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| Tristan, Ginny, Peter, Katie, Dillon, Me, and Douglas |
As soon as the weather had started to not be frightful we filled two cars with people to make the trip to Chateau Morrisette. A trip filled with lots of extremely slow moving vehicles on windy back country roads with no opportunity to pass. I'd definitely try to allocate more time to the trip then you would at first think.
Chateau Morrisette is off the blue ridge parkway in Floyd county. This location is where they have their winery and restaurant, isn't actually where most of the grapes come from. They do have several Virginia wine made from Virginia grapes, some of which they grow, but many of the wines are made from grapes/grape juice from other states since Virginia has such a grape shortage within the wine industry.
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Apollo came on the tour with us.
He found it enormously interesting. |
The winery welcomes dogs, which make sense taking into account the owners attachment to their own canine friends resulting in the wine names of The Black Dog and Our Dog Blue. The sales of both those wines skyrocketed after being named for the family pets.
Tours of the winery are complimentary and happen 3-4 times a day everyday. You meet in the winery tasting room/gift shop and are taken around by one of the employees.
The tour starts with the winery building itself. They're very proud of all the exposed wooden beam construction, which is quite beautiful. The beam above the tasting bar came from a single tree, but was so large that it had to be cut into three pieces to make it up the blue ridge parkway
From the tasting room we were taken out on to a patio with some of the juicing machines.
After the patio we were lead into a room behind the tasting room where the wine was being aged in barrels, both oak and steel. Chateau uses both french and american oak barrels for some of their different wines. They're also currently experimenting with Hungarian oaks. You can see the big steel compartments behind the barrels which are used for wines that have already been oak aged or ones that do not have oaky tastes in their design. The exposed giant beam construction was also done in this part of the winery. Unfortunately they were in the process of bottling wine when we visited so we could not see the bottling facilities due to health and safety.
Tastings are 8 dollars for 10 wines. The lineup of wines is rotated, but they also offer a more extensive tasting for 30 dollars if you make a reservation. We went with the cheap one, especially since you can get a free tasting if you meet some of the workers while they're sampling wine at Kroger, which is what happened to us.
2011 Chardonnay: 13% alcohol, 750ml bottle is $17.99, $8 a glass. French oak and then steel fermented.
- Aroma: Green Apple, pear, vanilla, caramel
- Palate: toast, butterscotch, pineapple, grapefruit.
- Finish: Smooth, creamy
- Pair: Seafood, roasted poultry, white mushroom sauces.
my notes: It smells oaked and buttery with that off smell a lot of white wines give. It's also a bit astringent. It tastes like that astringency smell with just a hint of the butterscotch coming through. This one is overly hot.
2011 Cabernet Sauvignon: 12.5% alcohol, 750 ml bottle for $17.99, $8 a glass.
- Aroma: Raspberry, blackberry, spice, mint.
- Palate: Firm tannins, red cherry, blackberry.
- Finish: Long, blueberry, black current. Full bodied.
- Pair: Lamb, grilled meat,s marinara sauce.
my notes: It's got that classically nasty cab sauv smell. Smokey grossness, I don't think this will ever be my thing. The taste confirms my suspicions. I can't do it. It's just all ick.
2011 Merlot: 12.5% alcohol, 750ml bottle for $20.99, $8 a glass.
- Aroma: Smoky, cherry strawberry.
- Palate: Tart cherry, cranberry, herb and spice.
- Finish: Long, raspberry, dusty tannins, black tea. Medium bodied.
- Pair: Heavier game, grilled meats, mushroom based sauces/stews
my notes: Smell pretty similar to the cab sauv, its not that smokey tannin bite coming though. It tastes pretty similar too. Not quite as bad, but still not something I would drink voluntarily.
2011 Petit Verdot: 12% alcohol, 750 ml bottle for $19.99, $10 a glass.
- Aroma: Cherries, raisin, toast.
- Palate: raspberry, velvety tannins.
- Finish: Sooth, blackberry, herbal tea, spices, oak.
- Pair: Steak, lamb, beef, sharp cheeses.
my notes: It's got some smokey tannin smell to it like the other reds, with the addition of some vinegar. Tastes like any other nasty red, not quite as offensive as the others.
