The Wineslinger Chronicles: Honestly Good Wine at Frogtown Cellars in Northern Georgia
By Russ Kane
The last place I expected to find truly palatable and varietally correct wine was in northern Georgia. However, that was before I move to the Metro Atlanta area from Texas this year and had a chance to take a closer look.
After we unpacked our household, put in some landscaping and hung up a few pictures, we were ready for a road trip to the hill country. However, this hill country trip was not to Texas, but directed to northern Georgia and the foothills of the Appalachian Mountain.
In this case, it was only a two hour drive here versus the drive of four hours (or more) we had from Houston to the Texas Hill Country. On our drive to upstate Georgia, the landscape was painted in lush green tones bordered by towering trees and rambling hills gently angling upwards; the higher they get, the closer you get to Georgia’s northern border.
You might ask… What’s here? Well, in the 1820’s, it was the site of the first major U.S. Gold Rush. Today, you can still experience gold and ruby mines, but perhaps with an eye for striking it rich. Now this region is in the heart of Georgia wine country, to be specific, the Dahlonega Plateau AVA (a federally sanctioned American Viticultural Area). What it offers is an authentic mountain wine country experience within a short drive north of Atlanta. The Dahlonega Plateau is nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and offers expansive mountain vistas, roaring waterfalls and bubbling streams. Also, this area has memory-worthy wineries and wines, and many other types of entertainment, too.
Frogtown Cellars
Atlantans’ Craig and Cydney Kritzer founded Frogtown Cellars in 1998. It got its name from what is called the “Frogtown District” of Lumpkin County. The name Frogtown itself is an anglicized form of a Cherokee name meaning “the place of the frog”. At their vineyard and winery, the Kritzers are working hard to establish their viticultural area’s reputation for high quality wine grapes and for making outstanding wines while also providing a memorable winery experience.
The Kritzer’s Frogtown Cellars estate property is a 57 acre vineyard located between Dahlonega and Cleveland, Georgia.
While having lunch at the winery, we met a very friendly and talkative Craig Kritzer. We found out that it is an understatement to say that Craig is an outspoken leader in promoting Dahlonega Plateau AVA wine growing and winemaking. Thinking that he would spend just a few minutes with us, we spent the next three hours with him during our lunch, over a wine tasting and a cellar tour.
The Tasting
We started with the Frogtown 2023 Clos Primvera Rosé de Grenache with lunch that was pleasant and refreshing with our meal. Bottled American Appellation indicated that it was likely a blend of local grapes and those from a related winery the Kritzer family runs in Paso Robles. It was aromatic and was highlighted by strawberry, watermelon and peach.
Later as we segued inside the tasting room and had a guided tasting by Craig with several of his wines. During this time, I’d mentioned the recommendation that we receive from Texas’s Bending Branch Wineryowner Dr. Bob Young to taste his Frogtown Tannat. Then, from the cellar, he retrieved a bottle of his Frogtown Kritzer Family Reserve Tannat (2013) Georgia Red Wine. The taste was incredible with dark red-black color and characteristics layered with black cherry, blackberry and plum, melded with smoky and earthy notes, and supported by a firm but enjoyable aged tannic structure.
What You Need to Know
Frogtown grows a surprising number of European wine grape varieties in its vineyards. According to Kritzer, these include Rhône varieties like Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier, and classics like Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon that, in recent vintages, have all been doing well on quality and quantity. The recent harvest of Tannat, Touriga, and Petit Verdot have been fine on quality but are little short on tonnage. Unfortunately, the Frogtown vineyards are currently very short on Sauvignon Gris, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Malbec. Having experienced the intensity, knowledge and passion of Craig Kritzer firsthand, it is a good bet that Frogtown Cellars will continue to be a leader in northern Georgia’s fine wine scene. With Frogtown’s breadth of winemaking offerings, you should also be able to be find a wine that suits your taste.
To close, I recommend a visit to the Dahlonega AVA and especially to Frogtown Cellers for a bistro lunch on their veranda, a flight of wines, and, of course, a wine purchase so that the Kritzer can keep their business going.
Certain photos courtesy of Frogtown Cellars.
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