Travel: Wine Tour in Dahlonega, GA

Hey y'all! Today is an overview of a recent trip I went on. A small group of friends and I took a trip to the lovely Dahlonega, GA; a mountain in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains - about an hour north(ish) of Atlanta. It was mid-January so the temperatures were quite chilly, but it led to a relaxed vibe for the places we visited that weren't overcrowded.

We all arrived pretty late on night one - each of us having driven about 6 hours to reach the cabin. We still decided to go try a local spot that night, so we donned our warm clothes and ventured out. Aside from my husband Cody, the only other person I knew from the group was my best friend, Becky. The other three individuals were all new to me, and each other.

Of course, in these instances, you want to make a good first impression. Well, I accomplished that by offering to drive us all into town in the "mom car" - and then getting pulled over by a sheriff's deputy. Allegedly - there was a stop sign in the town square that I may or may not have overlooked in the confusion of trying to follow the GPS in the dark in a completely unfamiliar town.

The officer let us go, only after telling us that the place we were trying to go to was directly across the street from where she had pulled us over. Onlookers were murmuring about us getting arrested, and we in the vehicle all quickly agreed we would NOT be going inside for the sake of avoiding further embarrassment.

So, yeah, it was a great first impression. Thankfully, these were all awesome people, and they reassured me that they all trusted me to get us back to the cabin safely. This was saying a lot since that cabin had a driveway incline that had us all white-knuckling anything we could grab onto. Plus of course, navigating unfamiliar mountain roads that had some serious twists and turns.

At least this cabin had some impeccable views.

Day 2 started much better with a yummy breakfast I whipped up. The basics of bacon, sausage, biscuits - and fruit that I forgot to set out! We would need the fuel for the day we had ahead of us.

Dahlonega provides a place for day drinking in its purest form. Wineries abound in this area, with several new vineyards being planted for future attractions to open up in the coming years.

Our first stop for our wine tour was Wolf Mountain Vineyards. This place is always one of the busiest stops for wine lovers, so we got there when they opened up to ensure we had space in the tasting room, which is first come first serve. We sampled their Sparkling flight, for a bubbly start to our day.

The next stop was Kaya Vineyard & Winery. Kaya had a spacious tasting room area, where we sat at a table to nosh on a grazing board. Kaya also had a cute shop for different wine and accessories, and lots of cute home goods. We received our flight of wines on a flight tray, and we all got to try the different glasses and share what we thought about each one. We had also met another group at Wolf Mountain, who were at Kaya as well. We ended up seeing this group at each of the wineries we went to. They were such a fun bunch!

After Kaya, we went over to The Cottage Vineyard & Winery. There are lots of photo ops at the Cottage. First, is a cute water feature with the sign sitting at the top of the winery (probably the most adorable sign from any winery). We stopped and snapped a few pictures in front of it. Then, as you turn the corner, there is a mural with a giant bottle of wine pouring out. We had to be silly and pose in front of it!

Lastly, the scenery itself - it overlooks some rolling hills where horses are grazing in the distance. The wine in our system had us contemplating how badly we might hurt ourselves if we were to roll down the steep hills. We still had enough sense to not *actually* do it, but had some good laughs picturing ourselves rolling down at a high rate of speed.

I'm sure by now you are wondering how many more wineries we could possibly go to in one day. Don't worry, we're close to the end. Our last wine stop of the day was Cavender Creek Vineyards. This is my second time to this winery, and it projects good time vibes. There is typically live music going on, and it's easy to see why it is always full of people. When you do a wine tasting here, they have gorgeous specially crafted wine boards that the glasses sit on. You of course have to return them or pay a hefty fee.

I also love that they have a chicken run on the property! As you drive in, you'll pass the chicken coop and likely the chickens walking around outside.

For our last stop of the day, we went to Big Creek Distilling Co. This place had only been open for a few months, but it had a great atmosphere. We played some cornhole outside while waiting for our food from the food truck that was parked outside. I have to shout out the food truck, Draztic Aztec Food Truck. I am a sucker for good Mexican food, so I was excited to discover the Draztic Aztec.

Big Creek had a tasting of bourbon, gin, and moonshine available. I opted for one of their specialty drinks - Maple and Thyme Whiskey Sour. A whiskey sour is a bit of a fail-safe, but the maple and thyme together was an interesting flavor combination. I enjoyed slow sippin' on this one. They had a varied selection of specialty drinks, I can't wait for my next visit to try something new.

Yay! You've made it to the end. I hope this gives you plenty of options for places to add to your list if you plan a trip to Dahlonega. Which I HIGHLY recommend. We stopped at only a fraction of the wineries that are in the area, and there is so much to see and do for a couple's getaway, bachelorette, or just a group of friends. If you're still around feel free to peruse some silly goofy pics from the trip.