Last Saturday, I visited a few North Georgia's wineries & vineyards with one of my best friends Trinh and her darlin' husband Chris. I packed my camera gears and also grabbed my Petzval 85mm lens. I have not had the chance to have much fun with it yet, and it was time I take it with me to a day trip.

The first winery we visited was The Cottage Vineyard & Winery (http://www.cottagevineyardwinery.com/). We stop by at a near by Ingles to stock up on delicious gourmet antipasto. The folks at The Cottage Vineyard & Winery do not mind that you bring your food to the outdoor picnic areas to enjoy with their wines. The wind was so strong all of our food containers almost flew away, including our wine glasses. But the almost-360-degrees mountain view was so refreshing, and definitely a great place to relax and chill on a lazy Saturday.

A distant farm house in the mountainA nostalgic scenery from The Cottage Vineyard & Winery, a distant farm house in the mountain. I couldn't photograph any food or wine, because all of our hands were too busy keeping the containers and glass on the table. But I walked around and took some photos after we were done eating. They serve a few different wineries' wines and being the Southern Belle that I am, I have tried a couple of muscadine wines and thoroughly enjoyed a full glass of wine called Sunset from Currahee Vineyard & Winery (http://www.curraheevineyards.com/​), which is a muscadine wine infused with strawberries. It has a friendly summer-time scent and deep and rich ruby hue that reminds me of the burning sunset spreading in the Southern Sky in "Gone with the wind". I decided to take a couple of bottles of Sunset home. 

The next stop was Serenity Cellars (http://serenitycellars.com/). Serenity Cellars did not have any sweet wine, but I enjoy photographing their event venue and surrounding elements.

Serenity Cellars Serenity Cellars Event Venue Details at Serenity Cellars Serenity Cellars Event Venue

Beautiful Trinh Trinh and Chris

The fire was going and they had a live music outdoor. But the girl's gotta have more sweet wine. Moved on to the next winery, Cavender Creek Vineyards (http://cavendercreekvineyards.com/#home-splash). 

Who was I greeted by in the parking lot? A majestic Great Pyrenees. A lot of wineries keep their dogs on properties to ward off bears in the area. Then I heard my friend say "OMG how cute!" and here comes this bundle of white fluffy fur who is too cute to be true. A Great Pyrenees puppy wobbled towards me as if he was curious about my camera, and unlike most puppies, he greeted me with a calm demeanor and obvious enjoyment for attention and petting.

The guardian of the vineyard

Meet Tucker! untitled shoot-20160227-3122

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Tucker reporting to dutyTucker reporting to duty and entertaining wine tasting ladies with his handsome smile and proper, Southern Gentleman manners.

I tasted 4 sweet muscadine wines and decided to take home a bottle of Farmhouse white muscadine wine and another bottle of peach infused version. Yummy. Feeling good and happy. There's some good old music playing in the corner and some girls are dancing and singing. Everyone seems so happy here. Tucker roamed around and entertained the wine tasting clients with his charm.

Wine tasting at Cavender Creek Vineyards Live music! Live music! People having fun People having more fun!People just enjoying the back terrace, nice weather, great wines and friendly conversations.

Even without my favorite mountain view, Cavender Creek was my favorite of the day...  :)

-Koko