Weekend: Annual Spring Festival at Crane Creek Vineyards, Young Harris

By Carol Carter
Story and photos for WineNewsVine.com

Crane Creek Vineyards holds its Annual Spring Festival on Saturday, May 29, from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. There will be – natch – wine tastings for the adults as well as a craft tent for kids. Crane Creek will open its pond for fishing, and lunch will be served.

Maybe you’ll pay the $20 adult admission ($10 for everyone under age 21) just to sit in one of the Adirondack chairs overlooking the 37-acre vineyard and drink in both the surroundings and a glass of Crane Creek Brasstown, which is what the vineyard named its house wines, after Brasstown Valley, in which Crane Creek is located.

The vineyard, in fact, sits in the shadow of Brasstown Bald, Georgia’s highest point. It’s peaceful at Crane Creek, whether you’re strolling past the garden, walking through the vineyard or sampling wine in the 19th century farmhouse that Crane Creek uses as its tasting room. Even Catawba, the resident canine, exudes the tranquility that permeates the Crane Creek environs.
On Saturday, during the festival, a jazz combo will play standards as well as light jazz, says David Sanford, who works at the vineyard. Additionally, he says, 16 artists will be on hand, selling everything from photography to jewelry and pottery. These vendors will set up their shops both in the Barn Swallow Pavilion (where Crane Creek holds wedding receptions) and also in the barnyard, where the band will be playing.

The children’s craft tent will feature painting, Sanford says. And, he adds, that if the youngsters want to fish, the brim in the pond aren’t likely to disappoint. “They hit all the time. You can throw a hook in, almost unbaited, and those brim will hit it. Kids get a big kick out of that.” Most of the brim end up back in the pond because parents aren’t interested in cleaning fish or in hauling them home.

A festival at a winery wouldn’t be complete without tours of the winery, and Crane Creek will offer tours throughout the day. Lunch, in fact, will be served just off the winery’s crush pad, the place where the grapes are smooshed after harvest.

Crane Creek is just north of the little town of Young Harris in the North Georgia mountains. Heading east on Highway 515 toward Hiawassee, go to the traffic light at Georgia Highway 66, and take a left. Drive just under four miles, take another left and look for the vineyard on your left. Enter Crane Creek’s quiet kingdom and leave your troubles behind, at least for a little while. Maybe you’ll take home a bottle of wine or a jar of dip and a box of crackers from the small gift shop inside the tasting room.

Or, as we observed on a recent Saturday, maybe you’ll take home several bottles of the grape. Recently, Crane Creek has been offering seven wines during its wine tastings, but on Saturday, Sanford says, Crane Creek will be releasing a new wine.

A wine named Enotah, according to the winery, is a step up from the Brasstown wines. Enotah, Sanford says, was the Cherokee name for Brasstown Bald. And the turtle symbol you will see on some of the wine labels also harks back to the Cherokee who once populated North Georgia.

“The turtle,” Sanford says, “is a big Cherokee symbol in this region and for the whole of Brasstown Valley.” All Crane Creek label art was produced by local folk artist Jon Whiddon, who died two years ago. Crane Creek’s Hellbender wine is named for a salamander. Then there is Barn Swallow, Mountain Harvest and Sweet Sally, named for a dog.

On the way: If you go for the Memorial Day weekend festival, you may want to stop in Blue Ridge, a little west of Young Harris and also just off Highway 515, for that town’s annual Arts in the Park, which will be in full swing both Saturday and Sunday in downtown Blue Ridge. Among the many vendors at Arts in the Park, a local merchant, Mercier Orchards, will debut its brand new traveling concession trailer, where it will sell, among other treats, its trademark fried pies. Shoppers take note: Downtown Blue Ridge is home to several upscale shops, selling everything from kitchen items to home furnishings and outdoor wear. The sidewalks of Blue Ridge are routinely packed with Atlanta residents on weekends.
Or, if you go to the Crane Creek festival late in the day, you may want to call ahead and make dinner reservations at Enrico’s, a popular and always crowded Italian restaurant on Highway 515 in Young Harris. (The garlic rolls are worth the trip, though all the food is routinely delicious).
Brasstown Valley Resort in Young Harris offers golf, a spa and horseback trail riding plus, of course, dining and lodging.
As previously mentioned, Brasstown Bald is nearby in Hiawassee, the town just east of Young Harris. Visitors can climb (or be driven) to the top for an impressive view of the surrounding area.
In Hiawassee, you could take in a movie at the Fieldstone Six. Or, if you have kids, stop in at Fun World at Fieldstone. Among the many things to do at Fun World are laser tag, a climbing wall, batting cages, miniature golf and 120 arcade games. Parents can chill out with ice cream (or pizza or popcorn) while the kids burn off some energy. Fun World is enclosed in one huge space, so the kids can safely run and roam free.
If you are thoroughly enchanted with Crane Creek, you may want to take note of the vineyard’s two guest houses, The Vine Keeper’s Cottage and the River Keeper’s Cottage, and make plans for a weekend visit.
A perfect weekend, says Sanford, would be during the Tomato Festival in August. Calling it “one of our most fun festivals,” Sanford explains: “We plant lots of gardens, and that’s when all the tomatoes are coming in, so we decided to celebrate the tomato – the other vine. And so we have music. We do a tomato toss (for the kids), we do tomato food and we invite vendors to come in with other foods based on tomatoes.”
Every Friday, Crane Creek features its Wine Down Fridays from 4 to 6p.m. “If you enjoy a glass or bottle of wine on the deck,” Sanford says, “we have complimentary cheese trays.”
There seems to be something going on at the winery nearly all the time. Check the website for a complete list. As for this weekend’s festival, Sanford says they are expecting around 250 people. You may as well be one of them.
What to watch for:
-May 29: A Taste of Georgia at Marietta Wine Market, 2-4 p.m. Cost: "charity donation." Says the newsletter: "We are showcasing some of Georgia's best wines from a few of our favorite wineries. Recently in San Francisco, Wolf Mountain scored won a gold metal for their Instinct blend, a first for a Georgia winery. Along with Wolf, we will sample some of the best wines from Crane Creek, Three Sisters and Habersham Winery along with sauces and cheeses from Georgia."

