Georgia Traveler; Luxury Tour of Georgia

living the high life in George's wine country taking a luxurious step back in time in Washington and making a splash at the world-famous cloister at C. Island. That's next on Georgia Traveler. Hello and welcome to Georgia Traveler. I'm David Zelski. This is the luxury tour of Georgia, and you know, I can't think of a more luxurious place to begin than the Ritz Carlton Lodge Reynolds Plantation on Lake Econy. The Lodge is not your typical marble in Brass Ritz Carlton. The atmosphere is casual, relaxed, yet it exudes a refined ambiance. We have resort view rooms, we have lake view rooms, we have executive suites, and one of the things that I always tell everyone is there's not a bad view. You'll never be in a room where you're overlooking a parking lot or tennis courts. It's all about nature.

And becoming one with nature is where I began. I am about one hour into my zen of kayaking experience here with Wendy. It seems a great scenery along the way. Now I'm going to go and begin a little meditation and stretch it. One of our spot treatments that everyone seems to love is the zen of kayaking. So you get to get out on our property, you get to get out on the lake, and you also get to go out to a private island, which is very cool. We say that's kind of a conversation currency when you can go back and talk about an experience like that. And a good meditative experience can only improve my golf game. On top of the 99 beautiful holes available to resort guests, the Ritz Carlton Lodge offers an experience known as the Taylor-Made Kingdom. There are two kingdoms, one of the headquarters in Karlsburg, California, and this is our second kingdom.

We have a special program we can offer to golfers who may be interested in doing what a tour player does, which is to be custom fit for golf clubs and have their clubs built the same day. And be able to play with them next day, which is one of the few places in the world that you can actually have that done. See the single he's gone here, that looks pretty similar to you when you get right there. During the fitting process, reflective markers are placed on strategic points on your body as well as the club. You're going to find a lot of flaws. You can't really hide anything from this one. There are nine separate high-speed synchronized cameras that capture the motion of the reflectors and instantaneously produce a three-dimensional image of the subject. In this case, creating a virtual Georgia traveler. And by the time you get to impact, this numbers turn negative, which means that it's backpressed or tilted away from the target the shaft is. Virtual Me was quite thrilling. And Master Fitter, Jason Warner, discovered just too many problems with my swing to explain in one show. So it was back to the main lodge where I stumbled upon the exclusive club level.

We say it's a hotel within a hotel. In the club level is a place where those guests can actually have a private lounge. They can actually have their own personal concierge who can make activity arrangements for them, spot treatments, dining reservations, any of that stuff. And then they can also indulge in the four food and beverage presentations that they have on club level all day long. Cleansing my palate on these scrumptious hors d'oeuvres during my club level visit got me geared up for the total Ritz Carlton dining experience. Enter executive chef Scott Gambo. Chef Scott. David, how you doing? Good, good. I see you. Welcome. I see you have an extra hat and apron. You got to get it uniform first before we start cooking. Gladly I don't know if I've earned this yet, but I'll try to earn it here. We got you a nice tall toad. The barbecue botler is a unique experience that we offer in our cottages where one of our master barbecue chefs comes to the cottage. And it assists you in selecting wood to grill, different types of spice rob, sauces, and cooks for your or your family.

Or of course, you can be the chef and we can help you. Good. The perfect way to finish your experience in Georgia's Lake Country is with one of our romantic chimenea dinners. We serve you a three course lakeside dinner for two in front of a chimenea. It is very romantic and a once in a lifetime experience to share with that special somebody. Hey, yo. How are you? Good. Good. I hope you're enjoying the meal. I prepared for you. I hope yourself. Oh, yeah. Very good. Very romantic. Today we're going to make one of my favorite dishes and one of the resort's most popular dishes. It's a pan roasted cod with a spinach and country ham risotto and a garden basil sauce. Let's do it. Your job is going to be to stir this rice because risotto must be stirred continuously. 30 minutes of stirring. You should be coming back soon. Hey. Are you almost done?

Yeah, yeah. Man, it's smelling good. I think I can hold off much longer. It looks great. It looks like you did it right. That's great. Thank you. We're going to add some spinach, right? Locally grown spinach, some basil from our garden. I was born to do this. Oh, yeah, it smells good. Now we're going to take that piece of fish that was perfectly seasoned, by the way. Thank you. Right in the back pan. Be careful now. Right on the fish. Alright. Now I know what's coming. Perfect. That's just enough. Now we're going to base it with that lemon and finish it like that. That's it. It's as simple as that. It's like a simple spring dish. And you know what? I played a part in making it. You made it. Alright, great job. Thank you. Chef, thanks again. That food was great. What do you say we segue ourselves to a place where we can get dessert? I hear there's some samosas by the bonfire. Let's go. Alright, a cavalry of segue men. We have hiking and biking trails.

