Vineyards and Winery, which opened in 2020. “There aren’t enough Georgia wines on wine lists because there weren’t a lot of good Georgia wines out there that were worth being on the list.”

Devasia says that is changing. Sean Wilburn, owner and winemaker at Cloudland (formerly Chateau Elan and Biltmore), and Devasia have a minimal intervention and organic approach to winemaking in Georgia. The plots for the lomanto and villard blanc grapes are organically managed — which means they are sprayed minimally during the growing season with an organic spray to control disease pressure. The duo hopes the vineyard will become regenerative organic certified next year.

“People see Georgia wine and they run away,” says Devasia. “People say, ‘I tried a Georgia cab in the ’80s and it was terrible.’ And they never try a local wine again. We’ve come a long way from that. I want to create enough confidence where people can say, ‘Wow, they’re making some great wine.’”

As for the taste, Cloudland’s skin-contact Marsanne is the most unique of the lineup with a gold color and notes of orange peel, cantaloupe, nutmeg, honey, grilled apricots, and herbs. The pet-nat is the most easy-going and refreshing with notes of green apples, pears, and lemons.

“People are interested in trying new things and I think people want Georgia wine to succeed,” says Long. “If they’re up for it, I say give it a try, at the very least.”