Angel Chardonnay: 12.5% alcohol, 750 ml bottle fr $12.99, $5 a glass. Steel fermented Chardonnay, blended with Vidal Blanc. Serve chilled. 1% residual sugar.
- Aroma:Citrus, pineapple
- Palate: fruit forward, soft, apple
- Finish: Smooth, acidic
- Pair: Seafood, lighter meats.
my notes: It smells quite sweet with that white wine off aroma. There's no butter like many chardonnays have, but there's no citrus either which is what they were aiming for. It's got a really crisp start, but the taste is rather watery. It's completely unobjectionable. There's a very slight lingering, but not unpleasant, citrus flavor at the end.
Our Dog Blue: 12.5% alcohol, 750ml bottle for $10.99, $5 a glass. 1.75% residual sugar. Semi sweet blend of Riesling, Traminette, Vidal Blanc. Serve chilled.
- Aroma:Melon, citrus, apricots, flowers.
- Palate: Sweet, firm acidity
- Finish: Soft.
- Pair: Fruits, cheeses, seafood, spicy food.
my notes: The smell is light, but sweeter than the Angel Chardonnay and with a fruity component. The taste isn't very strong. I get some melon for sure. It's got a good sweet finish. This one gets better the more you drink it. I think this would be a really good Virginia Wine to give as a present. It's good but also not overpowering so no one could find it too offensive.
Cherry Wine: 10.5% alcohol, 750 ml bottle for $10.99. $5 a glass. No grapes were used in this production. It's 100%fermented cherries. Serve lightly chilled.
- Aroma:Cherry (I love that they didn't stress themselves too much with that one.)
- Palate: Sweet Cheery, but not too sweet.
- Finish Long and lingering.
- Pair: Grilled spicy meats or chocolate.
my notes: It smells of sweet cherry pie filling. I'm excited. It tastes a bit like cherry cough syrup, but the good kind, that wasn't meant to be an insult. Not too sweet, which was something I was worried about. They gave us chocolate with this wine to experiment with pairing. The wine tastes less sweet after eating chocolate. I'm not sure I like that development.
Red Muscadine: 10.5% alcohol, 750 ml bottle for $10.99, $5 a glass. This is made with a native North American grape rather than the standard vitus vinifera strain. Most of these wines are made dessert wines and are extreemly sweet, but Chateau Morrisette aimed to make sure it wasn't sickly sweet. The addition of carbonation helps cut that sweetness.
- Aroma: Fruity
- Palate: Sweet, lightly sparkling.
- Finish: Crisp, refreshing.
- Pair: Barbecue, spicy southern fare.
my notes: It smells confusing, kind of like grape juice concentrate. I like the taste but there's definitely an element of welches concord grape juice happening in this. I think it makes a nice change, its sweet, but not overly so with the carbonation. This one is my favorite.
Blackberry Wine: 12% alcohol, 750 ml bottle for $10.99, $5 a glass. Made 100% from blackberries.
- Aroma: Dark berries.
- Palate: Sweet, smooth , vibrant, sund-drenched berries.
- Finish: Smooth, blackberry.
- Pair: Grilled spicey food.
my notes: It smells very very sweet like fruit syrup. The fruit definitely isn't grape, but I'm not sure how much blackberry I get either. This is extremely flavorful. Big ol' fruit bomb at the end and I like it. Not as overly sweet as I thought it was going to be. The finish is absolutely lovely. At the suggestion of our pourer we made brownies using this wine instead of water and it was a FANTASTIC idea.
Heritage: 18% alcohol, 375 ml bottle for $19.99, $10 a glass. Aged in stainless steel then america oak before fortification.
- Aroma: Dried berries plums, chocolate, backing spices.
- Palate: Raspberry, blackberry, chocolate, and cinnamon.
- Finish: Smooth and clean. Pair: Cayenne-dusted chocolate, rich beef dishes, and blue cheese.
my notes: Smells like alcohol, but you can catch hints of plum and backing spice through the burn. It's definitely got some heat on the palate too. It's like spiced fruit syrup. We had tasting chocolate with this one as well, it made the wine worse because it dulled the sweetness making the alcohol even more prevalent.
Overall it was a pretty good trip. Especially since they give a 30% discount if you buy 12 wines, which between the eight of us wasn't difficult.
