Chateau Elan Winery & Resort

I just returned from my first visit, a 3 night stay with one my girl friends at Château Élan for my 30^th Birthday. I absolutely cannot say enough wonderful things about this place. From the very second we checked in the staff went above and beyond to make sure we were VERY well taken care of. Every single person we interacted with was so sweet, personable, and knowledgable about there resort. We stayed in one of the Spa suites and Dean who works there deserves some recognition. He was there the whole weekend was just fantastic. We never had to wait more than a minute or two for the shuttle service or valet (on the times we decided not to walk and enjoy the views), whenever we needed anything no matter how small brought to our room it was very prompt and ALWAYS with a smile. On the day we decided to explore downtown Braselton he helped us navigate how to get there and things to check out. Such fantastic customer service! The resort itself is impeccable and has so much to offer. The indoor pool and hot tub at the spa was so relaxing and eating breakfast at the Fleur-​de-​Lis in slippers and robe made our morning. We loved sitting by the outside fire which was lit at night and watching the lightning bugs. The main pool at the inn was lively and fun and all the food we had while we were here was just delicious! Some of my favorites were the tempura fried mushrooms and the Boxty at Paddy’s as well as the hamburger in the lounge (which was one of the best i’ve ever had.) We took the wine tour and I will say that I do wish it would have been more of an actual tour and taken us out into the vineyards rather than just the barrel room for discussion, but really enjoyed the tasting and how it was set up. I left Château Élan feeling relaxed and pampered and am already planning my next trip back and recommending this place to all my friends and family! Thank you Château Élan for making my Birthday so wonderful!

Came out here with my wife for a little lunch/​winds date. I was pleasantly surprised with the e cel lent wine choices. Definitely left with a few bottles to go. The flight of 8 wine tasting is an excellent choice. You can’t go wrong with the wine selection! Also– when you check in on Unilocal you get $ 5 off!

This is my fourth visit to Château Élan and my most memorable. The staff was awesome — I seriously felt like a VIP! I lost my water bottle (with a really cool cover) and they went way out of their way to find it and return it– not letting stand outside because it was warm — I was told ‘go to your room– we will bring it up’ ! I can’t believe how hard they all worked — from maids & porters to managers & waiters. The service was incredible– always smiling and asking how you were doing. I can’t wait to return. Thank You for an awesome retreat.

Beautiful resort, gracious staff, incredible value! I love the pricing – unlike many resorts, which upcharge the living daylights out of you, what you see is what you get. I loved their pool and got a great couples’ massage. Breakfast buffet at the Atrium restaurant was extraordinary at all times. The Irish style bar had great pub food. Several beautiful weddings were happening, adding to the convivial, romantic atmosphere. Without exception, the staff were warm, knowledgeable and welcoming. You could ask anybody to take your picture and they would drop everything and do it for you. Except for a sub-​par pedicure, the experience was marvelous. I am already thinking about my next visit.

Went for a cooking class and spent the night there afterwards. People were extremely nice, the atmosphere was very romantic — a wonderful stay overall.
The only downfall is that there is not that much going on around the place, except for the winery of course.
The cooking class was really amazing. There were several other couples doing the class with us who were all really nice. We got to meet some new people, drink bottomless cups of fine wine, enjoy the good food we cooked ourselves and most importantly — had lots and lots of fun!

Review in motion here… we show up for a wine tasting only to find out the place closes at 7pm. What wine tasting closes at 7pm on Memorial Day weekend? Completely ridiculous. Couldn’t even get a glass of wine while we wait.
…next day
Bottom line: Not a polished operation, not the class you would expect for the exorbitant pricing.
Very clunky operation, reflected in lack of business/​traffic
Story: Ended up going elsewhere for dinner as by the time we found out the wine tasting was closed our dinner reservation had been given up. My disappointment is not that it was given up but that the dinner staff at café Élan did not realize the winery was closing then. Quite honestly even this would have been quite forgivable if the staff had handled it better. No apology/​etc for any of it.
Villas: inside has been redone, and was nice. However, the outside was an unattractive brown stucco building with nearly zero landscaping. It appears more like a camp house. Would have been fine at $ 200, but not at the $ 650 they charge. If you are expecting a «winery villa golf course» experience this is not the place. However, if you do end up staying here, just try to look past the outside appearance of the villa as the inside is better. Another major drawback: WiFi was nonexistent! One available network that didn’t have any speed, made it pointless. Again, fine at $ 200 but not at this price…