-May 30: Wolf Mountain Vineyards' White Wine, Sparkling Wine & Seafood Festival. The eighth annual festival has seatings at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $30 per person.
-June 5-6: 2010 Georgia Fine Wine Festival at BlackStock Vineyards & Winery, Dahlonega. Tickets: $35 for one day, $50 for both days. $15 for non-wine adult tickets; children admitted free. Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday> Fine Wine
-June 5-6: Three Sisters Vineyards' Georgia Wine Country Festival: Billed as "Dahlonega's Original Wine Festival," it is set for June 5 and 6 this year. It is the ninth time Three Sisters has staged the celebration. Yonah Mountain Winery and Serenity Cellars joins Bouiter Winery, Chateau Elan, Crimson 'N Scarlett, Georgia Wines and Three Sisters at this year's Georgia Wine Country Festival. More details soon. Also, join the event's Facebook page. Cost: $20 per person.> Click
-Release news, June 5: Tiger Mountain Vineyards, Saturday, June 5, 11 a.m.6-p.m., Release of Tiger Mountain's '09 Petit Manseng. $10 per person. Served with seafood pasta, fresh strawberries, light cheeses. Also: Live music
-June 6: Wine dinner at Persimmon Creek Vineyards> Click
From the news vine:
-Open Table high on Montaluce: "Montaluce is pleased to announce that Opentable.com has released their “Best of Georgia” awards," including no. 1 ratings for ambiance and romantic destination. Click

'Taste of Sautee' this weekend; dueling wine festivals June 5-6 in Dahleonga

North Georgia wine country weather: Click Forecast / Regional radar
-New/What to see while on Georgia's Wine Highway. Today: Mercier Orchards. Click

What to watch for:
-June 5-6: 2010 Georgia Fine Wine Festival at BlackStock Vineyards & Winery, Dahlonega
-Tickets: $35 for one day, $50 for both days. $15 for non-wine adult tickets; children admitted free.
-Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday> Fine Wine
-June 5-6: Three Sisters Vineyards' Georgia Wine Country Festival: Billed as "Dahlonega's Original Wine Festival," it is set for June 5 and 6 this year. It is the ninth time Three Sisters has staged the celebration. Yonah Mountain Winery and Serenity Cellars joins Bouiter Winery, Chateau Elan, Crimson 'N Scarlett, Georgia Wines and Three Sisters at this year's Georgia Wine Country Festival. More details soon. Also, join the event's Facebook page. Cost: $20 per person.> Click
-Release news, June 5: Tiger Mountain Vineyards, Saturday, June 5, 11 a.m.6-p.m., Release of Tiger Mountain's '09 Petit Manseng. $10 per person. Served with seafood pasta, fresh strawberries, light cheeses. Also: Live music

What's new:
-May 22-23: Taste of Sautee: Fine wine, food, art and music combine for a special weekend. Taking part are four area wineries as well as five bands, area restaurants and more than 40 artists. The wineries include Yonah Mountain, Sautee Nachoochee, Frogtown Cellars, Habersham and Serenity Cellars. The bands include: Kyle Obermeier & Jeremiah Osterman; Kip Dockery Band; The Georgia Mudcats; Monica Spears; Shoal Creek Band. Hours: 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $15 which includes tasting; $5 general admission; children under 16, free. Details: Click Taste or check the event's Facebook page.
-May 23, 30: Wolf Mountain Vineyards' White Wine, Sparkling Wine & Seafood Festival. The eightn annual festival has seatings at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $30 per person.
-May 29: Crane Creek Vineyards & Guest House, Young Harris: Annual spring festival, 11 a.m.-6 p.m $20 for those 21 and over; $10, under 21. Lunch, wine tastings, artists, kids events, fishing.
-June 6: Wine dinner at Persimmon Creek Vineyards> Click

While on Georgia's Wine Highway: Near Crane Creek Vineyards? Try . . .

