by Mary Ann Anderson

From the red clay hills and mountains of Georgia - rich with just the right minerals for growing grapes - have sprung forth a wide variety of vineyards that produce everything from crisp golden chardonnays to intense ruby-hued merlots to slightly quirky fruit and berry blends.

Georgia's winemaking history goes back to the late 19th century, probably even before moonshine became the drink of choice for most good ol' boys, when immigrating Hungarians began the cultivation of grapes for the purpose of winemaking.

The naturally rolling terrain of northwest Georgia provide well-drained soils and steep hillsides idyllic for growing the verdant vines, and the wine industry here flourished until 1907, when Georgia-right smack in the heart of the Bible Belt-voted on full alcohol prohibition and the wineries were forced to shut down.

The wonderful winemaking traditions brought over from the Old World were soon abandoned and essentially forgotten as Hungarians moved to seek their livelihoods elsewhere. By that time, other wineries had also sprung up across Georgia, and their vine-yards also withered away just as fast as the ink dried on the new prohibition laws. Winemaking simply disappeared.

Moonshine then became a permanent fixture in Georgia for the next fifty or sixty years or so. Very few people drank wine, much less became wine connoisseurs or wine snobs. Instead they drank beer, whiskey, and 'shine, and for a time, bootlegging became more of an industry than winemaking.

But today a renaissance of sorts is taking place in the winemaking industry, brought on by the passage of national farm bills in the 1970s and 1980s that allowed wineries to flourish once more.

When Georgia passed its own farm bills, almost immediately two of the oldest wineries, Chateau Elan in Braselton and Habersham Vineyards & Winery, kick-started the grape-growing and wine-production industry that has grown into the multi-million dollar success it is today.

Now a major farm industry, Georgia's wine trails stretch mainly across the northern mountainous section of the state - with one slight anomaly in South Georgia - where years of cool weather, rain, wind and other elements have helped to create ideal conditions for growing vitis vinifera, which are native European bunch grapes, and French-American hybrids, which are European bunch grapes crossed with American bunch grapes. (CONTINUE...)