Tasting Room
At Sylvan Valley Lodge and Cellars, we believe experiencing local wines and craft beers should be an adventure for the soul. British Travel Writer Pico Lyer once said. “A traveler is really not someone who crosses ground so much as someone who is always hungry for the next challenge and adventure.” To that, we say, “Welcome traveler, your adventure awaits!”
Tasting Room Hours
Home of the Frolicking Faerie Wines, our Tasting Room is open to the public Fridays 4 pm-6 pm and Saturdays 1pm-8 pm. Other days/times are available for groups of 8 or more by appointment. We offer tastings of our Frolicking Faerie wines, Mead tastings, and Craft Beer flights. In addition, we also have our wines and Meads available by the glass or bottle, craft beers, hard ciders, and cheese and charcuterie plates for two—packed to go so you can enjoy them anywhere on our property, or take them with you on your wine adventure. Staying? We do wine tastings for our guests daily.
Group Tastings
Group wine tastings, with or without lunch, for chartered bus/limo tours or groups of 8 or more individuals are available through the week and on weekends by reservation only, scheduled at least 48 hours in advance of your tasting. For more information or the reserve a group tasting, please email info@sylvanvalleylodge.com or call 706.865.7371.
Tasting Fees
Taste 5 Frolicking Faerie wines: $10
Taste 4 Meads (Honey Wines): $8
Flight of 4 Craft Brews: $12
Pet Policy
Well-behaved, leashed dogs are welcome in the tasting room and outdoor areas at management discretion.
Learn More About Frolicking Faerie Wines
Frolicking Faerie Wines
If you drink enough wine, you’ll see Faeries…
If you drink a little bit more, they’ll tell you their names. Let us introduce you to the Faeries we have met so far on our wine adventures.
WARNING! Drinking the Faerie Wine may cause an inability to fly, but drastically improves your ability to see Faeries.
Our Current Selection:
Frolicking Faerie Constance (Dry, White)
Grapes sourced from the Dahlonega Plateau AVA, Georgia
This crisp, tangy, refreshing wine has lemon and green apple aromas, and bright citrus flavors. Aged 9 months in neutral French oak, this wine teases a slight vanilla on the nose and a beautiful golden color.
Frolicking Faerie Astrid (Dry, White)
Grapes sourced from the Lodi AVA, California
This 100% Lodi Viognier is easy to like for its fruity, flowery flavors, generous acidity and extra layers of complexity. With a medium body and a lean texture, this classy wine, for all its flavor is balanced and elegant. We call it the breakfast wine; great with eggs.
Frolicking Faerie Briar (Dry, Rosé)
Grapes sourced from the Dahlonega Plateau AVA, Georgia
A lovely unfiltered wine, understated and elegant; wood aged (French Oak), with subtle herb, cherry and oak flavors. It is rounded, ripe and full of dry, final tannins and acidity that display a seamless quality and complexity that make you reach for a second glass.
Frolicking Faerie Freyja (Dry, Red) – Award Winner
*Georgia Trustees Wine Competition for 2018, Bronze Award
Grapes sourced from the Dahlonega Plateau AVA, Georgia
This 100% barrel-fermented Cabernet Franc varietal is a beautifully balanced wine with medium body and nicely firm tannins supporting fairly rich brambleberry fruits and spicy accents. It is sleek and agile rather than big and rich, and its appetizing texture makes it really versatile at lunch or dinner.
Frolicking Faerie Callie (Dry, Red)
Grapes sourced from the Lodi AVA, California
Very pure and deep black-cherry flavors highlight this inky-colored and full-bodied 100% Syrah. It's packed with layers of very ripe cherry, plum and blackberry and wrapped in thick velvety tannins for a full mouthfeel. It's juicy, jammy and surprisingly well integrated walking a seamless line between power and grace.
Frolicking Faerie Grace (Semi-sweet, White) – Award Winner SOLD OUT
*Georgia Trustees Wine Competition for 2016, Silver Award
Grapes sourced from the Dahlonega Plateau AVA, Georgia
This delightful blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Vidal Blanc is just sweet enough, but lightly and delicately so. Overall, very balanced, an elegant wisp of a off-dry wine with acidity that lingers through the mid-palate.
Frolicking Faerie Sybil (Dry, Rose) – Award Winner SOLD OUT
*Georgia Trustees Wine Competition for 2016 & 2017, Bronze Award
Grapes sourced from the Dahlonega Plateau AVA, Georgia
This European style dry Rose is made from Georgia Vidal Blanc and Cynthiana. Light, with fruitful undertones and a crisp dry, lingering finish.
Frolicking Faerie Wylder (Dry, White) – Award Winner SOLD OUT
*Georgia Trustees Wine Competition for 2016, Silver Award
Grapes sourced from the Dahlonega Plateau AVA, Georgia
Spicy acidity lies beneath the richness of this 100% un-oaked Chardonnay, providing balance, freshness and a lightness on the palate that surprises. Meyer lemon, salty caramel and a feral overtone of forested woods combine effortlessly to intrigue and delight.
Learn More About Frolicking Faerie Wines
Visit us today to purchase Frolicking Faerie Wine, or visit our Tasting Room to learn more about our unique variety of wines.
Handcrafted Meads
Our small Batch Clan Reserve handcrafted meads are made using traditional techniques in order to preserve the natural flavors and aromas of local honey. We also offer a selection of Meads from Bee-Town Mead and Cider from South Carolina, also made by our winemaker.
Our Current Selection:
Clan Reserve Cherry Melomel (cherry mead, dry) – Award Winner
*USA Wineratings Silver Medal 2018
Honey sourced from Alisons Honey, White County, GA
Our inaugural honey wine was made with honey, water, cherries and yeast. It is unfiltered, hand bottled and all natural. At 15% alcohol, it offers a surprisingly smooth quaff full of round cheery flavor and honey overtones, with a long pleasant finish.
Coffee Metheglin (coffee, infused mead, dry) – Award Winner
*Mazer Cup International Mead Competition Bronze Medal 2019
Bee-Town Mead & Cider, South Carolina
Gallberry mead infused with Ecuadorian Organic Coffee from the Grind Coffee Roasters in Bluffton. Presents with a great coffee nose leading to a pleasant balanced finish.
Tart Sour Cherry Mead (tart, off-dry)
Bee-Town Mead & Cider, South Carolina
This mead made with tart natural cherries offers just the right balance of puckering tartness and slight sweetness, Like cherry pie in a bottle.
Wild Blueberry Mead (fruity, sweet)
Bee-Town Mead & Cider, South Carolina
A beautiful deep purple color, medium body of intense sun ripened blueberries with a delicate sweetness and balance that is neither syrupy nor watered down.
Our Winemaker
John Boyes
Georgia Grown
At just 23 years old, our winemaker and Georgia native, John Boyes, has been working in the Georgia wine industry for 8 years beginning in a local vineyard at the age of 15. His experience includes working under the tutelage of such Georgia greats as Ariel Padawer, vineyard manager and head winemaker at Kaya Vineyards (formerly Blackstock), Andrew Beaty, UC Davis and California trained former head winemaker at Habersham Vineyards, Joe Smith of Serenity Cellars and consulting winemaker for many other wineries including Yonah Mountain Vineyards and The Cottage Vineyard and Winery, and most recently, Larry Lykins of Cartecay Vineyards who is a pioneer in the northwest Georgia wine scene. Through his work with these winemakers, he has had an opportunity to work side by side with many others in the industry.
In addition, he has traveled the French countryside visiting many old world vintners. Once they realized he was both fluent in French and an aspiring winemaker, many took him on private tours and spent time showing him how they do things. A few even offered him internships and employment. The combination of working with formally trained, self taught, and generational winemakers has led to a philosophy and style of winemaking uniquely his own.
Believing that wine is made in the Vineyard, John carefully selects the best possible fruit for our Frolicking Faerie Wines. Most of the grapes used in our production are grown locally in some of our amazing Georgia vineyards. With minimal processing and interference, our wines are cellared and aged allowing the wine to mature until it is ready to be bottled.
In late 2018, John joined Bee-Town Mead & Cider in Bluffton, SC (the first commercial meadery in South Carolina) as Mazer (meadmaker). We are pleased to offer a selection of these meads in our tasting room along with our Clan Reserve Small Batch Mead made on-site.
Wine as Art
"The real art happens within the grapes themselves, and that takes place in the vineyard. That's where the real skill is. In making a wine, I see myself more as a curator, but that's important as well. Knowing how to show the genius of the art and make it accessible, that, to me, is the role of a winemaker. In the end the interpreting of it is up to each person according to their individual palate."
—John Boyes