Blue Ridge's Mercier Orchards puts twist on 'apples & oranges,'
only the other fruits are strawberries, blueberries, cherries . . .
By Carol Carter
For Wine News Vine

Known mostly for apples, Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge--a popular getaway spot for Northwest Georgians-
-has expanded into more U pick options. Mercier Facebook photo.
BLUE RIDGE, Ga. _ The first-ever U pick strawberry season at Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge has just wound down, and son-in-law Joe Foster proclaims it to have been “awesome” -- so awesome in fact that the family thinks it will plant a patch about five times as large next year.
The U pick operation at Mercier’s has grown so much that customers can hop aboard the 25-seat tractor-pulled trailer at varying times throughout the year to pick apples, blueberries, cherries, peaches, nectarines, blackberries (see image to the right from Mercier's Facebook page) and plums.
“We started our U pick six years ago,” Foster says, “where people come out and pick their own apples. That was one of our initiatives as far as getting people back on the farm. We get people out there where they can feel and touch the leaves of the trees. They pick the fruit straight from the tree.”
There are enough Mercier family members working at the orchard to pretty much always have one or the other on the back of the tractor, talking to the customers. Foster’s favorite story to tell concerns customers taking their first bite out of an apple they just plucked off one of Mercier’s trees (they planted 10,000 trees this year).
“They want to know,” he says, “ 'why does it taste so good?' " They often say that it tastes like a candied apple. And Foster explains to them, “That’s probably the first time you’ve ever bitten into a fresh apple.”
What people don’t realize, he says, is that controlled atmospheric storage allows apple orchards in places like Washington state to keep apples in storage for 18 months. That means, he says, that when you go to the grocery store and buy apples, “probably 90 percent of the time – because it’s not apple season all of the time – you’re buying last year’s crop.”
When a Mercier customer bites into a fresh apple for the first time, he says, “Right then and there, we know we have a customer for life.”
In the early fall, Mercier’s sells – among several apple varieties – the Honey Crisp, which is in season for only about four weeks. When customers taste a Honey Crisp, Foster says, they ask where they can get it. The Mercier answer: “Here.. Grocery stores don’t sell it. You can’t get it in the state of Georgia unless you come to a little apple house like us.”
“Little,” however, hardly describes Mercier’s. What started as, essentially, a roadside fruit stand has grown into a bustling retail store complete with gifts, a bakery and a delicatessen that serves breakfast and lunch, an online store, and a wholesale fried pie operation.
This fall, Mercier’s will sell fried pies, apple slushies, plus candied and caramel apples, at the six Georgia Tech home football games. And Mercier’s is in the final stages of building a traveling concession trailer that will sell apples, cider, candied apples and fried pies at festivals around the Southeast.
Last year during apple season, family members surveyed the tour buses that stopped at Mercier’s and counted 500 in the month of October alone. Mercier’s now has a Facebook page where customers leave comment after comment about their experiences picking and eating fresh fruit.
This year marked Mercier’s first blossom tour, during which customers ride out into the orchard and observe the stages of apple growth. “An apple doesn’t just all of a sudden show up on the tree,” Foster says. “It starts as a little flower.”
Seven vendors operate inside the store and another couple sell their wares out in the parking lot. In addition to fresh fruit, bakery items and cider, Mercier’s sells a wide variety of products ranging from kitchen gadgets to popcorn, spices, floral arrangements and bird feeders.
Whatever the season, Mercier’s makes samples available in the store.
“Our product sells itself, so why not let it?” asks Foster. “When we have fresh fruit in, that whole area (in the back of the sprawling store) is geared. We’re slicing strawberries back there right now. We’ll make strawberry shortcake and sample it. Or we’ll make chocolate-dipped strawberries and sample those. We’ll bake an apple. We’ll fry some apples. We’ll do some apple crisp.”
Mercier’s has a bakery program for kids where they come in and bake up something special, say, for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
And through it all, Mercier’s is always, always baking fried pies: one million of them per year. When all is said and done, Foster says, “We are fried pies.”
Perhaps the greatest testament of all to the fact that Mercier’s is, above all, a family operation is that 92-year-old Adele Mercier, who is in her 68th crop year, still works at the orchard 40 to 50 hours per week.