Bacchic Love Comes Alive in Roswell

publication date: Jul 14, 2008

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author/source: Jonathan Copsey / STAFF

By Jonathan Copsey / STAFF

Historical Society members relax in the oak-paneled painting-adorned rooms where “An Evening With Wine” was held.

Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, would have been proud if he was looking down at Roswell last Saturday evening. While there may have been merry-making in other parts of town, only one place was giving the beverage it’s true due, honoring and learning about the tastes and flavors. This event was “An Evening With Wine,” a wine tasting seminar hosted by the Roswell Historical Society to help fund the research library and archives.

The event was held at the offices of historical Society member Cam Head and served heavy hors d’oeuvres along with a healthy dose of libations to the dozens of guests. The special guest of the night was Jane Garvey, of the Atlanta Wine School. 

During the course of the night, Garvey gave small lectures (and tastes) on each of the dozen or so different bottles (all from local stores) lined before her, interspersed with stories from her own travels around the world’s vineyards. Be it a Chilean Merlot or Portuguese Port, she could attest to the exact location and skill (and in some cases, personalities) of many of the vintners. She also imparted nuggets of wisdom on the dozens of people listening, each with glass in hand. One such item was that, when visiting any vineyard – physically being on the property – you are allowed to ship back to yourself up to five cases of the wine.

It’s not what it looks like: Jane Garvey of the Atlanta Wine School poured helpful information about wine and the many tastes of different styles.

And Garvey knew what she was talking about. She got into wine “one glass at a time,” beginning when she was living in Spain, leading to a career telling others about it. In the early 1990’s she wrote on wine for the AJC and now works as a freelance writer and moonlights with the Atlanta Wine School. The School was formed several years ago to teach consumers about wine as well as to provide a certification program for those who work with distributors and retailers.

According to Garvey, Georgia is lagging behind much of the rest of the country when it comes to wine. Not in terms of wine grown – there are more than 20 vineyards in Georgia, mostly located in the north – but in terms of legislation. She told of how Georgians are not allowed to fortify the wine made locally. One vintner, she said, sends his wine to North Carolina where it is fortified and sent back. Then it is labeled as imported and charged accordingly.

Fortification was originally done to help preserve wine. It also makes the wine sweeter and stronger. Perhaps the most popular example of a fortified wine is port.

“Thank God we are growing up,” she said in reference to the new law legalizing the sale of wine in Georgia over the internet. How many people knew it was illegal?

“It’s expensive to ship that stuff,” she said of the wine. “But… the only way I can [buy] wines that are coming from some of the boutique wineries is to ship it. The only way you can get a Leonetti merlot, which the Wine Spectator called America’s best merlot, is to be on the Leonetti list. Now, there are folks in this town who have been getting their share of Leonetti all these years. Nonetheless you can’t go to the store and buy it, you can’t go to a winery and buy it. The only way you can get it is over the internet.” According to the Leonetti website, there is a five to eight year waiting list to join. “So we have – theoretically at least – been denied access to these wines because we’ve not been able to order over the internet.”

“We’re really pleased with the support we’re getting at the society this year,” said Society president Connie Huddlestone, as she looked around the crowded room where food was served. “We like the fact that we’re getting new people and it’s just a lot of fun meting new people.”