Forty wine enthusiasts flocked to Clayton on Tuesday night to support a local tasting establishment whose survival is in serious danger.
After a hectic 15 months in business, the North Main Street Highroads Tasting Room is in a do-or-die battle over a city regulation that might put an end to the flourishing establishment. Enthusiastic patrons of the establishment turned out Tuesday night to show their support for managers Lynda Ann and Matt Price by showing up, showing pride, and making purchases. They rallied behind the cause of their friends and neighbors and pledged to return on July 8, when the City Council may decide how to handle the venue at its regular meeting.
We won t survive
Beer, mead, cider, and mocktails are all part of Highroads’ normal beverage menu, but its main selling point and biggest source of revenue is the wide selection of wine it serves to patrons by the glass. These are frequently accompanied by friendly banter, a small selection of munchies, and nice chat. The majority of glasses cost $12 a pour.(NowHabersham.com/Joshua M. Peck)
The main attraction, according to both the Prices and their customers, is the large selection of wine from throughout the state, the nation, and the world that can be sampled and compared with the help of the Prices and their staff. Beer, wine, and other items are available for purchase by the bottle and are displayed on the shelves throughout the store.
Jabe Hilson of the neighboring Slanted Window Vineyards, who owns the tasting room, broke the bad news to the Prices one morning earlier this month. The city had just written him to inform him that it would now enforce a rule that has been in place for years. It states that while a city farm winery tasting facility may sell almost any beverage by the bottle, the wines that are poured there have to come from Georgia. Clayton’s lone such establishment is Highroads.
Hilson refused to participate in an interview.
The Prices claim that while their customers are open to sipping Georgian wines, they insist on having access to those from California, France, Italy, Australia, and other countries. “With that rule, we won’t even last a few months,” Lynda Ann Price stated. Her husband, who used to be a preacher, concurred that this would shut us down. We can’t make it on Georgia wines alone.
State law vs local rule
According to the Clayton code, a farm winery tasting room is a place where people can try wines that are made in Georgia and that have been authorized by the Agriculture Commissioner to produce wine. By giving the public samples of certain wines, the tasting room serves as a venue for their promotion.
However, the prices claim that they had good grounds to think they were abiding by the law when they sold widely sourced wine, both since their licensure and even before that, under different management prior to the epidemic. They claim that rather than selling in violation of the Clayton rule, local officials knew what they were doing. Generally speaking, Georgia does not have any restrictions on selling wines from outside the state in this kind of situation.
The Prices want the City of Clayton to follow the more relaxed Georgia regulations, or at the very least, to put the more stringent interpretation on hold while they think about their options.
Strong customer support
All of the patrons at Tuesday’s event, which they dubbed a wine-in, concurred with the prices.
Dismissively, Sally Arnold stated, “I believe the city needs to disappear.” This is a community gathering spot with a plethora of events and activities.
Voices of Truth is a Christian choir conducted by Suzie Nixon Flaherty that meets at Highroads once a month. She referred to Clayton’s council’s action as an attack. We worship here, she continued, and what [the Prices] have created is a welcoming space.
A regular event for professional women to network, another for entrepreneurs to practice pitching backers for funding, and a third for spoken-word artists to meet, share ideas, and read from their work are just a few of the special events the venue hosts and sponsors, including Beer and Hymns, a monthly event for church singers.
According to the managers, a portion of the money raised from their special events is donated to nearby nonprofits.
Best neighbors I ever had
According to Paula Wexler, one aspect of Highroads that she especially enjoys is the chance to evaluate and contrast wines from around the world.
“I enjoy the combination of French, Italian, and Georgian wines,” she remarked. She claimed that if the wine selections were so severely limited, she would not likely go.
A lawyer and regular Highroads visitor who wished to remain anonymous claimed that the Clayton prohibition was blatantly nonsensical.
