Winery Visit #1: Chateau Morrisette

Last month, my very proactive and wonderful roommate rallied myself and some friends to go visit Chateau Morrisette, a winery located in Floyd, VA, only about an hour from Virginia Tech.

When we pulled up, the setting for this winery was just gorgeous. Up high, the views were beautiful of the classic, rolling Appalachian mountains, while the main building itself looked like an alpine lodge right out of Switzerland.

Yes...that is snow in the middle of March.

We got to start our tasting right away when we went inside. Our pourer was Ray from North Carolina, who was an absolute delight to talk to. Very knowledgeable about the wines and you could tell he really loved what they made there. Plus we only paid for 10 tastings, but Ray gave us three extra! Guess he liked us. Check them out:

1. 2008 Star Dog: This sparkling wine is triple fermented in the bottle. Pretty good; lots of fruit flavors in the nose - green apple, pear, lime, and a little bit of minerals on the finish. Would pair well with a lot, I'd imagine!

2. 2014 Vin Gris: This wine had a lot of flavors and aromas I hadn't experienced in wine before, so that was exciting! On the nose, we got watermelon and strawberry. Those carried over into the taste, as well as banana further back on the palate, which I thought was so cool! There was a little bit of heat, but tolerable. Almost a completely dry wine.

3. 4 White Grapes: I really, really, liked this one. On the nose, you get key lime and pears, while on the palate there's lots of tropical fruits, slightly floral notes. This wine had a long, lingering finish with pear at the end. To emphasize my enthusiasm for this wine, I put "Good!" with a star in my notes. So I guess past me really liked this.

4. 2012 Vidal Blanc: Very light note, with citrus and apples. Had quite a clean taste with pineapple and melon.Pretty good - I'd pair it with seafood.

5. Angel Chardonnay: Another one not on the tasting list (We <3 Ray). Lots of citrus on the nose, while pineapple and some slight vanilla notes carried over into the taste. Palate was definitely smooth with some citrus on the finish. This wine, interestingly enough, is the same white they use for Hokie White Wine, but just market it as Hokie Wine!

6. 5 Red Grapes: This was one of my favorites of the whole day. It won a double Gold Award from a Virginia wine critic group (I failed to write down the name of them, oops). On the nose, cherries and graham crackers (yep, graham crackers - so awesome right?!) The taste is similar, but with a slightly spicy finish. Really liked this one - I don't usually take to red wines, so I was excited to really like this one.

7. 2011 Pinot Noir: Lots of berries on this one's nose, with some smokey strawberry notes as well. Ray pointed out a little bit of oregano that comes on the finish as well. This red was not overbearing, which was a nice change of pace. Great strawberry flavors with smoke notes.

8. Chambourcin Reserve: This wine is from dried grapes, which brings sweetness, as the dried grapes concentrate the sugar in the fruit! The nose was dark and jammy, but the taste was a really great flavor. Cherry cola flavor was prominent, which was so cool I thought. There were also cranberry flavors along with some spicy notes on the finish.

9. Our Dog Blue: This was also one of my favorites; such easy drinking. Melon and apricots were on the nose. They also both carried over into the nose, along with some really great citrus overtones as well. I bought some of this to take home for Easter, actually.

10. The Black Dog: Lots and lots of fruit on this red wine's nose: berries, and especially strawberries. The palate was similar with subtle spices, along with an easy finish. I would say this is an easy drinking wine - really, really, enjoyed it.

11. White Muscadine: This wine was something slightly differ
ent, with a fruity nose. There were notes of honey on the palate, also some light floral notes (maybe rose almost). There were also some really subtle, but great honey notes. Almost nectarine.

12. Farmhouse Sangria: This wine had a merlot base, along with flavors of cherry, orange, and lime. Fantastic citrus notes - this sangria was amazing; really refreshing.

13. Heritage: This wine was 18% alcohol, as it's aged for 27 months and fortified with brandy (so it's pretty strong!). The nose was mostly chocolate and cocoa, while hints of coconut and plums came through on the palate, along with the chocolate.

After we finished the tastings, we went on a tour led by none other than our new best friend, Ray. Starting at the main entrance of the building, Ray told us about how the winery began as a small venture in the Virginia hills and has since grown tremendously. Fun fact: the dog logo started after the founder's son came home from college one year with a black lab dog, named Hanz, that the family loved as one of their own. When he passed, they decided to honor him by putting on a wine label - sales grew by about 200% for that wine. Hanz has been on their labels ever since!

Ray also told us about the construction of the building - all of the wood used is reclaimed from shipwrecks and old marine structures (like docks). In the main entryway, the beautiful chandelier was handmade for the winery.

Chateau Morrisette will bring in about 20 tons of grapes every season, which are then washed, de-stemmed, pressed, and stored in fermenting tanks for 3-4 months depending on the wine. We got to see these tanks in the back production area, and they were huge. Some had hundreds of gallons of capacity, and they used both oak and steel varieties. The winery also operates as a producer of Virginia wines, meaning they use 87% of grape varieties that are grown in Virginia. Pretty cool!

Then we moved to the barrel room where several batches of wine were stored in various types of oak: American, French, and Hungarian. I thought it was cool to think that some of the wine in those barrels were at least a few years old, and others just barreled will spend multiple years in this room before being bottled, sold, and enjoyed. Wine has a long lifespan.  

The HO on the label stands for "Hungarian Oak"

Ray also showed us the bottling room that is almost fully automated. Bottles are loaded onto the conveyor belt, where they are washed, disinfected, filled, vacuum sealed, and labeled. The one part of this process that's not automated is attaching the capsule (the foil-type sleeve that covers the bottle's cork and part of it's neck). Someone has to stand in the bottling room and hand-place capsules over the bottle before it moves on to be shrunken onto the neck. Ray said he's done that job before, and was wondering why it still required a human! Pretty sweet equipment in that room though:

Another interesting fact we learned was that lots of wineries are now using corn syrup or other substitutions for sugar, in order to keep the price of wine low. Sugar's prices has increased, so the wineries are turning to cheaper ingredients rather than rising the price of their wine. But Chateau Morrisette still uses sugar, which I'm very happy about, even if it means the wine prices are slightly higher than others.

Overall, an awesome day. I really enjoyed the wines (and have bought them consistently since that day!). We learned some interesting facts on the tour, and got a chance to spend time with friends exploring a new part of the area.