Very over priced. The staff has no idea what they’re doing. We stayed fri-​sun. Had dinner on Friday evening took an hour to get our food. We ordered lunch by the pool Saturday took over an hour to get a wrap and a burger, the staff lost our food (btw a wrap, a burger, and a bahama mama is $ 55!). Then we had dinner Saturday night and the bartender at Paddy’s Irish Pub messed up both of our orders. The only 2 good things about this place was the bed (amazing) and the wine was delish!– disappointed

Here for in Un Wine. Assume this is new for them. Not as organized as I would like but good deal for the price. Would prefer more hors dourves. Worth a try for the price. Got better as the evening went on.

The Château itself is a beautiful place. My wife and I got engaged here. From the golf courses, the spa, the walking trails there is much more to do here than just have a relaxing getaway. This could have easily been a 4 or 5 star place, but where I ding it is the food. We ate dinner at Café Élan to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We ate the charcuterie and spring onion soup to start with and they were great. Our dinner entrees were the steak, and to our disappointment it was over cooked. We love a good medium rare. Unfortunately due to the odd cut going from thick to thin, we had a perfect steak on one end to a well done on the other. Tasty on the medium rare part, but for an expensive $ 50 steak you expect perfect cooking throughout. If it hadn’t been for this, I would have certainly given this a much higher review.

First, let me start with my thank you’s. The manager Mike was overwhelmingly awesome. The whole experience was great. Our servers were sweet and patient. I truly appreciated the experience.
We chose to go to Café Élan as it was close to the school and we didn’t want to travel too far after the graduation. I placed the reservation in March and everything went as planned. I actually showed up first and was allowed to be seated. By the time I’d gotten there, I was already exhausted, but the tables were ready and there was no wait.
Let me share how organized this was… because…I was simply amazed. Not only did they handle my post-​graduation gathering, they were also hosting a wedding and serving other guests as well. Their service did NOT suffer. That ladies and gentlemen is how a business should run, seamlessly.
The food was awesome. Since I was still in my cap and gown, the waitress would always start with me. My glasses were kept filled, I was checked on consistently, and I did not have not one complaint. When my food was brought out, I was floored. I had the salmon dish, but am not a fan of cous cous. So my waitress talked the chef into changing it out for the spicy grits. It was delicious. Everyone was overly pleased with their meals. Honestly, this is my second time going and the theme is consistency and quality.
We went on ⁵⁄₇ at approximately 12’ish and I hope that the staff knows how marvelous they are. Thank you again.

Never been a really big fan of wine but decided to do a couple’s tasting tour this past weekend. The place is exquisite and we enjoyed that there were plenty of seating options available outdoors if you wanted to pre plan a picnic there. That’s exactly what we did and the atmosphere near the porch area made the meal even more delightful.
The tour itself was kind of bland. We figured to get a dose of the factory as well as the vine gardens outdoors but all we got was the factory. Though the tour guide was quite informative and had a neat sense of humour, still wishing we could’ve had him take us outdoors also. The wine tasting is done after/​before the tour. The servers give you interesting opinions to assist your decisions. Found that our favorite red was the Meritage and favorite white was CE sparkling wine. Definitely worthy of a visit if the weather is good and you’re feeling a bit thirsty.

My husband and I have been wine club members at Château Élan for over a year now. We love going to the winery for tastings & enjoying the member receptions each quarter. The wine itself is pretty great — a big change from where it was a few years ago. With the newer winemaker from Europe, their wines are going away from the super sweet muscadine and leaning more to a European flair with strong bodied wines with grapes from Italy, sparkling wine, and a great oaked Chardonnay.
As for the hotel… I can’t give it as great of a review. The rooms themselves are spacious and the bed quite comfortable. However, for the price to stay over night, I expected at least the amenities from a Marriott — like a bottle of water. While I can overlook that, what I couldn’t overlook was the incredible face lift that is needed to their atrium. It doesn’t take a design expert to say its way too white and makes you feel like you are in the Embassy Suites at the Airport. With some investment they could really elevate this space.
Also in the atrium is one of their «nicer» restaurants. I wouldn’t personally eat there for the price. There is 0 ambiance in that area and the buffet breakfast at $ 20 a person just wasn’t worth it. Offering guests some better quality and more reasonably priced restaurants would be great (or up the look of the other ones to meet the price). Never want to the spa, the costs were extremely high for the services offered in comparison to other top hotels in Atlanta.
Will go back for the winery, not sure that I would go back to the hotel until there is a face lift.

Had a great time with friends wine tasting and touring. Great activity to do in group setting. Great selection of wine! Taking away one star b/​c not all the service providers were nice.

I sort of dread writing this review simply because all of my co-​workers recommendation of this place was so great.
I decided to visit Château Élan for my birthday, and ended up going the following month, in January, when they had an MLK weekend special. I’m so grateful that they had a special that weekend because what I paid for an overnight stay at this place was so not worth it.
Since I heard so much about this place, I decided to do everything I could to gain the full experience of Château Élan. I did an 80 minute spa, and the cooking class to celebrate. A friend joined me as well, and when we booked our massages both of us were on the line, and provided the lady with both of our names. However, upon check-​in both of the massages were on my bill. When asked about this I was assured that I would only be billed for my massage. Needless to say, not only did they bill me for my massage but they also billed me for 2 additional massages! The cost that was on the website and what was initially charged to my credit card was not the final cost. In fact, the massage ended up being $ 255! The massage was decent, I get a monthly massage at Massage Envy, however it wasn’t anything special that set it apart from monthly massage. I waited over a month for them to refund my money, and they only did so after I called to inform them that they had in fact charged me for more services than I received.
Château Élan is in dire need of a complete facelift! When I stay at a spa/​resort I have the expectation of a beautiful place, not plaster peeling in my room and noticeable cracks in the foundation. The walls were extremely thin and I was near an elevator, which didn’t make for a great night sleep.
The food was disgusting, and far too expensive for its blah taste. My co-​workers neglected to mention that they’ve never eaten at the Château but actually left to dine at neighboring eateries. That would’ve been nice to know. The wine tour was meh! I’ve been to much larger wine facilities and this one is extremely small and I wasn’t impressed. The wine was another extremely expensive item and wasn’t the cost I paid for the bottles I purchased. I guess I’m a sucker for supporting establishments, which is why I continued to spend my money at this place.
The only plus was my fabulous cooking class! Chef Mike was amazing and the meal that we cooked was delightful. The $ 125 for the cooking class was a great price for the experience and the 3-​course menu that we cooked. I would go back for another cooking class, but definitely would not stay at the Château, instead I would do what some of the other ladies that I met in the cooking class did and stay at a nearby hotel.
My final bill came to roughly $ 700 for my overnight stay, and this did not include two of my meals that I paid cash for. I don’t have an issue spending this type of money at a spa/​resort, however I do have an issue when what I paid is far below my expectations.
I’m planning another resort stay for my birthday this year, and I can tell this, it will not be at any place like Château Élan. I have gained so much knowledge from my stay at the Château, and not in a positive way. Do your own research, but if you want a great spa/​resort stay Château Élan is not the place to visit. In other words, if someone paid for me to visit again I would decline.

This weekend my boyfriend booked us a room for two nights at the château Élan for Valentine’s Day. Our experience was great with just a few minor complaints.
The pros: the staff was so friendly. I mean everyone we came in contact with was just so welcoming. They offer many packages which I do not know the details of since I didn’t book the trip, but I know the package he chose included dinner and breakfast for two nights. The first night was a 4 course meal with an already prepared menu. And the second night was buffet style which included all you can eat crab legs ! (Yum) the room was very spacious which over looked the pool. The bathroom had a shower and a spa tub (which I was excited about). However their was no bubble bath because we obviously didn’t pay extra for that package. Nonetheless Walmart is literally 8 minutes away so we stopped there and got some.
Cons: our first night there we had dinner in a place called Élan (i think), which already had a pre made 4 course menu which was horrible for a picky person like me. I skipped the soup and the salad and really wanted to skip the entrees too but since it was An occasion and I knew I would be drinking I decided to eat the beef tenderloin which was just okay. The next morning we ordered breakfast (which we thought was included in our package), but ended up paying $ 60 for an order of pancakes for me and for my boyfriend, orange juice eggs, potatoes, Mini pancakes and bacon. When he got the bill he was confused because it was supposed to be including, when he asked the front desk they told him only buffet breakfast was included. I think we should of have been informed that instead we were given a breakfast checklist in our room so we assumed we were supposed to order from it. But next time we know to ask questions. Besides that their were no other issues. Just a few tips for (newbies), self parking is free. We valeted not knowing it was $ 20 a night. Also I’m sure buffet breakfast it way better than the breakfast we ordered.
Overall, our experience was great. Château élan is definitely on the more pricier side and in my opinion I think over priced. The amount of money my boyfriend spent for just two days could have been used to take us away to the Bahamas for the weekend. (Which I would have preferred lol). Nonetheless it was the thought and the experience that made it memorable.

Love their wine!!! After drinking their $ 7 wine for about 2 years now I was surprised to find out that Château Élan was down the street from my house! Ok not actually down the street but 15 mins. So of course I had to try their wine tasting. Its a great way to spend time w friends and loved ones, something different. They give you a quick tour of the factory located downstairs, which I personally was not into and let me tell you why… I, and most people, could not hear the steward. As a result there were multiple conversations going on that made it even harder to hear the steward. When it was time for the wine tasting everyone’s face lit up, thats what we were all here for! You get your own glass, that you take home, to taste I believe it was 3 or 4 different wines. Amazing way to taste their most popular wines. And afterwards we went straight to the shop to purchase many bottles of wine! The wine tasting is definitely worth the money!

My fiancé and I spent out anniversary evening tasting and dining at Café Élan. The customer service provided was excellent, the food was magnificent as well. Perfect evening to our celebration. Please ask for Yaneth as your server at Café Élan as she provides a customer service and experience that is one of a kind.

I love this place. I did a wedding here last summer, and it’s hard to take a bad photo here. They’ve done a really nice job with the renovations on a couple of the ball rooms, and really updated the look while maintaining the class, elegance, and prestigious feel the previous designs had. Definitely looking forward to my next wedding here this April! :D

Wow, this is a true winery with their very own vineyard. The buildings that house the five different restaurants and golf club house and hotel are beautiful with French accents throughout. The maintenance of the buildings and grounds are amazing and the entire property seems brand new and spotlessly clean. You’re going to think you’re in Europe. We were here for one of the four annual holiday buffets which was absolutely hands down the best variety, finest prepared and presented extremely high end holiday fare I have ever had the pleasure to partake! Table service by a team of four ladies was second to none ensuring we were instantly taken care of throughout our meal. Instead of going through the entire menu of offerings for the next 1500 words or so surface to say the mainstays, medium rare prime rib, super jumbo cold shrimp, oysters on the half shell, sashimi sushi made to order, smoked salmon, seared rare ahi tuna, ceviche, salmon tartar topped with Russian cold water caviar, hand made dark chocolate truffles, mimosas, Italian coffee, and five hundred other offerings to include a kiddies buffet at knee level for the little ones. Parking and valet were ample and fast, restrooms were luxury spotless, wine store was fabulous, seating and service were spaced out and efficiently friendly. Grand Piano music Christmas selections were very entertaining and subtle. Great place for a first very romantic sexy date, family get together, take the grandparents out type of place/​event. This appears to be a great weekend getaway as well with overnight and breakfast packages, and you can add a massage manny peddli facial.

My company held our Christmas party this year at Château Élan Winery & Resort on 12/​18/​2015. The décor is really nice and the foods served and the open bar were great too. My wife and I had a great time, and I believe my colleagues enjoyed the party there very much too. This is a place I would recommend to my friend for dining, wine tasting, and even accommodations.

I think this is a great place for cheap date in a good time. What are you doing a wine tasting or checking out a vineyard you can’t beat the price

I went to this place a VERY long time ago (maybe a decade or so) and I remember it being super fabulous. That’s back when they had the themed suites (two stories, totally bad@%^).
No more. They also don’t have an indoor hot tub anymore. They moved it outside by the pool.
Also, their customer service was not on point. They didn’t have our fruit and cheese plate waiting for us when we arrived and we ran into quite a few problems during our stay. The beds were my main complaint. I got zero sleep because every time someone moves, the entire bed shakes. They told me that perhaps it was just that bed but I find that hard to believe.
The toiletries were nice, I guess. The room was relatively clean. I should hope it would be for the price. The buffet was really good. We went around Christmas time so everything was decorated nicely. It was obviously not the best time to do anything around the château but we knew that going in. The wine tour was pretty interesting and you get to keep the wine glasses.
In my opinion, I didn’t think it was worth the price. Maybe if you get a «hot date» price, but those are less popular dates (hence the discount).

As an Atlanta native, I was surprised Château Élan was only 45 – 50 minutes away from the city (not including traffic)! I decided to visit on my birthday and chose the Élan Escape Package.
The Élan Escape Package includes dinner and breakfast at Versailles, and stay at the Inn. The dinner is three courses, with different entrée options, and the breakfast is buffet, with an omelet station. Dinner was average. With a choice of soup or salad, I selected the soup initially, which was bland with oil on top, and my salad had small ice chunks like it’d been in the freezer-​too cold to eat! My boyfriend ordered the lamb, I got the ribeye, both were pretty good but my mashed potatoes were blah. Breakfast was coming to a close at 1030, you’d better get there early!
The room was nice and clean, and the package also includes a bottle of wine. The sparkling wine was perfect for a birthday celebration-​BUBBBLYY!!!
In addition to the package (meaning added cost), I enjoyed the wine tour (brief, yet informative for wine drinkers with limited knowledge on the wine making process) and tasting. The wine tour is NOT a tour of the grounds where they grow muscadine grapes. A perk, take $ 5 off a bottle of wine with each tasting/​tour ticket-​I definitely took use of that!
Overall, it was a pretty good and pricey experience! Price exceeds Value. The staff was great, the room was comfortable, and the wine tasting-​yep, I’d definitely do it again! The staff also took time to acknowledge my birthday with a card and message with my dessert!

We went on a double date last night to the winery for a wine tasting. We attempted to pay for our tasting at the registers and after waiting awhile as the only ones in line, we were told to move over because there was someone who needed to be helped before us. Ok… Fine. We paid, ($ 43 for two tastings) went to the bar and waited a nice 10 minutes with no one even acknowledging our existence. After my husband tracked someone down to help us, it began. We then saw on the tasting sheet that we could purchase a cheese plate. BACK at the register my husband, once again, couldn’t get anyone to help him. When we finally were able to pay for our $ 15 cheese plate, it was worth about $ 5. Whatever, we expect to pay for the experience and were fine with it.
HOWEVER, Every time we were finished with a wine, we had to track down a wine steward to help us. Every steward was 100% bothered to help us. It took us over an hour an a half to get through 8 wines in a seemingly DEAD tasting room. Ridiculous. We won’t be back and I would suggest making the drive further north to a tasting room that appreciates customers.
The wine tasting room seems to only exist due to the inn on the property. Maybe you need to be a guest of the inn to be respected. Wine tasting fail.

My husband and I spent one night at Château Élan as a little getaway for our anniversary.
We arrived prior to check in to enjoy the wine tour. I’m not much of wine drinker, but found the tour and tasting interesting and fun. The tour is $ 20. The tour/​history portion last about 30 minutes and then you get to taste 5 wines. (1 white, 2 reds, 2 muscadine). We ended up buying a few bottles to bring home as well.
Rooms: Our room was a little bigger than the average hotel room size. The bathroom was huge!
Food/​drinks: We had a an appetizer at the lounge prior to our dinner at Café Élan. All the food was amazing. As other reviews have said, yes the food is expensive, but you’re at a resort.
All the staff members we talked with were amazing! I felt like everyone truly enjoyed there job, which is a great feeling.
There is no need to pay $ 20 to valet. Park yourself and walk. It’s not far.

