Chateau Elan's Vineyard Fest welcomed more than 2,600 people into the Braselton resort for a 28th-annual celebration that has quietly grown from a modest August harvest gathering into one of North Georgia's marquee agritourism weekends. The festival's expansion tracks a much bigger story playing out across the state: Georgia wine has gone from a niche curiosity to a billion-dollar industry, and Chateau Elan has been one of its biggest engines.
A Harvest Party That Outgrew Its Roots
Vineyard Fest began as a smaller August gathering drawing only a few hundred visitors before expanding into the multi-day September event it is today, according to CBS News, which cited senior marketing manager Raelynn Connor. The venue itself has deep roots in Georgia's post-Prohibition wine story. Chateau Elan was founded in the early 1980s by pharmaceutical entrepreneurs Donald and Nancy Panoz on a sprawling 3,500-acre estate in Braselton, becoming the state's first major resort winery after Prohibition, per the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
That history matters because Georgia's wine industry is, in many ways, a resurrection. Before National Prohibition took hold in 1919, Georgia was one of the nation's leading wine-producing states, with more than 20,000 acres of grapes documented in the 1900 agricultural census before federal agents dismantled local vineyards, according to Atlanta Magazine. Nearly a century later, the state's winemakers are rebuilding that footprint from scratch, and Chateau Elan has positioned itself at the center of that comeback.
From 5,000 Cases to Over 45,000
Much of Chateau Elan's growth traces back to a deliberate agricultural pivot. Executive Winemaker Simone Bergese joined the operation in 2012 and overhauled its vineyards, swapping out diseased European vinifera vines for native, pest-resistant Muscadine grapes better suited to Georgia's humid climate and soil, per the Georgia Farm Bureau. That shift helped the winery scale annual production from roughly 5,000 cases to more than 45,000 cases today, the same reporting notes.
The muscadine grape carries more than agricultural significance in Georgia — it's a matter of state pride. Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 358 in August 2020, officially designating the muscadine as Georgia's state grape effective January 1, 2021, according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Behind that native grape's resurgence sits a research institution with more than a century of history: the University of Georgia operates the nation's oldest active muscadine breeding program, established in 1909, which has released over 30 grape cultivars and supplies viticulture extension specialists to growers statewide, per the Georgia Farm Bureau.
Competing on a National Stage
The bet on muscadine and careful blending has translated into national recognition. Chateau Elan's wine program earned Sweepstakes Winner honors for its Bianco and Best in Class for its Reserve Sauvignon Blanc at the 2026 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, according to in the Mix Magazine. Those wins brought national recognition to a Georgia resort winery.
Chateau Elan is no longer an outlier in a sparse field, either. Commercial winemaking in Georgia expanded from just 7 wineries in 1995 and 12 in 2006 to more than 120 wineries in 2023, according to Atlanta Magazine's reporting. Further north, the 2018 federal designation of the Dahlonega Plateau AVA helped elevate the region's standing among wine destinations, per Wine Enthusiast.
A Multibillion-Dollar Industry
The scale of that growth shows up in the numbers. The National Association of American Wineries attributed more than $7.7 billion in total economic activity to Georgia's wine industry, while the Georgia Department of Agriculture reported approximately 23,000 direct jobs and 1,400 vineyard acres statewide, according to the study and figures cited by Patch. Events like Vineyard Fest function as a visible bridge between that economic story and everyday visitors, pairing traditional Southern agriculture with resort-style hospitality.
Chateau Elan's weekend isn't the only sign of the trend. Yonah Mountain Vineyards also highlights grape stomping, another example of North Georgia's wine tourism. Together, the two festivals suggest Georgia's wine boom is no longer confined to a single estate — it's becoming a statewide seasonal draw.
