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 MEDIA SPOTLIGHTKulers praised Tiger Mountain for growing its own grapes and for choosing unusual varietals. North Georgia Vineyards are Ripe with Promise (Click for full article) Jill Vejnoska, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Living & Arts E1, 7/15/2012  John Ezzard and his daughter, Lisa, examine the grapes that go into Tiger Mountain Vineyards' award-winning wine. TIGER - Coming into this tiny Blue Ridge Mountain community of 350, you know exactly where you are. From the cool breeze that blows sweet and clear as moonlight through the pines in the surrounding Chattahoochee National Forest to the UGA Dawgs signage hanging off seemingly every other car or storefront, it looks and feels unmistakably like Georgia here. Tastes like it, too. Much to many people's pleasant surprise. One big reason why lies a couple of miles off U.S. 441 - past the volunteer fire department and the rustic market with the truth-in-advertising name "Goats on the Roof" - where where Tiger Mountain Vineyards is producing wines that couldn't have come from anywhere else. "The most important thing about making good wine is right out there," Tiger Mountain co-owner John Ezzard said recently, indicating the gently sloped terrain of his longtime family farm. Some 10 acres are planted with vineyards that work in harmony with the uniquely North Georgia "degenerated granite" soil underneath and the high humidity mountain air all around. "Georgia should grow something of quality that we become known for. Because there's no mistaking it's from here." Co-owner Martha Ezzard's article on growing Petit Manseng in Georgia is featured in the November 2011 issue of the national industry magazine, Wines and Vines, and includes photos of the winery, vineyards, and of Dr. John Ezzard, the winemaker. The editors call Petit Manseng, "A Southern Classic." Tiger Mountain Vineyards harvest and history were featured in a four page spread by Bill Bauer in the Sept-Oct issue of Upstate Lake Living (Seneca, S.C.). The April, 2012, issue of Flavors Magazine features a story on Tiger Mountain's Norton wine. Tiger Mountain wines received kudos in Wayne Crawford's recent wine column in Smoke Signals. Check out Southern Distinction magazine, July, 2012, p. 30, featuring Assistant Winemaker Jabe Hilson's Norton BBQ glaze.(Click on recipes on this site to copy) CRITICS CORNER- Yves Durand, Master Sommelier 3/8/2012 2008 Cabernet Franc Reserve: "Rich and forward concentrated blackcurrant aroma. Mouth-filling entrance, full of extract, silky texture, delicious flavors of cassis. Great long lingering finish. This is a superb Cabernet Franc, one of the best Georgia red wines I have ever drunk. Drink now until 2020." 18.75/20 2008 Norton: "The Norton grape is the oldest cultivated American grape. It is not from the vitis vinifera European family but a descendent of the American vitis aestivalis family. My experience with Norton wine is extremely limited but wine is wine and some Bacchus beverages you will like and some you will not. Gazing at the wine, I noticed a deep inky dark black color. I thought "this is surely an American grape." Deep earthy sharecropper aroma, mouth-filling, full of extract, rich chewy texture, dark jammy red fruit. Round and well-balanced. Long and persisting aftertaste. A great wine that I will take over any Zinfandel any day." 17.75 to 18/20 Tiger Mountain Vineyards - One Incredible Tour! - p.kelley, Southeast Vino 8/19/11 What impresses me so much about this winery is that they aren't trying to make vintages that compete with Napa. Instead, they are creating wine that offers something beautiful and different. Thus being true to the art of winemaking, but making their own statement as well. Some of the more spectacular vintages we tried today were the Norton, Touriga Nacional, Tannat, and Malbec. All remarkable, all well priced and all grown locally. Combined, they provide more than ample reason for sites like this one to exist. Georgia wine has really started to rock and it is exciting as hell! ...Special thanks to Jonathan Engel, tasting room manager, for spending quite a bit of time with us today, discussing the processes, struggles and successes that Tiger Mountain Vineyards faces each season. Tiger Rosé tops the French - Ulysses and Lourdes Arteaga, wine club members 7/5/11 
