Growing Local: Georgia Winery In Chattanooga’s Corner

In 1982 Dr. Maurice Rawlings bought 52 acres of land in the foothills of Lookout Mountain in the Northwest corner of Georgia.

He had hoped to farm the land but his advisors told him the only thing the land was suitable for was for growing grapes. In 1983 Dr. Rawlings established the Georgia Winery that is currently located in Ringgold.

After her father’s passing a few years ago, Patty Prouty has taken over the business along with her daughter, Tara.

Though the farm is nestled in Chattanooga Valley with 15 acres dedicated to harvesting grapes, the winery was built on Battlefield Parkway and is open from 10-6 Monday-Saturday. “We have an event almost every month geared toward the season it is,” says Jesse Taymore, Tara’s husband.

“We have our ladies night out on Oct. 26 which has been a quarterly event for us,” he says.

“In November we will be having an open house. We will have our mulling spice combined with our Concord wine. We will have a 20 percent off case purchases and 25 percent off for club members,” Jesse states.

The grapes are grown in Chattanooga Valley in the High Point area off of Highway 193. It’s about a 22-mile drive from the Georgia winery.

All of the grapes grown on the property are Muscadine that are certified organic. Patty’s son, Adrian, oversees the production.

“We specialize in Muscadines because they grow best here, producing superior award-winning wines that taste just like the fruit,” Jesse says.

The difference in the wine-making process from other wineries is that they add very little water and chemicals.

 “It takes longer to do it this way but the reason for doing this is to allow the juice to ferment at an extremely low temperature, and it keeps the natural sweetness of the juice,” Jesse maintains.

“It takes about six to nine months to ferment a wine. We use the ‘freeze-fermentation’ method and we grow our grapes without the use of pesticides. Sulfites are low since they are organically grown,” he says. “Grapes are the one fruit that doesn’t need any assistance or additives to ferment as other fruits do.”

Being naturally acidic, Muscadines are native to this area and can grow wild in the woods.

As far as offering wines from other varieties of grape; Georgia winery has grapes shipped in from New York and Washington State to make other wines available.

Georgia Winery hosts weddings and receptions in the beautiful area behind the winery where they also have a few grapes growing that they use for wine-stomping events held at the winery.

“Anyone can come in for a visit and try our wines. The two we make here from our own Muscadine grapes are the Rawlings Ruby Red – our specialty wine named for Patty’s father and the smooth flavor of the Muscadine Gold,” Jesse says.

Ribbons adorn the walls throughout the store displaying over 200 awards for their wine. 

A favorite wine of customers is the white Muscadine named The Tara, after Patty’s daughter. The Tara is a cool, crisp white that is semi-dry.

Another popular wine is Southern Blooms which is a light, citric white that has a sweet, yet sultry flavor of peach.

For those who prefer a more woody flavor, the lighter-fruited Scarlett wine has a bite and is medium bodied.

“We support the idea of local and we will sell items in our store that are brought in from people in the area,” Jesse says.

"Something for us to think about in the future is building a restaurant on the property. This is just something we are thinking about, but I think it would do well here,” Jesse says.

For more information visit the website at: http://www.georgiawines.com

Or visit them on site at: 6469 Battlefield Parkway, Ringgold, GA 30736

jen@jenjeffrey.com