In 1998, Atlantans’ Craig and Cydney Kritzer founded Frogtown Cellars in the “Frogtown District” of Lumpkin County; a viticultural area carefully selected for quality wine grape production and outstanding mountain views.

Frogtown’s principal estate property is a 57 acre vineyard and winery complex at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains, located equidistant between Dahlonega and Cleveland, Georgia. This estate property is within the Dahlonega Plateau, a recognized American Viticulture Area (AVA) .

We believe Frogtown is the most awarded winery outside California in major US competitions, which are primarily held in that state. Since 2010 Frogtown has been awarded many awards and medals by some of the most prestigious wine judges in the world. Please visit our awards page to view the competitions and awards our wines have achieved.

Frogtown has been an outspoken leader in promoting and educating the wine-consuming public about:

The concepts and benefits of growing and making terroir significant and highly awarded wines on the East Coast of the United States

The significance of French and Italian winemaking rules adopted by Frogtown that require strict adherence to certain regulations which protect and greatly assist the ability of wine drinkers in the identification of terroir-based wines.

Frogtown’s winery is specifically designed to take advantage of the steep changes in elevations created by the topography of our rolling, hilly terrain. These range from 1675 feet to 1825 feet above sea level.

The contours of our North Georgia hillside vineyards represent some of the steepest slopes of all viticultural areas in the eastern part of the United States. Along with our hilly terrain, Frogtown’s sandy clay loam soil, trellis design, and directional aspect of vine rows create a most unique viticultural environment for our wine growing activities.

The estate’s land is divided into separate blocks based on the diverse soil, climate, terrain, and vine row aspect of each block. Different white and red wine grape varieties are planted in each distinct block based on its viticultural characteristics.

We use three trellis systems at our North Georgia vineyards. The Open-Lyre and the Geneva Double Curtain are divided systems with quadrilateral trained vines, especially selected for the growing conditions of our North-East Georgia mountain macroclimate. The Vertical Shoot Position system is widely used all over the world.

The winery is constructed as a tri-level gravity flow winery. Each of the three levels has a different elevation and serves different functions in the winemaking process.

• The top level is our crush pad where the initial stages of winemaking occur.
• The second level, twelve feet below the Crush Pad, is our principal tank room where fermentations occur and wine is stoed and blended in stainless steel tanks.
• The third, six feet below the Tank Room, and lowest level, houses our barrel room where our red wines and some white wines are aged. The third level additionally contains our bottling area.

These three separate and distinct levels promote the movement of grape juice and wine by gravity. Using gravity to primarily move juice and wine is significantly less invasive and more gentle than moving juice and wine with the aid of even the gentlest of pumps.

Our winery and our winemaking equipment have been carefully and purposely designed and selected for the production of our unique high quality terroir wines. In addition to substantial stainless steel tanks, Frogtown employs over 450 wine barrels in its winemaking almost equally divided between American and French oak. We would love for you to learn more about our winemaking philosophy.

We invite you to enjoy our unique terroir awarded wines and our delicious food offerings at each of our tasting room locations. For addresses and directions to our tasting rooms, please visit Tasting Rooms and Bistro Cafes.

While at Frogtown, ask about becoming a Frogtown Wine Club “Citizen.” Wine club membership is easy and very rewarding. Discover more information about our wine club, including all the benefits received by being a Frogtown Citizen.

Frogtown hosts Simply Elegant Vineyard Weddings as well as Wine Taster’s Dinners and Brunches, where our awarded wines are paired with Chef-driven unique gourmet food creations.

July 24th, 2018 By Michael Cervin

There is currently a debate as to the validity of what an “influencer” is. Who are the most influential wine people in the United States, and how exactly is this defined? Does ‘influential’ mean a person who moves markets, impacts consumers, inspires winemakers, and helps change the industry itself?

Yes.

We are not trying to suggest who is “good” or “bad” within America’s wine industry, merely the Top 100 people, from winemakers to law makers, bankers to bloggers, and sommeliers to celebrities who influence wine; how it is made, marketed, perceived, sold, shipped, purchased, shared and consumed.

A 2017 Nielsen report found that 42% of millennials use social media to post photos of what they’re drinking, and 45% are influenced by social media when choosing what they drink – therefore “influence” is a moving target.

We sought help to assemble this list from a diverse group of people in the wine community and we are grateful for their input. This list is meant to honor winemakers, wine drinkers and wine lovers of every conceivable demographic.

89-Craig Kritzer of Frogtown Cellars

Located in the state of Georgia, Kritzer continues to advance that states’ recognition by winning medals at major wine Competitions for his 100% grown, produced and bottled wines from Georgia.

Going against the grain Kritzer utilizes only Georgia fruit, while other producers allow more California grapes in their wines, therefore Frogtown truly showcases its terroir. Additionally, Kritzer has expanded his influence by purchasing substantial plots of acreage in Paso Robles in California, making him unique among American winemakers by having multiple AVAs and state designated wines.

July 19th, 2013 By Michael Cervin

Ah the ubiquitous list. Everywhere you turn these days there is a top 10, the best 50, or some iteration of a who’s who list.

So we can’t resist, besides, our Top 100 Most Influential Wine Industry list scored a lot of buzz, created a lot of chatter and even made a few enemies. This list is all about winemakers, those currently making wine here in America – not the great ones who have come before, but folks who make wines you can find now.

There are some 7,000 bonded wineries in the U.S., and there’s a lot of forgettable wine being made. And in a world of homogenization of wine styles and a sense that our domestic wine industry is not legitimate without a French or Italian flare, we desire to promote regional flavor profiles of all American wine craftspeople.

There are names here you’ll know and recognize, and names you never heard of, but everyone on this list is influencing the public, fellow winemakers and the media in large and small ways.

97-Craig Kritzer of Frogtown Cellars

This Georgia winery is still under the radar, for now. However, this estate winery continually competes in wine competitions against California wines…and wins.

Helping to place Georgia on the wine map for dry red and white wines, Kritzer takes this a step further and is one of the few Georgia wineries to not blend some percentage of California grapes, juice or concentrate, with his wine, a common practice in Georgia. This keeps his consumers drinking 100% Georgia wine, and keeps them coming back.