Georgia produces high-quality wine grapes and is celebrated for growing snappy peanuts, wholesome pecans, sweet Vidalia onions, and juicy peaches.
Though the Muscadine is the number one grape in the southern state, winegrowers cultivate other varieties. Some familiar ones are Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Gris.
Winemaking started in the early 1980s and since has grown to 57 licensed wineries, doubling since the early 2000s. The rise of wine festivals in the state has risen as well. These gatherings are an excellent opportunity to sample your favorite wines and discover new vintages to place on your list of must-have wines.
Rightly so, some wine festivals in Georgia include peanuts, pecans, and peaches as part of the delicious bites to pair with the wine samplings. Here are some of the wine festivals in the Empire State of the South that you’ll appreciate attending.
The Top Wine Festivals in Georgia
- Athens Wine Weekend
- Tybee Wine Festival
- Toast of Tocca
- Annual WineFest
- Dahlonega Arts & Wine Festival
- Atlanta Food & Wine Festival
- Blue Ridge Mountains Wine & Jazz Festival
- Suwanee Wine Festival
- Georgia’s Food and Wine Festival
- Crush Festival
1. Athens Wine Weekend
- The Classic Center
- May
- 300 N. Thomas Street
- Athens, CA 30601
- Tickets: Full Bottle Package: $1050.00, Half Carafe Package: $450.00
Considered a premier wine event, Athens Wine Weekend returns each year. The gathering starts with Amuse-Bouche, where guests sample local food paired with excellent wine.
Next is the Grand Tasting, then several seminars to deepen your knowledge of the wine grape. The event concludes with a multi-course epic dinner but officially closes with a tasty buffet and mimosas at the Sparkling Wine Brunch.
You’ll have accommodations and tickets conveniently paid for in advance if you purchase the Full Bottle or Half Carafe package for an entire weekend experience.
2. Tybee Wine Festival
- Tybee Island Lighthouse
- April
- Tybee Island, Georgia
- Tickets: $70.00 to $110.00
Taste international wines and savor fresh coastal seafood and other culinary treats at the annual Tybee Wine Festival.
The gathering features three different but unique and delightfully delectable wine and food affairs. Each gathering combines with live musical performances all happening within the gorgeous surroundings of Tybee Island, only a couple of miles east of Historic Savannah.
Each event focuses on pairing wines with a specific food from talented chefs. There is a silent auction of original artwork, Cuban cigars, rare wines, and passes to the Gold Savannah Film Festival. Attendees take home some souvenirs and a commemorative wine glass.
The highlight of the gathering is the signature event at the Tybee Lighthouse with 100 international wines with food samples.
The wine will delight your palate, relishing Italian, French and more styles of wine. Bring a blanket or beach chair to relax on the lawn near the lighthouse.
3. Toast of Tocco
- Historic Downtown Tocco
- April or May
- Tocco, GA
- 706-898-5777
- Tickets: Free Admission Purchase tokens for regional wine and craft beer tasting.
Toast of Toccoa is an annual event that features more than 50 artisans from the Currahee Artists Guild and other regional arts organizations. They display their work in separate booths.
You can walk around talking with the artists and enjoying their work, sipping wine, or tasting beer while listening to live music and savoring local food.
For wine and beer tasting, you use tokens purchased at the festival. Past festivals have included a classic car show, jazz bands, and a dining tent. Bottles of your favorite wines will be available for purchase.
4. Annual WineFest
- Habersham Vineyards & Winery
- May
- 7025 South Main Street
- Helen, GA 30545
- Tickets: Advance: $30.00, Gate: $35.00, five additional tasting tickets are $5.00.
The Annual WineFest takes place at Habersham Winery as an annual celebration of Georgia wine, including ten-plus wineries from around the region and state.
Here you and your friends celebrate your favorite Georgia wine with live music, food, and plenty of wine to taste.
Festival goers will receive a souvenir glass and 15 tasting tickets. Each wine pour will require 1, 2, or 3 tickets based on what each winery sets. You can purchase additional tasting tickets for $5.00 for five more tickets.
These wineries will have a combined total of over 60 wines on hand. Craft beer by the bottle and wine slushies will also be for sale if you feel like mixing things up.
5. Dahlonega Arts & Wine Festival
- Public Square
- Third Weekend in May
- Dahlonega, Georgia 30533
- Tickets: TBA
You’ll find this the ideal festival for lovers of wine, art, and jazz. Chestatee Artists has sponsored this event as an exciting fundraiser for over seven years. It takes place at the historic downtown square and adjoining Hancock Park.
The focus features high-quality arts and crafts, excellent local and regional wines, and outstanding jazz performances as entertainment for a truly cultural event.
Over 70 carefully chosen artists and crafters will display innovative products for purchase during the event in downtown Dahlonega.