So we actually take our segue out on those trails and you can actually go through Reynolds Plantation. So you can see some of the beautiful houses. You can see the land. You can see some of the marinas. And of course you get to go by the lake and get some water shots. Every evening at 8 o'clock, the lodges backyard bonfire sets a place. All guests are free to come and take part in this cozy atmosphere. Woo! Alright, we have arrived. What a trip. I learned to cook with some of the country's top executive chefs. I had a unique golf experience at the Kingdom and kayaked my way into a world of zen. That my friends is luxury. Well, now it's time for some samosas. Woohoo! Yeah! Goodbye Chef. Until next time. You don't have to make the long journey west to experience wine country. As Valerie Edwards finds out, the hills of Georgia are delivering plenty of this divine fruit from the vine. DeLonaga's gold rush of 1829 may be history, but there's a new kind of gold to be found in the North Georgia Mountains these days.

Liquid gold. No, not that kind of liquid gold. The kind often referred to as the nectar of the gods. At three sisters vineyards in DeLonaga, these Cabernet front grapes are just about ready to harvest. One of the things we like to do when we're checking out berries like this is to taste them. We squeeze the berry into our mouth and then chew the seeds of the seeds are nut-like and we know they're getting close. Located on 180 acres in Lumpkin County's Frogtown District, three sisters vineyards has won some of the industry's most prestigious awards. But it takes more than a little elbow grease to get from here to here.

This is the juice that we just pressed. And this is not wine, this is strictly juice. Marlow juice. Marlow juice. Try that. Tell me what I'm tasting for. What are you talking about? Should be sweet. Should have nice berry flavors to it. It is very sweet, not at all like grape juice but very, very sweet. But it is grape juice. Marlow grape juice. Oh. Why is it so cloudy? Freshly squeezed grape juice. This will absorb color from the skins and then we'll press it off with it in the barrels. You got to taste this. This is really good. It's not hard. How can you tell? Because it's lipstick.

That's good. That's good. And what would good wine be without good friends and good food? courtesy of the pig and chips in Cleveland. All right, this is a Cajun crab seafood spread on a fresh cucumber. It's very cool, very nice summary dish for an hors d'oeuvre. But it does have a little kick, a little after bite to it too. Yeah, I think that'll work nicely with either this three sisters Vidal or our fat boy white. Either one. Either one would go great with it. Of course, this ain't Italy and it ain't France. But it is North Georgia and we've got a lot to offer folks. With nearly three dozen wineries and vineyards, Georgia's wine country stretches from the mountains to the coast. Next stop on our luxury tour is the Tuscan inspired Montaluché winery and estates. The perfect place for a romantic getaway or family retreat.

Everything you need is here. All you have to do is show up. Well, our vision in creating Montaluché was really as a respite from the busy life. And my vision was to create a place that had wonderful food, wonderful wine and created an atmosphere where you could really regenerate and we knew and connect with people and connect with your friends and family. And you know, that's our dream from Montaluché. As you come up here, you really reconnect. We do have villas available at Montaluché for rent. And we see lots of couples and groups and friends and families coming up and running the villas and coming to experience their wine weekend, their Tuscan weekend. We offer all kinds of opportunities for an interactive experience at Montaluché from our cooking demonstrations. We do dinner in a movie several times a month. It's often said that a good wine should be paired with a good cheese.

I say a good wine should be paired with good friends, both new and old. Salute! Dinner and dessert at Montaluché winery feature world-class dining, highlighting fresh, primarily locally grown ingredients. And the wine selection? Well, take a look for yourself. Evidence suggests the art of wine making or vilification has been around since 7,000 BC. Today, science and technology help vendors find the right balance between acidity and texture, aftertaste and for taste. But sometimes, you just got to get back to the basics. Well, you know, of course, the wine making process is really never this much fun or easy, isn't it? No, it is not. We've got a great good bit of truth. Oh, you got it going on. You know, I learned from the past. I think we might could package this as a new aerobic exercise.

