Celebrating Pink Saturday at Crane Creek Vineyards & Winery in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia

On Saturday a group of bloggers from around the world get together to celebrate everything pink. Pink Saturday is sponsored by Beverly of How Sweet The Sound. In fact, it’s one of the reasons we came to the winery today – to enjoy a glass of pink wine. If you love pink salmon, be sure to visit Mary at One Perfect Bite. She prepared a yummy pink salmon chowder last Saturday and treated us to breathtaking (pink) photos of the San Juan Islands. If you would like to join in the fun, visit Bev and sign up for next week’s Pink Saturday.

We’re visiting Crane Creek Vineyards & Winery, which sits high in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia, just a few miles from Young Harris, a quaint college town and in the shadow of Brasstown Bald, Georgia’s highest peak. Less than two hours north of Atlanta, it feels like it’s a world away. Sun kissed days, cool summer nights and rich mineral soils allow the winery to cultivate grapes with fresh, assertive aromas and concentrated flavors. In addition to blush and rose wine, they also produce a nice selection of reds and whites.

We stopped by their tasting room, housed in a charming old, yellow clapboard Georgia farmhouse that overlooks the vineyards and were greeted by a darling little metal pink pig at the gate. Inside we sampled a bottle of their Villard Noir, Blanc de Noir, 2008. Crisp and dry, it reminded us very much of the fabulous French rose wines we enjoyed during our trip to Provence a couple of years ago. While visiting with Chef David, he said he likes to serve this wine with figs and goat cheese drizzled with a little balsamic glaze. Sounds like a winner to me.

Crane Creek Vineyards is a great place for lunch. If you call ahead, they’ll prepare a cheese tray for you and customize it with various vegetable medleys or assorted antipasto meats. They also offer soup (today’s selection was Fresh Tomato) and a glass of wine.

On the grounds there’s a beautiful pavilion that’s perfect for parties or even a wedding, which sounds like a fantasy experience for a new bride to exchange vows in the vineyards and start a new lifelong journey with the one she loves.

Crane Creek is a member of the Wine Growers Association of Georgia. In December the association sponsors a Georgia Wine Highway Weekend. The participating wineries are all within driving distance of Atlanta, Asheville or Chattanooga. So if in mid December you’re feeling stressed-out and want to escape for a couple of days from the holiday hustle and bustle, the winery tour might just be the perfect weekend trip.

In addition to the winery tours in North Georgia, there’s hiking on the Appalachian Trail and plenty of trout fishing in the area. Crane Creek offers two lovely guest houses, one of which is located a few feet from Frogtown Creek, a branch of the Chestatee River, which is a certified Georgia trout stream. Regularly stocked with rainbow trout, it’s a trout fisherman's paradise.

We’re looking forward to Crane Creek’s upcoming Annual Harvest Day on Saturday, October 24, where they celebrate the completion of the year’s harvest with hayrides, grape stomping, winery tours and tastings. I’ll give Catawba a scratch on her ear and tell her I’ll see her on the twenty-fourth.

My husband Meakin raises a glass of this wonderful rose wine and we both wish you a very happy (and rosy) Pink Saturday from Crane Creek Vineyards & Winery located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia.