Last week we packed our bags and spent 5 days cruising around beautiful Atlanta with our wine distributor Southern Vines.  There’s really nothing quite like drinking wine for 5 whole days, hosting winemaker dinners and meeting new people, we love it!  We found that Atlanta’s food scene is fantastic and comprised of people with great taste. Respect.

One of our favorite places in Atlanta is a restaurant called Ink and Elm. The owner Keith Osborne hosted a winemaker dinner with us and engaged us in one of our best dialogues about wine.  Keith educated us on the virtues of aging white wine from California.  He proceeded to open a bottle of 2000 Arcadian Chardonnay and a bottle of 2006 Viognier after dinner which were both superb, well-balanced, perfectly constructed wines.  Keith is a Viognier and Barolo collector so he took a special interest in our 2012 Viognier and told us we should consider aging it for a while.  I set aside 4 cases the moment we got home.

Another special place in Atlanta is a little wine shop right around the corner from Ink and Elm called the Purple Corkscrew.  The sweet sisters who run this spot have a great knowledge of wine and a great selection. We did a few tastings there and got to schmooze with college professors from Emory University and talk shop about the depth of cabernets and Merlots, it was great fun.

Another restaurant we had the pleasure of working with is a work of art in Edgewood called The Sound Table.  The owner Karl Injex is a kindred spirit who’s knowledge of music, food, travel and wine is immense.  He’s a sort of renaissance man holding a fantastic restaurant/ bar with a wonderful atmosphere.  There’s even a venue next door with great acts, art shows and pop ups happening all the time.  If you need to know anything about Portugal, stop in and ask Karl he’ll help you out.  

Atlanta is a city of scattered together quaint neighborhoods.  There is so much we haven’t seen yet and we’re already looking forward to our next trip out there.  We’d like to thank everyone we met and spent time with, you were nothing but kind.  Till next time.

Cheers