What do you think? Flash pedicure? What does that look like? I think you're right. I think that's what it looks like. Forget Europe, or even California's Napa Valley, you can enjoy the luxury of good wine made right here at home in Georgia. For more information, go online, GeorgiaWineCountry.com, and check out the year-long calendar of events. Antebellum homes line the streets of Washington, Georgia, a sign of luxury dating back to the pre-civil war era. Many of these homes remain providing a glimpse of how Georgians used to live. Washington, Georgia, the county seat of Wilkes County, was for a time one of the larger towns in Georgia and a strategic centerpiece of the Confederacy. Robert Tooms, known as one of the most influential figures in American political history, made his home in Washington during this time. An Antebellum jewel in a town that showcases both luxury and hospitality.

Tooms was a large, boisterous, heavy-set, six-foot-four, overbearing man in his public life. Tooms served in the United States Congress representing Georgia at the time of succession. At that time, Tooms wanted to be president of the Confederacy but lost out to Jefferson Davis. And despite having major political disagreements, Tooms served as Secretary of State of the Confederacy. However, after five months, those disagreements added up. And Tooms resigned that position and accepted a commission of Brigadier General in the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war, Union troops attempted to capture him. As these troops walked up the front driveway, his wife Julius stalled them at the front door. And as legend has it, Tooms escaped out the back of the house and went northeast toward South Carolina. His journey continued down to New Orleans and Cuba, then across the big pond of France and England, only to return after getting word his daughter had passed.

Tooms never swore legions back to the Union, therefore never holding public office again. He remained busy, however, as a lawyer and eventually as one of the drafters of the Georgia State Constitution in 1877. Among other traits, Robert Tooms is a hospitable man. See this mill wheel you see here before the front steps was not only a sign of prosperity, it was a sign of hospitality. At one time there was a move to put a hotel in Washington. Tooms was against that. Now this was in the 1850s. He said, if a good man comes to town, comes to Washington, he can stay at my house. If he's not a good man, we don't want him to stay. So we don't need the hotel. After learning all about the legend of Robert Tooms, and you want to find a nice luxurious place to stay, how about walking a few steps down the road, but taking a step back in time to the Holly Court Inn? There have been only about four families that have lived in this house, and it's nearly 200 year history. And those families still live in Washington. Holly Court Inn, it operates as a bed and breakfast inn.

So we have lodging guests who we provide overnight, lodging to, and dinner service, including breakfast. But we're also licensed to provide dinner service to the general public. Our lodging guests especially get to step back in history when they spend a full day and evening in the house. It's always been part of Washington's history. And essentially part of the country's history, because there have been historical figures that have stayed here. Marina Davis, Jefferson Davis' wife, spent an evening here with their surviving son in Daughter, as part of a planned rendezvous to meet with Jefferson Davis or husband, who was more or less on the lam after Richmond fell, to try to salvage the Confederacy. And so he had arranged for the last meeting of the Confederate cabinet here in Washington. And as part of that, to rendezvous with his wife and family. The interior decorating at the Holly Court aims to be consistent with this time period.

The window treatments and woodwork all done by local artisans. Our guests here, when they leave Holly Court Inn, they only have to walk a half a block up the street to rob a tombstone. And if they're real energetic, they can just tour the historic district and see many other well-preserved, antebellum homes, all carrying their own history. Walk around town, take a step back in time, maybe stay the night at the Holly Court Inn, and have a meal prepared by one of the state's tallest executive chefs. It's southern hospitality on display in Washington, Georgia, so if you're a good man or woman, I'm sure general tombs would have been glad to have you. We travel to the coast, Georgia's Golden Isles, and route to one of the state's crown jewels, the Cloister at Sea Island. The Cloister on Sea Island, the name is synonymous with luxury. Continuously rated among the top resorts and hotels in the world, this is a secluded coastal destination to be experienced.

I like to think that we're understated elegance, and it's quiet sort of gentility, but a warmth and a genuineness that comes from our people here. And I think that's what sets the Cloister apart. The original Cloister opened back in 1928. It was the fulfillment of Howard Coffin's vision for a resort on Georgia's coast. In early pioneer in the automobile industry, Coffin fell in love with Sappelo Island after traveling to the area for the Savannah road races. So they started buying undeveloped land in the area with the idea of getting in the development business. The problem was that the time Georgia's coast was described as swampy, mosquito ridden, and of little economic value. There was no place for people to stay if they came here, so that was the idea for the hotel. Coffin soon brought his cousin Bill Jones to the coast to help with the project.

