Danielsville, GA - Boutier Winery

Boutier Winery tasting room on a gorgeous winter day.

The great thing about living in Athens, GA is that there are a number of unique venues in the area to explore.  When work and budget constraints do not allow for travel, I have plenty of places in my back yard to check out.  And that's just what we did one Saturday this winter.  We took a little wine tasting trip to Boutier Winery, small boutique vineyard just 20 miles from Athens.  To call it a vineyard, is a little premature, but the proprietors do have plans to grow grapes in the future. At present all their grapes and other fruit are provided by other growers. The wine is made on premise and some is quite good. 

A wine barrel candle holder handcrafted by Victor Boutier.

When traveling from Athens or Atlanta, you drive down several pleasant country roads to get to Boutier.  Located on a top of of hill, the small attractive building that houses the tasting room and event facilities, is surrounded by unique sculpture, gardens and a wine barrel fountain.  Upon entering you find yourself in a beautifully decorated and warmly inviting tasting room. In addition to wine tasting, there are unique wine related gifts available for purchase.  I particularly liked the wine barrel candle holders hand crafted by the proprietor. 

Victor Boutier and his kitchy fruit wines.

What did we have: Our friend and petsitter, Emily, bought us gift certificates for wine tasting.  Otherwise the cost would have been $10 each.  Of course that is waived with the purchase of wine.  We received personal service from owners Victor and Mary Ann Boutier. We sampled all the traditional grape wine choices available at that time, and a few of their other fruit wine specialties. Victor, the winemaker, makes small batches and bottles maximum of 1500.  He sells his wine at the winery and it is offered at several restaurants in Atlanta.  Their red wines include Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Elegance Vin Rouge and Hot Flash - a combo of Petit Syrah, Malbac and Syrah.  We only tasted two of the white wines, a Reisling and Chardonnay. We really liked the crisp dry Reisling. Their specialty is their fruit wine.  With names like Diva 'Licious and The Skinny Bitch and The Cranky Bastard, you know they're not taking themselves too seriously, but I actually enjoyed both the peach and blueberry wine.  It wasn't as sweet as you might think and it would couple beautifully with dark chocolate.



The warm and inviting tasting room at Boutier.

What was fun: Just discovering this unique little winery close to home was a treat.  We really enjoyed the personal attention we received from the proprietors.  The wine was fine and we even bought a couple of bottles to take home with us. I love the entrepreneurial spirit of the proprietors and local flavor that inspired this winery in the back hills of Georgia.