“Here, you have a measurable advantage,” he remarked. They provide a special meeting spot and pay taxes. And what harm do they cause? There isn’t any harm associated with this location; the Council isn’t defending anyone.Over the course of several hours, around 40 people came into the Clayton shop to express their support for a proposed change in municipal code that would keep Highroads open. (NowHabersham.com/Joshua M. Peck)
Next door to the tasting room is Shady Creek Expeditions, owned by Trey McFalls, who organizes fishing trips and other adventures out of Clayton. He referred to the Prices as the greatest neighbors he had ever known. Our business benefits from theirs, and vice versa. Customers are sent back and forth by us.
Although McFalls acknowledged that he enjoyed Georgia wines, he also mentioned that he enjoyed a nice European cabernet sauvignon.
Suzanne Arpin of neighboring Seed Lake added, “This is like a Paris salon,” in response to Suzanne Alprin. Closing this facility would be a true tragedy.
City manager: There is no story
An first phone contact and email requesting comment were not answered by Clayton City Manager Trudy Crunkleton; nevertheless, a second email was answered. “There really is no story,” she wrote. You were given inaccurate information. In 2019, an amendment was made to the long-standing ordinance that governs the tasting room. There are no restrictions on retail package sales. There are limits on how much craft beer can be sampled when it is on draft. There are limits on the quantity of Georgia wines that can be tried. Since they received their license, nothing has changed.(NowHabersham.com/Joshua M. Peck)
In his lengthy critique of the city’s position on the regulations, retired University of Georgia history professor Bill Stueck—who specializes in a completely different conflict—discussed his personal love of wine and described his and his wife’s experience at Highroads as completely unique and valuable.
He replied, “The tasting room has been open the entire time serving these wines,” after being informed about Crunkleton’s email. Has she discussed this with the City Council? She does not have the authority to make policy.
Council s no comment
Now Habersham made an effort to contact each member of the City Council on Wednesday, the day following the wine-in.
Sarah Gillespie, a council member, stated, “I don’t care to comment about that.”
I have nothing to say, remarked Amanda Harrold.
I would prefer not to comment at this time, Althea Bleckley stated, adding that she is now out of town due to a personal issue. But I have been following it (the debate around the tasting room), Bleckley continued.
Former Mayor Kurt Cannon, who resigned earlier this month, Council member Tony Allen, and Clayton Mayor Pro Tem Stacy Fountain did not respond to queries on Wednesday. Mitchell L. Baker Jr. did not answer a message that was taken by his assistant.(Carly McCurry/The Cute North Georgian Magazine)
Mayor Pro Tem stakes position on social media
On social media, Fountain has been outspoken about his stance. Stueck began a conversation on June 19 on the Rabun County Bulletin Board Facebook page, asking, What in heaven s name is going on with Highroads Tasting Room???!!! Do the members of the city council actually desire the [sic]? To cut them off?
In response, Fountain said, Same ordinances that the city has had since 2019. The same ordinances that the business got a license for. The same ordinances that they decided to break. The city is trying to up hold [sic] those ordinances.
Asked if there is a way to change it? Fountain replied, have to follow the current rules. Everyone else in town is. If you want change you have to ask. Nothing has been changed since 2019.Screenshots of Facebook comments attributed to Clayton Mayor Pro Tem Stacy Fountain related to the Highroads Tasting Room matter. (Rabun County Bulletin Board/Facebook)
If the city council agrees to loosen the local regulations and conform to the less stringent state standards for wine-tasting rooms, there remains a chance for change. Still, it does not answer the question as to why now? Why, after all this time, is Clayton just now coming after Highroads for breaking the ordinance?
Fountain responded on social media, We just realized that they were not in compliance.
Cheers vibe
At the event Tuesday, Savannah Clayton, 24, Lynda Ann s niece and employee, was stationed behind the bar at Highroads the full night, and served customers, dispensing warm smiles and plentiful advice about which brew or label might blend best with whatever dinner they had in mind. She served another, and another, and said she hoped she d still be there in July, August, and beyond.
If the Prices and their loyal customers have their way, her wish may yet come true.
Said Matt Price, referring to the theme song of a beloved television show set in a bar, This really is a placewhere everybody knows your name.