We just came back from a trip to Aix-en-Provence to visit some of the wineries and taste their famous rosé wines. Tiger's Rosé wine can easily compete with the award wining rosés of Aix-en-Provence. Will be visiting Tiger Winery in the end of the month and of course buying more rosé wines. Love Tiger's Rosé wine! Tiger Mountain TNT - a great food wine! - Randall Murray,The Gainesville Times, 5/4/11 "The primary grape used in the production of Port is Touriga Nacional. Coincidentally, this grape is popular in Georgia wine county, with a number of northeast Georgia wineries, producing a dry red wine from Touriga Nacional. Tiger Mountain Vineyards in Rabun County offers a full bodied dry red called TNT - for Touriga Nacional and Tannat, a grape with origins in southwest France. It's a great food wine and stands up to hearty meat dishes." TMV partner John McMullan receives UGA honor
John F. McMullan, partner in Tiger Mountain Vineyards, was honored recently at a university luncheon in Athens with the prestigious Alumni Merit Award. This is the 74th year the award has been given to a UGA graduate who has demonstrated outstanding support for the university in addition to achieving superior professional leadership. He and his wife, Marilyn, have been active in Atlanta wine organizations for many years; both are members of the Tiger Mountain Vineyards Board of Directors. McMullan serves as Chief Financial Officer of the winery corporation. THE PERFECT GRAPE FOR A TIGER MOUNTAIN TERRIOR
Winemaker John Ezzard and Martha relax on the new patio at TMV's red barn to celebrate the news that Tiger Mountain's 201l Petit Manseng won a gold best of class and received 91 points at the 2012 Los Angeles International, one of only 103 such awards out of more than 3,000 wines entered. The rare white varietal, pioneered by Ezzard in North Georgia, won the first Jefferson Cup ever awarded a Georgia wine in last year's Jefferson Cup Invitational. The 2009 and 2010 vintages won consecutive silver medals in the San Francisco International. In the metro area, Petit Manseng is sold (or can be ordered) at Whole Foods stores and is served by the glass at the Season 52 restaurants in Buckhead and at Perimeter as well as at Nikolai's Roof and Woodfire Grill in Atlanta; also at Fleming's Prime Rib and Steakhouse at Perimeter Center. The Lake Rabun Hotel and Grapes and Beans carry the wine in Rabun County. It may be purchased at Tiger's satellite tasting room, Naturally Georgia and is served at Corkscrew Café, both in Dahlonega. In Hiawassee, Bacchus Wine Shoppe carries it and it's available at Tastings of Blue Ridge in Blue Ridge. WINE NEWS
Sweet Petit is filled with delicious honey, apple and melon flavors. The Sauterne-like wine won a silver medal in the 2011 American Wine Society competition and in the 2011 Jefferson Cup Invitational. TMV Rosé coming in April! 
Our popular Rose has won three medals; the San Francisco Chronicle wine competition, the Jefferson Cup Invitational and the American Wine Society competition. Rosé pairs with a variety of salads and light cheeses and pastas as well as spicy foods with an Asian flare. UGA INTERNS AT TIGER MOUNTAIN UGA intern James Sieb, hard at work in the Norton. Recognizing the growing North Georgia wine industry, Dean Scott Angle of the University of Georgia College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences joined with the Winegrowers Association of Georgia to create an internship program, now in its fifth year. The college also holds viticulture courses in Cortona, Italy each spring. This year Tiger Mountain will host its fifth intern. UGA interns have also worked at Stonewall Creek Vineyards, Blackstock Vineyards and Winery, Wolf Mountain Vineyards, and Yonah Mountain Vinyards. Cartacay Vineyards and several others are planning to host interns this year. 
UGA horticulture major Griffin Hans at work in the vineyard.  Intern Phil Stice works during the 2010 crush. Phil is now employed by Caymus Vineyards in Sonoma. |