Four five-star restaurants add Tiger Mountain to wine lists

Tiger Mountain Vineyards ' wines are now listed at four of  the state's famous five-star restaurants: Bacchanalia and Quinones in Atlanta , The Cloister in Sea Island and the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room in Buckhead.

The Rabun County winery is co-owned by two Tiger  families, John and Martha Ezzard and Bill and Leckie Stack.

Clifford Harrison, the James Beard award winning chef owner ( along with Ann Quatrano) of Bacchanalia and Quinones, selected  Tiger Mountain's  07 Petit Manseng as well as its '04 Touriga Nacional and '06 Cabernet Franc.  The Rabun County winery's Petit Manseng and Malbec vintages are also served at the Ritz Carlton Dining Room.

Tiger Mountain is the only winery in Georgia growing and producing Petit Manseng, a white tangy wine from southwestern France and Malbec, an earthy wine with berry aromas, popular in the Madiran region of France and also grown in Argentina. Tiger Mountain's Malbec, first planted in 1996 on a family farm at Tiger Mountain by Dr. John Ezzard, is more similar to the French style wine.

Other top Atlanta restaurants where Tiger Mountain wines are currently listed include Restaurant Eugene, Woodfire Grill, Floatway Café and Nava as well as Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar at Perimeter Mall. In Savannah, the new and widely acclaimed Noble Fare restaurant lists Tiger Mountain wines, which are also the featured Georgia wine at Savannah's historic Dresser Palmer House.

Cloister Sommelier Heath Porter chose Tiger Mountain's '04 Norton, an American grape once cultivated in the Monticello Vineyards and brought back to popularity in Virginia about 50 years ago. The full-bodied wine, with hints of deep cherry and spice, is served by the glass at the Cloister Beach Bar.

Tiger Mountain's unique Petit Manseng won the only gold medal awarded a Georgia winery  in the 2007 Jefferson Cup Invitational, a contest headed by Doug Frost, one of three experts in the world to hold both Master Sommelier and Master of Wine credentials.

Petit Manseng is an ancient French grape dating to the 16^th century. With loose clusters and high sugars, it is especially well-suited, according to Ezzard who pioneered the grape for Tiger Mountain, to a southeastern terroir--- soils and climate in wine growing terms.

In addition to the Ritz and Bacchanalia, Woodfire Grill, Restaurant Eugene and Fleming's all feature the unusual wine, which is also listed at the lively new restaurant at the Lake Rabun Hotel in Rabun County.

Tiger Mountain Vineyards winery opened in 1999. The grapes for the wines it produces are all grown in the Ezzard and the Stack vineyards in Tiger.