Let's visit Dahlonega Resort and Vineyard for a mountaintop meal with Executive Chef Madeline Medon, whose upscale rustic menu pairs Georgia-grown wines with Southern comfort. You’ll hear how barbecue, fried chicken, and red-wine-cured salmon meet Dahlonega Plateau AVA bottles, plus why a quiet porch and wooded trails make this Blue Ridge retreat an easy getaway from Atlanta.

 

Dahlonega Resort and Vineyard

Credit: dahlonegasresort.com

On a ridge outside Dahlonega, you can sip a local Viognier and watch the light roll over the foothills. Executive Chef Madeline Medon calls the resort’s restaurant her “baby,” a place where she dresses recognizable comforts with careful technique and a sense of fun. She talks through the flow of a professional kitchen, the joy of mise en place, and the simple satisfaction of a well-seasoned carbon steel pan.

Freshness is the rule. The property sits on Blueberry Hill, and when the bushes are heavy, Medon turns the fruit into hand pies. Her menus lean on Georgia producers, from Springer Mountain chicken to local pasta makers, and she thinks like a pit master when she smokes meats, treating wood as an ingredient with flavor to match. “Excellent ingredients prepared perfectly,” she says, is the aim.

Wine is part of the rhythm. Medon pairs a porch-friendly Viognier with fried chicken and smoked Gouda mac, a deep red with a tomahawk ribeye, and a California-grape bottling made on site with red-wine-cured salmon. The result is a quiet, intentional hospitality that invites you to slow down, taste what’s in season, and take the trails before dinner.

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