Just an easy three-hour drive from Charlotte, there sits an expansive award-winning Georgia winery and resort modeled after an elegant French country estate.
This was news to me when I visited the rolling foothills of North Georgia to see Chateau Elan. Driving onto the property, the verdant vineyards stand in striking contrast to the otherwise unassuming small town of Braselton. The statement-making, centrally located winery is the first thing to greet you as you arrive. Furthermore,the rest of the property, which includes several restaurants, an inn, golf course, and a spa, spreads across 3,500 acres of lush countryside and pinewood forests.
After checking into the inn, just a few hundred feet away from the winery, I first made my way to an early dinner at the hotel’s expansive, greenery-dotted glass-top atrium restaurant, Versailles. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus an afternoon tea service, are all served here daily. Throughout the resort, there are four more chef-driven restaurant concepts. Plus there’s a speakeasy, bourbon bar, café and coffee shop, and poolside mixology.
The inn houses 290 generously-sized guestrooms, and provides direct access to the pool and fitness center. For larger parties, there are two and three-bedroom suites available as well…