Festival goers can select from paintings in watercolors, oil, acrylics, mixed media, and creative photography. The jury committee accepted quality crafts for the festival, including jewelry, ceramics, wood items, sculpture, leather crafts, custom knives, fiber arts, fused and stained glass, and other handcrafted creations. Also featured are delicious specialty foods.
Wine lovers who purchase tickets receive a commemorative wine glass for their tastings.
6. Atlanta Food & Wine Festival
- Historic Fourth Ward Park
- September
- 680 Dallas Street NE
- Atlanta, GA 30308
- Tickets: $89.00 to $158.00
Every Fall, celebrate “Love Letter to the South.” Immerse yourself in a class by itself culinary experience heralding the South’s many iconic destinations, flavors, and hospitality at this annual festival with all-embracing Tasting Tents.
Tease your taste buds as you steer through the expansive culinary offerings within the Tasting Tent experience. You and your friends will appreciate fine foods featured by over 30 top chefs from Atlanta’s setting to Georgia’s surrounding southern neighbors.
Don’t forget, you can drink, eat, and indulge at the festival’s grand marquis event.
Since 2011, the festival has shined the international limelight on the beyond compare wine, beer, spirits, and food of the South.
The weekend showcases over 250 chefs, mixologists, sommeliers, and industry insiders from 13 southern states—each sharing a unique story, a tradition, and a region to recall fondly.
7. Blue Ridge Mountains Wine & Jazz Festival
- White Path Creek Farms
- June
- 1211 Old Northcutt Road
- Ellijay, GA 30540
- Tickets: VIP Pass Per Day: $125.00, Table for Eight One Day: $800, Table for Eight Two Days: $1500.00
Come with your friends and enjoy great jazz music, fabulous wines, incredible art, and tasty cuisine.
The festival offers diverse international wines, including those made in North Georgia and North Carolina.
Enjoy delectable food crafted while listening to top jazz performers from the region. Buy wine by the glass or bottle. Arrive with lawn chairs or a blanket, set them up on the lawn, and relax with a glass of wine while appreciating the music.
The Blue Ridge Mountains Wine & Jazz Festival focuses on regional wines grown and made locally. And to provide financial support, opportunities for area jazz music students, and awareness to the community about the significance of this legendary style of American music.
8. Suwanee Wine Festival
- Town Center Park
- November
- Suwanee, GA
- Tickets: Advance General Admission: $60.00, Gate: $70.00, VIP: $135.00
Festival goers can sip and stroll around the stunning Suwanee Town Center Park, enjoying unlimited samples of tasty wines hand-selected by local wine specialists from Topshelf Beverage.
The event includes over 150 international wines and a Georgia winery section, where you and your friends sample local wineries and offer current and new favorite tastings.
The Suwanee Wine Festival has live music, local vendors, artists, and food from well-known restaurants and food trucks. The non-wine fans can have beers, seltzers, and ready-to-drink cocktails. A new addition festival this year is Grape Stomping!
General admission tickets allow unlimited wines, craft beer samples at the beer garden, food samples, and live entertainment.
VIP tickets include everything with General Admission, one-hour early entry, a private tasting and dining tent with premier wines to sample, wine education, a catered meal by Marlow’s Tavern, and a Suwanee Wine Fest t-shirt and goody bag.
9. Georgia’s Food and Wine Festival
- Jim R. Miller Park
- March
- Marietta, Georgia
- Tickets: TBA
Celebrate food, wine, and music in Georgia and the South, from its beverage experts and culinary superstars to farmers, artisans, musicians, and more.
The various experiences at the festival are for all taste buds, including “Classes from the Georgia Masters” and the legendary barbecue affair, “Fired-Up,” an all-embracing food and drink tasting.
Saturday’s main event, “Savor,” presents hundreds of unlimited wine, beer, and spirits tastings, a VIP Lounge, a Georgia Celebrity Chef Stage, live music, and artisans.
“Sunday and Funday” is a family-friendly and budget-friendly day, with Kids Zone, VIP Lounge Oyster Roast, and more live music and fun.
10. Crush Festival
- Yonah Mountain Vineyards
- August
- 1717 Highway 255 S Cleveland
- Cleveland, GA 30528
- Tickets: $50.00
Festival goers will access all the merriments, two full glasses of wine or beer, traditional grape stomping, and a souvenir glass.
The day-long festival features food trucks, live music, an artisan market, award-winning Yonah Mountain Vineyard wines, and local craft beer.
If they like, the guests will participate in the signature event an old-fashion barefoot grape stomping accompanied by a live guitar and an accordion duet from winery owners Jane and Bob Miller.
Held since 2010, Crush Fest has developed into a summer tradition at the Vineyards and one of the foremost wine festivals in the Southeast.
