Chateau Elan Winery and Resort is a luxury, 18th century french style chateau. It is located in Braselton, GA. It’s about an hour north of Atlanta.
The Chateau sits on several hundred acres of land. Upon entering the road to Chateau, you’re met with a grand building, and a magnificent sculpture of a woman, with her arm raised over her head and the other holding the ends of her dress. The artist who created the sculpture is incredibly skilled, which can be seen by their attention to detail in the hair and the creases in the clothing.
Behind the statue stands one of the main buildings of the Chateau. This building is the Winery building, but I’m not aware of what the official name for it is. Upon entering this building, you’ll see a fairly wide space to your left, with long, elegant curtains covering the far wall. Many people take pictures in front of the curtains, as it makes for a nice backdrop.
To your left, you can see several “U” shaped bars that guests go to taste different wines.
The wine tastings are officially called “Wine tasting tours” and there are different offerings based upon different, general palates.
The wine tour will start once everyone who is participating gathers near the center of the room, near the curtain. In all, they will take you out to the vineyard and inform you about the beginning process of creating wine. Once finished, you’ll follow your guide inside to see the room where the actual wine making process takes place.
The wine tour is abruptly short, but pleasant. Afterward, you’re free to continue tasting different wines, lounging at one of the many tables inside or right outside the building.
Chateau Elan offers several dining experiences, ranging from casual to intimate fine dining. They offer seven cuisine types from Irish to Mediterranean and All- american. It’s a lot to choose from, but the restaurants all have extremely friendly staff and delicious food.
Breakfast is buffet style guests are free to choose from a wide range of breakfast items. My personal favorite was their frittatas.
Everything about the Chateau is breathtaking. It is plain to see that the architects took their times with the designs of the lobby and the outward structure. However, the room itself was a bit lackluster.
You can expect a standard looking hotel room. The ceiling wasn’t as high as it should have been, given the 18th century style theme. The room was a bit on the small side, but the furniture was nice. It seems that they put more attention into the furniture instead of the room itself. It was a tad disappointing, but everything else didn’t disappoint. I just wished they’d put more attention to detail in the rooms.
The bathroom was nice, and did not disappoint. It was spacious, with a separate bath and shower. The water pressure was standard, and the water ran quite hot. The bathtub was large and had jets.
Chateau Elan is a great place to go if you’d like to go on a mini-vacation. It’s just an hour away from Atlanta, making it a great place to stay if you’d like to see some places there but prefer to be away from the big city. The staff are friendly and professional, and the hotel is well-kept. In all, I’d rate this place 4 out 5 stars, but only because some aspects of the ’18th century theme’ disappointed me.
I'm a self-proclaimed aesthete, an amateur literary critic and a history buff with a BA in Political Science and History from Wesleyan College.