Every Bottle Tells a Story. Chesser Island Winery.
Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 When Billy Bowlegs left the Okefenokee Swamp in the mid 1800s, little did he know that someday his infamy would be perpetuated on the label of a wine bottle. He was the last
of the Seminole Indians to leave the “Land of the Trembling Earth” by directive of the United States government. (The Indians so named the swamp because of its floating peat deposits so unstable that walking on them causes the ground to tremble.) Okefenokee’s Billy’s Island became Billy Bowlegs’ namesake, and today Billy’s legend graces the label of one of Chesser Island Winery’s most popular wines. The sparkling Rabbiteye blueberry wine is one among five featured wines that is propelling Chesser Island Winery to a place of prominence in the regional world of oenology.
Proprietors Tracy and Melinda Chesser are proud of their viticultural ventures, but a bit surprised at their successes. According to Tracy, their winemaking is somewhat of a “hobby gone amok.”
Tracy is a litigator representing major corporations. His first hand at winemaking was a whimsical experiment devised when his family’s blueberry farm produced a surplus crop of blueberries in 1999. Rather than them going to waste, he decided
to make some wine. “And it was pretty good,” Tracy said. “Surprisingly good.”
With the encouragement of friends, Tracy set about studying the art of winemaking, meeting with vintners around the country and garnering all available online information.
“We wanted to make something nobody else was making,” he said. And nobody was making 100% blueberry, 100% blackberry and brut versions of muscadine sparkling wine. So, sparkling wines became their focus.
Sparkling wine—or champagne as many people generically refer to it—has launched thousands of ships, toasted billions of weddings and special occasions, and shared countless untold special moments between romantic couples. Champagne is the wine of celebration. No other wine is so associated with joy and festivity. Its meaning and appeal are universal. Champagne makes the young sages and the old young again. Its reputation of being the “drink of the indulgent” is one Tracy and Melinda are handily disspelling by placing a $9.99 price tag on all their bottles of “nectar.”
“A lot of people don’t realize how food-friendly sparkling wines are,” Tracy said. “The acidity magnifies whatever you’re eating so flavors are intensified.” And with the $9.99 price tag, enjoying a sparkling wine with a meal can affordably lend an air of celebration to an evening, even when there is no special occasion.
Wine critics from metropolitan newspapers have been flattering in their reviews of the Chesser products. One expert even performed a side-by-side blind taste test comparing Chesser Island Winery’s Okefenokee Brut with two other popular champagnes. Based “purely on taste,” the Chesser’s Brut got the top spot. Another wine and food educator described the Brut as having “delicious, complex, and yeasty characteristics—descriptors usually reserved for wines from Champagne, France, and other more recognized wine regions.” In addition to the sparkling wines, the Chessers make “still” wines as well including a Grand Prairie Blackberry port, a Chase Prairie Rose muscadine/blackberry combination wine, and an up-and-coming (newly planted vines) Blanc du Bois. But back to the stories.
Each Chesser wine variety tells a story about the Okefenokee on its label. The Chessers feel that by relaying this information through their wines, those who visit the Okefenokee can carry a
little local history with them when they leave.
Jackson’s Folly Rosé is a sparkling blackberry wine named after Captain Harry Jackson who undertook the task of attempting to drain the Okefenokee so that the fertile soil could be farmed. Twenty-two miles of canals and more than a million dollars later, Captain Jackson was no closer to draining the swamp than when he started. Rather than flowing east toward the St. Marys River, the water in the new canals flowed west toward the Okefenokee’s interior. The project was eventually abandoned, and local history refers to the engineering debacle as Jackson’s Folly.
The other stories are just as colorful, carrying with them the heritage and culture of the Okefenokee area so revered by the Chessers, and rightly so. Tracy is a fifth generation Chesser descended from Tom Chesser who built the Chesser Island Homestead on the eastern edge of the Okefenokee in 1927. Today, the homestead stands as a tribute and testament to the independent way of life and spirit of adventure expressed by Tom and his family. Each bottle of Chesser wine features a sketch of the homestead on the label in honor of Tom and his family’s faith, hard work, and extinct way of life.
Operating the Chesser Island Winery is a family affair. Tracy’s father, a forester by trade, works alongside Tracy to plant, trellis, spray, fertilize, prune, pick, clear, crush or press, and bottle the wine-destined fruit. The Chesser children, ages 3 and 6, like picking but “do a lot of eatin’ with the pickin’,” said Tracy. Melinda takes the time out from her dedicated community service to tend to financial matters of the winery. And good dog Chessie—well, he just hangs around hoping for a ride on “his” golf cart when the Chessers escort visitors around the grounds.
The winemaking process is long and laborious. Using traditional French champagne techniques, every bottle has 22 touchpoints. From the warm, sandy fields where Georgia’s best fruit is cultivated, to the 39-degree cooling room where the magic of bubbles is infused, each step is a passion-filled, handcrafted labor of love—just what you need to produce legendary wines to carry legendary stories from the Chessers’ hearts to your table.
“We could do it faster. And we could do it cheaper,” said Tracy. “But we believe that the quality of the final product is non-negotiable. This is our legacy. And our dream.”
Looking into the future, the Chessers’ “dream” glows with the vision of a rustic lodge built near the swamp’s edge. “A place where visitors can enjoy our wines and purchase them as well as other products of the Okefenokee we’d like to share with the world.” Among the other products, the Chessers are considering local non-wine vinegars and vinaigrettes as well as handcrafted gift items created by local artists.
A visit to Chesser Island Winery is in itself a rare treat. An easy 40-minute drive from St. Marys, the winery sits just two miles west of Folkston, the “Gateway to the Okefenokee Swamp.” And whether coming or going, you would want to make a stop in Folkston to visit such charming shops as The Wild Caboose or Whistlin’ Dixie, owned by Folkston’s former Mayor, Dixie McGurn. Grab yourself an old-fashioned ice-cream cone at Miz Dixie’s place, then enjoy it from atop the train platform a short stroll away. This is the Folkston Funnel, where train fans from around the world gather to watch more than 70 trains a day pass through the junction.
With more than 400,000 people visiting the Okefenokee each year, the Chesser story is bound to travel far and wide. The tales of Billy Bowlegs and Jackson’s Folly and other folk stories are sure to make the trip as well. In the meantime, Tracy Chesser continues to honor his incredibly rich heritage by producing wines that could (by taste and quality) as easily have come from
Napa Valley, but instead rise from the
sweetness of the land, that is the “Land of the Trembling Earth.”
Editor’s Note: Chesser Island Winery wines are sold at select retail outlets throughout Georgia. Florida residents can have wines shipped to them by calling the winery at 912-496-2916. Visit www.chesserislandwinery.com for more information.
