Chateau Morrisette Winery Visit

 Me and couple fellow Hokies visited Chateau Morrisette on Sunday, April 14, 2013. This winery, nestled in the Appalachian Mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway, is a hidden gem in the Virginia wine world. This winery, originally just a farm house, is now a 13-acre property making quality wine. This blog will document out trip to the winery.

 Our tour began where the personnel at Chatue Morrisette crush and de-stem the grapes. After choosing the grapes they want, the grapes are shipped in and immediately crushed. The two machines are the second step in the process after selecting the grapes.

 After being crushed, the grapes are moved inside where they are fermented and then barreled. Chateau Morrisette use American Oak and French Oak barrels. They use the American Oak more for the reds while the French Oak is used more for the whites like Chardonnay and Viognier. After storage, the wines are bottled.

The wines are bottled using the machines listed above. I did not entirely get this step in the process so I apologize for how vague I am about this section. This winery bottles 32 pallets of wine per day. For such a small operation, this is very impressive. Interesting fact, these machines are cleaned with very cheap Vodka due to its great cleaning properties and also the fact that it does not cause the machines to rust!

The wines that are bottled at this winery include:

Premium and Varietals
 
Star Dog Sparkling Wine

Cabernet Sauvignon

Chardonnay

Cabernet Franc

Viognier

Merlot

Dry Rose

Petit Verdot

Chambourcin

Vidal Blanc

Pinot Noir

Frosty Dog Ice Wine

Signatures

The Black Dog (blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chambourcin, Merlot, and Petit Verdot)

Red Mountain Laurel

Angel Chardonnay

Sweet Mountain Laurel

Our Dog Blue (blend of Riesling, Traminette, and Vidal Blanc)

Sweet Muscadine

Blushing Dog (blend of Vidal Blanc and Riesling)

Red Muscadine

Liberty 

Orchard Series

Sweet Peach

Blackberry Wine

Cherry Wine

Sweet Mountain Apple

Red Mountain Sangria

  To conclude, I was very satisfied with our visit to Chateau Morrisette. I loved seeing the process of making the wine and also being able to taste some of the wines they make here (and by some, I mean 14 different wines). They definitely have a new customer and I look forward to seeing what new wines they come out with next.