My horrible experience at the Château was uncalled for and absolutely avoidable.
I checked into your hotel Monday October 19^th, 2015. Upon arrival my company’s credit card was declined. I had fraud on my personal credit card (therefore I had no other form of payment on me) and was told by the front desk attendant «we can take an imprint.» They handed me my keys and told me how to get to my room and on the Wi-​Fi. I was not warned of any of the foreseeable implications should it not work at checkout.
At that point I had to get to work by attending a company event up the road so I was off to the races. My card was working to my knowledge as I was able to pay for dinner, lunch the next day and even dinner again. (Later I came to find that the card was merely working because they were small purchases that were bouncing.) At the time I thought that it was just a fluke at the hotel if it was working now.
I was unaware that my company card had $ 8K worth of fraudulent charges making my card null and void.
My flight leaving Atlanta was at 8:25AM therefore I called ahead, had my car pulled around and was at the checkout desk no later than 4:50AM.
While trying to check out my card began declining again. We tried a couple of times until the situation turned. I was told I was not allowed to leave premises.
To be clear, I understand it is my responsibility to provide payment but the reality is sometimes life happens. In this case, life was happening.
I tried to work with the front desk by asking if I could have someone call with a credit card but the system would not allow it.
I then got on the phone with SunTrust after a series of conversations with the front desk attendant who was mighty rude telling me «you can’t leave, my boss will be so mad.» Eventually the conversation was escalated and a manager was on the phone. I also had to call my boss at 5AM to see if he could help bail me out of this horrible situation.
I finally discover my card had fraud and will be turned off then and there and the bank will be sending me a new one in 10 days. I was asked to pull cash out by the front desk attendee but I reminded her if my card is turned off there is nothing I can do.
I asked if I could pay for an extra room by not «checking out» not but leaving to make my flight and calling with valid card info when I got home. Nothing would work for the hotel except holding me captive with supervision until someone could provide money through a credit card authorization form which was proposed way to late in the game in my opinion.
At this point the situation between myself and the front desk attendee was hostile at best. I was forced to stay there until the credit card authorization form was sent through and processed. At this point it was 7AM and I missed my flight.
I would like to know why no one was able to provide an alternate solution to my problem until an hour or so in? I would also like to know why it is company policy to hold a guest hostage?
I am appalled by the customer service I received. I understand there are policy’s that restricted certain resolutions in situations like these but there is no excuse for not having some plans in place to work with guests in unique circumstances.
Again, let it be known that I acknowledge the fact that I should have been able to provide some form of payment at that point in time. However, when all of your cards are hacked and you have less than $ 700 in cash on you, it should not result in being stranded in Georgia with a hotel treating you like a prisoner of war.
They inadvertently put my life at risk I was in a car accident since I was forced to drive home. I had barely enough cash to get home and I should have never been in this situation, I should have made my flight. I also got a speeding ticket costing me $ 403 (That one is my fault but what a day!)
Never mind the fact that we could have settled this entire situation that Monday or Tuesday!
Upon check in the Imprint seemed just fine. No one if it still didn’t work at checkout I would be completely screwed and held against my will with threats of cops. I would have come to the desk Tuesday if I had any indication that I would have to go through this.
This hotel is poorly staffed and under trained. I would NOT recommend this hotel.
RESOLUTION: The owner apologized and sent me wine. As if that makes up for it.

It’s the weekend here had lunch at the spa and dinner at the winery everything was fabulous and they catered to us like royalty. The food is excellent, the service sup superb, prices are reasonable. Love it.

July 2015 Update: Awesome time here and we spent much of it enjoying the buffet at the Inn, located in the «Versailles Room». Expensive nonetheless but the atrium is an airy and bright open space that allowed us to have a big family supper together. They had fried salmon with a lemon cream sauce, delicious rice with cheesy veggies mixed in, and sauteed eggplant and zucchini. I saw grilled chicken and meatloaf that also smelled fabulous. The salad bar was also delicious — fresh greens and salad toppings to choose from including house made dressings and an old favorite of mine, tuna salad. Yum. Great experience here. We enjoyed the house Merlot and Pinot Grigio.

