The Second Bud

Martha M. Ezzard and her physician husband John are among the pioneers in the movement of professionals trading busy city careers for a return to the land. While this story about saving a family farm is distinctly Southern, it typifies the national locally grown movement which has begun to sweep the country. Locally grown foods call for wines that are a taste of the local earth—what wine aficionados call the terroir, the soils and climate that give them unique flavors which, in this case, is Tiger Mountain. The Ezzards undertook their risky wine growing venture in rural North Georgia where sweet tea has long been the drink of choice. What follows initially are long sweaty days of post hole digging, trellis wire stringing, and weed pulling. What Martha and John learn after burning smudge pots all night in a late April freeze only to see their pink buds turn brown despite it all, is that wine grapes have a second bud and so too, does their relationship.