40 LAKESIDE
March 2021
Pure gold discovered at Dahlonega’s Accent Cellars Accent Cellars was founded on the principle of bringing people together around good friends, family, and a great experience. Accent is a true family business founded by husband and wife, Tristen and Katie Vanhoff, and brother Tyler Barnes. Together Tristen and Tyler craft the wines, while Katie creates the amazing high-end artwork that brightens up the walls of Accent’s chic urban tasting room. After spending time with Tyler, I would refer to him as Dr. Wine. If you spend a few minutes with him, you cannot help but learn about grapes, wine, wine tasting, the wine business, and wine in north Georgia. His humor and ability to explain the complexities of everything about wine in a fashion as easy to digest as the delicious wines he serves. Tristen Vanhoff, co-founder of Accent Cellars, is from Australia, and being a wine connoisseur and formally trained in wine making, shared the wine business bug with Tyler, who at the time had no intentions of starting a business, much less a wine business. Tristen completed an internship in Sonoma County, California, and culminated the experience by making 120 cases (five barrels) of
Don Duval Wines, Vines & Brews
Gold panning art in the tasting room.
a super-premium Syrah which would begin the wine-selling process for the entrepreneurs. You can see one of those barrels displayed in the tasting room serving as a stand for Katie’s beautiful prints which are available for purchase. Building a business, like making great wine, takes time and
hard work. While Tristen served as Montaluce Winery’s tastingroom manager and head winemaker, he brought Tyler on staff as his assistant winemaker, even though Tyler had not bought a single bottle of wine prior to the experience. Tyler was a quick learner and pursued educational opportunities and experiences to develop as a winemaker. Together, Tristen, Tyler, and the whole family embarked on finding the right spot for their new winery. They found acreage that had an old house in need of a total redo, and after 18 months transformed it into a chic, urban tasting room which opened in 2017. One of Georgia farm wineries’ notable qualities is that each brings a uniqueness to the farm wine table and builds upon one another’s strengths to make the industry successful. Accent Cellars sets itself apart from their neighbors by focusing on the wine making and selecting grapes from Georgia, California, Texas, and Washington. Tyler shared that his passion is in the winemaking side of the business. He enjoys the complexities and nuances of making unique wines in the region. My wife and I enjoyed sev-
a red wine. Through the fermentation process similar to an “orange” wine, it has a body like an orange essential oil, but does not carry an orange flavor. You just have to try it to better describe it. Are you a fan of wine spritzers? Well, let’s just say, Accent Cellar’s Nomad Red wine is fantastic! This is not your Mother’s Seagram’s wine cooler. It is more complex with an effervescence that makes it delicious! Hands down, my wife’s absolute favorite (made for the best Valentine gift) was the Underdog. PHOTO BY VAN HUDSON Tyler Vanhoff in the Accent Cellars By no means is this delectable tasting room. off-dry wine an underdog! Do any of you remember a Lifesaver eral new wines that we may have called Black Sour Cherry? I used missed due to our penchant for to buy these at the movie theater the familiar! in the ’70s and ’80s (I know I The sparkling apple wine, Indate myself) and enjoyed the sider, totally surprised us in its sweet-tart cherry delight. This delicious sparkling wine style. We wine is simply amazing and has felt we were drinking a delicious all the delicious traits of my faChampagne, though we were not vorite candy in an adult beverage in the Champagne region of style! My wife has told me that I France! can always bring her this wine as Another pleasant surprise was a present for any occasion! It will the Blanc du Bois, a white wine pair well with our Valentine steak made with a hybrid grape varietal dinner. known for its crisp, floral, citrus If you want to enjoy a lovely flavors. This grape was grown in wine experience and take away Trion, GA and described as an some new and interesting educaobscure grape skin fermented like See Wine, page 46