My wife and I have visited Château Élan twice since settling out here in Georgia. Coming from California, the wine is completely different from what we are used to. Very surprised to drink a Petite Syrah with seemingly zero tannin. It was also interesting to try Muscadine wine for the first time although I think that will take some getting used to. Although I bashed on their Petite Syrah a little bit, all of their white wines were very solid. We were very impressed with the knowledge of the tour guides and definitely learned a lot.
Great place to spend an afternoon and relax. We will definitely be visiting again soon.

I needed some R&R and decided to go to Château Élan. I haven’t been there in eight years and there has been some changes. The staff is friendly and eager to assist you. The rooms are still beautiful but they are a bit dated and the package I purchased was a bit disappointing.
My package included dinner and breakfast both buffet style. My options were limited as I’m a vegetarian. There were weddings taking place during my stay therefore my floor was a bit noisy. I did get a restful sleep but it will probably be another eight years before I return.

There are not too many good options for Wine Tasting in Georgia. Château Élan is probably the best, although the other options they offer are not as great. When you drive up to Château Élan really feels like a whole estate, there is the winery and restaurant, the hotel, the spa, and a multitude of other pubs/​restaurants within the area.
The wine tasting is definitely 5 stars, there’s many options to choose from, there are sweet wines, white wines, and red wines with varying levels of depth and flavor. You can either pay money for a wine tour which around $ 10 and have five tastings with a free wine glass, or pay for «flights» of wine which can cost in the mid teens. Overall the wines themselves won’t be Napa Valley quality but they have a few imports like the Moscato that are very sweet and go down well for those who like sweeter wines.
The cooking classes if you choose to pay extra and sign up for them are also 5 star quality, the fact that you can drink whatever wine you want, and get a very active cooking experience. It’s a great way to do a romantic date night, although its vastly more expensive than other cooking classes ($ 100+ per person)
The restaurant within the winery is not as good (3 star quality), the fact that they charge noticeably more for the same wine at the restaurant than the actual bottles at the winery is a little unfair, considering the food itself is very expensive. I had the steak there, and it wasn’t anything too memorable, and while the salad and soup were decently tasty I think the top tier restaurants in Atlanta have much better food at a comparable/​lower price.
The hotel experience was a mixed bag as well (3.5 stars), I think they do a great job making the hotel look nice when you book a king size room (which includes a bathtub and a shower, but the walls are paper thin. I could hear the conversations from other people next door, and when you have people who drink wine, it can get loud.
Overall I would say definitely go for the wine tasting, cooking classes if you have money to spend, but the other options don’t live up to the amount of money they charge for it.

Definitely a must for wine lovers, or those who want to nice getaway with their significant other. Campus is well maintained, staff was super professional, and resort rooms were extremely clean.
We did the wine tour/​tasting Friday evening, spent the night, and breakfast morning package. I highly recommend the tour since they walk you through how grapes turn into this winery’s exquisite products. After the tour, our young, witty, sexy guide gave us a wine tasting lesson that culminated into a small chemistry experiment to create a blush wine.
After the tasting and somewhat tipsy, you end up in the wine market downstairs with a 10% (15% MIL) discount on their products. We bought the «El Tempornillo,» Chardonnay, and their earthy Merlot.
The next morning, we had breakfast in Le Versailles breakfast café. Nothing is worth mentioning. Staff was cordial, food was overpriced and mediocre. They DO NOT serve hard boiled eggs.
Overall, recommend this place!

My husband and I went here for a weekend getaway (though not too far away — it’s only about an hour from Atlanta). The Château itself is beautiful, and overall we had a really good time.
Pros:
*Room was spacious and luxurious
*They have two walking paths that circle around through the woods and surrounding area — we walked the longer path and found it very beautiful and relaxing.
*The location is really nice — we went on a beautiful scenic drive through the mountains and even stumbled past the Appalachian Trail.
Cons:
*Our room was on the first floor and the window looked out onto the front parking area (where you pull your car up to load/​unload and check-​in), so we had to keep it closed, or be in full view of anyone arriving or leaving the hotel
*We had a late dinner in the bar, and found both the service and food to be only so/​so.
*Saturday brunch, a buffet with made-​to-​order omelets, was good, but didn’t have as much variety or quality as I would expect for the price. Service was really great, though — the coffee cup was always full and hot.