Winery Visit- Chateau Morrisette

On Friday, April 27, 2012 I visited Chateau Morrisette. The drive to the winery took about an hour but it was definitely worth it because it is located off the Blue Ridge Parkway and the drive is very scenic. 

The front of Chateau Morrisette

This was the first time I had ever visited a winery and I was impressed at the beauty of it. Having never been to a winery before, I also didn't know what to expect once arriving. After entering the building we were greeted by several employees and a gift shop. Inside you can buy all kinds of different wines with their popular dog label and many different souvenirs such as wine glasses and bags. We chatted with an employee for around 5 minutes and she gave us a sample of several different wines before we began our tour. 

On the tour we mainly focused on the production aspect of the winery. Just outside the main building are several large presses used to extract the grape juice from the grapes. After our tour guide finished explaining the production process of the wine, we were allowed to see where the wine ferments in large tanks just inside of the building. 

Large steel tanks and oak barrels. 

After the wine tour we were given the option to participate in a wine tasting for only 8 dollars, and of course we wanted to get the full experience so we joined. The wines tasted were:

• 2010 Chardonnay: I enjoyed this citrus-y chardonnay a lot. The wine would pair well with seafood and other meats.
• Independence: A blend of Traminette, Vidal Blanc, Riesling and Chardonnay. The win had several different melon flavors and smelled distinctly like flowers. I wasn't really liking the flower aroma a whole lot, but it does add a lot of character to the wine.
• 2011 Dry Rose: The dry rose is Chateau Morrisette's newest wine and it is made by separating the juice from the grapes before fermentation in order to give it the rose color. The most distinct flavor in this wine was a banana flavor.
• 2010 Chambourcin: This wine was very dark and fruity. We paired it with a dark berry wine in order to make a spanish sangria which was very flavorful. This wine would also pair very well with chocolate.
• 2010 Cabernet Franc: I didn't get much out of the cabernet franc but it was very easy to drink and had berry aromas.
• 2008 Merlot: I enjoyed the merlot. It had a lot of the typical berry flavors in merlot and it had a slightly oaky finish. This wine would have been great with a meal.
• 2008 Petit Verdot: I liked this wine a lot for its black pepper flavors that linger around on the finish. I feel like this always makes a wine memorable and pairs it well with red meats.
• The Black Dog: This wine is also known as Hokie Red on the Virginia Tech campus. I didn't like this wine much because it didn't have anything that made it really stand out except its spiciness.
• Our Dog Blue: This wine also had a very noticeable aroma of flowers on the nose and also on the finish. I liked this wine but it was a little too sweet.
• Sweet Mountain Laurel: Chateau Morrisette's dessert wine. I didn't like this wine that much because it was too sweet.

Part of the group getting ready to taste some wine!

I had a lot of fun on my trip to chateau Morrisette and I certainly learned a lot about wine. I would love to visit another winery sometime soon and would love to eventually go to Napa Valley in the future and check out what they have to offer.