Winery plans to open in northern Whitfield County this fall

Jun. 1—Michael Roberts has been making wine as a hobby for 45 years and growing grapes for some 25 years. If all goes according to plan, he will open Whitfield County's first farm winery later this year.

Farm wineries that both make and sell wines and grow the fruits and berries used to make the wines are common in Fannin, Gilmer and Pickens counties. Last year, the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners approved a law allowing the operation of farm wineries here.

Roberts plans to open his farm winery at 1606 Beaverdale Road N.E. Visitors would be able to tour the winery, sample wines and buy them.

"When we open the doors we will have 20 different labels on our list of available wines," he said.

Georgia law requires that farm wineries must produce at least 40% of their wine from fruits and berries grown in Georgia, must be on property "a substantial portion of which is used for agricultural purposes," and must grow a "substantial portion" of the fruits and berries used to make their wine.

"We've got our first batch started," Roberts said. "We've got three more batches we are going to start. We'll do most of the summer (making wine) with various fruits, strawberry, blueberry. We make a mixed berry wine."

He said the time it takes to make a wine depends on the type of wine.

"A dry, red wine takes about six months, start to finish," he said. "Fruit wines can be ready in as little as 45 days. Some grape wines can take as long as 18 months."

Roberts said he and his wife Peggy hope to open the weekend before Thanksgiving.

"There's three different licenses we have to get," he said. "There's a manufacturing license, a package (sales) and a pouring license. Right now, we just have the manufacturer's license. So, we can make all the wine we can. We can't pour samples or sell it except to other Georgia wineries."

He said they plan to apply for the other licenses as they firm up their plans to open.

"We bought this property with the plans to create a farm winery here," Roberts said. "We were ready to go in as soon as we bought it. But we had to get the county to create the license process and then get a county license and a state license. It took us a year and a half to get to this point."

They've planted about 400 grape vines so far and plan to plant another 300 this year. Some of the vines they have planted are two years old and some are three. He said at three years, the grapes will produce about 75% of their final total of grapes. He said it will take each vine five years to be fully productive. He said at that point each vine will produce enough grapes to make about 1.25 gallons of wine. A gallon is five bottles.

"These are premium, high-end grapes," he said. "I've been growing grapes for about 25 years and making wine for about 45 years. I'm a software engineer by profession, making software for the defense industry. Peggy and I were living in Alabama. We had 10 acres with about 2,440 grapevines there. We were ready to start a winery there. But the county fought us every step. They just didn't want a winery. They imposed a restriction that 51% of your revenue has to be from food. Well, that's a restaurant, not a winery."

He said he worked at home and his wife was retired and their children were grown and lived in Cleveland, Tennessee.

"So, I said to Peggy, go find us a place over there," he said. "She found this place, and we moved here. I did quite a bit of research on the soil here."

Roberts said he expects other wineries to open in the area in the coming years.

"People ask me 'Aren't you afraid of competition?'" he said. "I tell them that having more wineries in the area will be good for me. It can create a wine trail. People will travel here to sample the wines at the different wineries."