They started making plans for Sea Island. My grandfather went down to Palm Beach and hired the noted architect, Addison Meisner. Meisner came up here to see Island designed the original Cloister as a small 40 room in. And as I mentioned, it was designed to be a temporary. If it worked, they tear it down and build their grand hotel after several years. This stock market crash and great depression put a hold on the plans for a grander hotel. In 2003, the original Cloister was taken down and worked began on the current resort. The temporary structure that my grandfather built had reached the end of its useful life. And so that was a big undertaking. And thankfully, we have completed it, we're finished, and we've got a grand new building. That incorporates a lot of Meisner.

I mean, the room we're sitting in, the Spanish lounge. This is an Addison Meisner room. This was taken apart meticulously, piece by piece, and put back together when we built the Cloister. For more than 80 years, it's been a treasured tradition here at the Cloister that dignitaries come and plant live oaks on the grounds. This one, known as Constitution Oak, was actually planted in 1928 by then President Calvin Coolidge to commemorate the opening of the Cloister. Today, you can see the live oaks that have been planted by distinguished visitors, including two British prime ministers. We're really known here at the Cloister for golf. Golf is bigger. We've been named by Golf Digest, the number one golf resort in North America, two years in a row. But there's so much more to see out on then golf. Obviously, there's the beach, and all the beach activities. There's horseback riding, there's ski shooting. Well, there's just any number of things to do for every generation, really.

There are lots of opportunities for family activities. But there are also special activities for kids, like Camp Cloister, where participants can have all kinds of fun. And the shooting school isn't just for grown-ups. Kids can come for target practice too. One target of opportunity that you don't want to miss on Sea Island is excellent, fine dining. The Cloister is also home to the Georgian Room. We're really proud of the Georgian Room. It is a mobile five-star restaurant, only 19 of those in the country. So it's a great recognition. And leading the team at the Georgian Room is Chef Dick Wazine, Daniel Zeal. This is David Zelski from the Georgia Traveler. He will be joining us for a little while in the kitchen. We're going to cook for a little bit, and then we're going to send him out in the dining room and let him taste one of our signature dishes.

So the fulgra that dish that we're going to be serving is one of our signature items. We make the fulgra Southern. It's not really a Southern ingredient with using Georgia Peach by Deleonian Marmalade, and a few other ingredients bread pudding to kind of do that. So we're bringing the French product to Southern Technique. Okay, and this is duck liver, right? It is duck liver. The food is very straightforward, very simple, and the respect to each individual ingredient is really paid. And in the production, and that's a very Southern thing. It's just very simple things, very simple preparations, but also focusing on fresh, local product. Exactly. So right here, we've got a fresh half of a Georgia Peach that's been roasted. We've got bread pudding, which is made with macadamia nuts, Georgia Peach, a little bit of vanilla, time, and then a little bit of white chocolate. So it's starting to heat up. It's just about where it needs to be.

That's 700 degrees. About 700 degrees. And then our bread pudding. Nice golden brown around the edges. We'll pop that back in the oven. Our pan here for the full agra is going to have to be nice and hot. As you can see, it's already starting to smoke. We have our full agra, and we're going to put a little bit of that salt on top there. Lay it down in the pan. And then we're going to add a little bit of fresh black pepper. And one thing that we do in this kitchen that's a little bit different from others is we actually toast our peppercorns to bring the aroma out before we fill our peppermills. What we're going to do now is just turn it over. And reduce the temperature a little bit. So the full agra gets a nice little crust on the outside of it when we sear it like that.

Yeah, the little diamond shapes come out, and we're actually going to bring that down a little bit with a lower heat now, because we're not trying to sear the backside so much, but really kind of just carry that temperature through. So, and now we're carrying these up to the front and going to play. All right, Mr. Wellsby, you're seared full agra with macadamia, roasted peach, a vanilla, onion, marmalade, and 50-year-old balsamic. We recommend I start. Typically, I usually eat a little piece of everything, and then eat everything together.

Kind of sort of thing, and work my way around the play. Thanks again. Enjoy. All right, thank you very much. I appreciate it. It's the first here. Very good. If someone's fortunate enough to visit the George Coast, it would be a shame for them to miss the warm southern hospitality that Seattle offers. It's a great showcase of all that's special about coastal Georgia, so we just encourage them to visit Seattle. And that concludes this luxury tour of Georgia until next time, Pleasant Journeys. So we're from Georgia, and we travel, and we travel. Let's see where it comes.

Georgia Traveler is produced in partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development.