Scott and Susan Dodson used to travel from their home in Acworth to the property they owned about 15 minutes south of Rockmart and have a picnic, thinking about how nice it would be to share the view they saw with other people.
“It’s so beautiful, and peaceful, and relaxing. It’s a shame nobody else gets to see it,” Scott Dodson recalls thinking.
After years of planning, researching and building, the Dodsons can now welcome everyone to that property on Bollen Road as they celebrate the opening of Paris Mountain Vineyards, the first winery of its kind in Polk County.
Credit: Jeremy Stewart
Credit: Jeremy Stewart
“We want to provide a fun atmosphere where people can come out, have a good time, enjoy being out in nature, and relax,” Scott said.
“And that’s because that’s what we get when we come up here,” Susan said.
The winery celebrated its grand opening last weekend. Paris Mountain Vineyards is open Thursday and Monday from noon to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. All ages are welcome and lawn chairs are encouraged in addition to seating inside the tasting room and on the patio.
Aside from traditional wine — including its Estate Lenoir wine, Warrior — Paris Mountain Vineyards is offering sweet wines and wine slushies as well as small bites like charcuteries.
It’s been a journey for Scott and Susan to get here.
Scott Dodson was still with the Cobb County Fire Department in 2012 when he started raising cows with the Perry family on the property where the tasting room and venue stand. Back then, he and his future wife Susan would enjoy visiting the wineries in the Northeast Georgia mountains.
Scott was approaching retirement from the fire department in 2017 and began thinking about what to do when he retired. The couple remembered how much they loved the wineries — but not just the wines, the people they met as well. They purchased the property for the vineyard in 2018 and moved forward with the research and planning to make their dream a reality.
“It’s been a labor of love,” Susan Dodson said.
They first planted Lenoir, or Black Spanish, grapes in 2019. The next year they went across the 4-acre lake on the property and planted white grapes of the Blanc du Bois variety.
At the same time, the couple worked with the county government to go through the proper channels of opening a business of its kind. They said the support from the county departments and commissioners only strengthened their resolve.
Their first harvest last spring produced the Lenoir grapes used in their estate wine called Warrior. They also serve wines brought in from other vineyards, including Lodi, California.
The grapes Scott and Susan grow off of Pleasant Hill Road in Southeast Polk County are hybrids, able to withstand the heat and humidity of West Georgia. The Blanc du Bois variety was first developed at the University of Florida in 1968.
“We’re hoping to get a crop of those off the vines this year,” Scott said.
Credit: Jeremy Stewart
Credit: Jeremy Stewart
As owners of the founding winery of Polk County, Scott and Susan hope to help cultivate the area as another premier wine destination in Georgia.
“With the business model for wineries, the thought is if you have one out by itself, not many people are going to travel to go to just them,” Scott said. “But if you’ve got three or four in the area, then people will come out, go from one to the other and have different wines, see different areas.”
But Scott and Susan say they are not done. They plan to build a house on the other side of their vineyards and move onto the property that they not only fell in love with, but allowed them to make their dream come true.
“It’s been two years of extremely hard work,” Scott said when reflecting on the path that led them to the opening weekend.
“There’s nervousness, anxiety. Making the decision to invest in something that is unknown is always scary. But to get to this point, we’re ecstatic.”
“It means everything,” Susan said. “Because we have poured our heart and soul into this. So to get here today, it’s incredible. It’s unbelievable that our door is open.”
Credit: Rome News-Tribune
Credit: Rome News-Tribune
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