Winery Visit- Chateau Morrisette

Me driving to Chateau Morrisette

One gloomy weekend afternoon five of my friends and myself drove to Floyd County to have lunch, tour their winery, and do an wine tasting. It was a really fun afternoon jammed back with wine knowledge. The drive their and back is very interesting mainly because of the windy back roads that my GPS took us. The fog and rain were a nice addition to the travel, especially when it directed me onto a gravel road for a mile. Haha. But moving onto our day there....

The fireplace in the room added a nice ambiance to the experience 

When we arrived at Chateau Morrisette my friends and I sat down for lunch. The food was absolutely delicious! I did not have any complaints about it. I ordered their Crabcake Sandwich with a side of mixed greens, very filling and reasonably priced for the atmosphere. Also, we all decided to start off by trying one of their wines. We ordered their Frosty Dog which is their iced wine. We were all curious because Professor Boyer had talked about it in class and the concept behind it is very intriguing. Typically drank as a dessert wine, we were not disappointed at all. It was a light bodied and I got hints of sweetness, citrus fruits, apples, and pear on the nose and tongue. I would highly recommend this wine to anyone who is looking for a sweeter wine.

Andrew and Meredith at Lunch

Cheersing with the Frosty Dog!

The Crabcake Sandwich with Mixed Greens :)

After lunch we ventured off to the tour of the Winery at Chateau Morrisette. 

Wine Shop and Winery Building

During the tour, we started out by learning about the building, the frame is made out of timber which I thought was very interesting. Our tour guide moved on to talking about the barrels of wine. They use 3 different types of oak barrels: American, French, and Hungarian. Starting with American oak barrels, (which gives off an oaky, tobacco, and earthy taste) make up 30% of their barrels and costs $500 per barrel. French barrels comprise 65% of their inventory and cost $1,400 per barrel and last is the Hungarian/Mexican barrels which make up the remaining 5% and costs $700 per barrel. We were also informed that the barrels will last a max of 6 years and the wine will saturate the barrel around year 4. To finish up on barrel knowledge, each of Chateau Morrisette's oak barrels will hold a max of 65 gallons and have enough barrels for a max of 65,000 gallons.

Oak Barrels in the Winery

Steel Barrels in the Winery, more advanced because of constant temperature regulation

Their steel barrels (as seen above) for aging in which they have 150,000 gallons available. The tour guide informed us that steel aging is the new trend because the turnover is quicker then with oak barrels. Typically when aged in steel it takes about a year versus oak which ranged from 4 months to 2 years. Another fun fact is that when aged in steel, it will lighten up the reds. We then learned that during the aging the process the skins will start at the top of the barrel and migrate down and release their tannins and color. They end up back in the yard for fertilization after being crushed for the third or fourth time. Another piece of advice our knowledgeable guide provided with us is that typically American red wines last 10 years while whites last 5 to 7 years.

The Bottling Station at Chateau Morrisette Winery

If I had to state one disappointment from the whole experience, it would be the Bottling Station. I was shocked at the simplicity. I was shocked because it seems to be a common wine down in this area as well in Northern Virginia (where I am from) and the numbers of bottles of wine on the shelves that I was expecting something more vast. Having said that, the process seemed pretty self-explanatory: bottles get filled with wine, corked, capped, and labeled. A side note about corks, it was mentioned that around 90% of Australian exported wine are now using the screw cap for various reasons, one being for a better seal. Some final notes on the winery tour are that they only have 19 full time staff and their harvest season is from September to October.

Now for the wine tasting.... for only $5 you got sample 10 wines (where the portions were very generous) and you got to keep your glass. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!

Kristy, Andrew, Julia, and Me waiting for the Tasting to begin!

My top 3 wines for the day were the Chardonnay and Merlot at the tasting as well as the Frosty Dog which I shared a bottle with my friends at lunch. Although I MUST say that Chateau Morrisette does not make a bad wine at all. I never smelled and tasted a wine there that I dreaded which was interesting since I have done that at other tastings in this area.

Chateau Morrisette Chardonnay, favorite white of the day!

This is by far the best Chardonnay I have EVER tasted. Made with 0.1% residual sugar and aged in oak for 14 months and had hints of butter, pear, vanilla, and some citrus on the nose. When I tasted this wine it was very smooth, creamy, and the pear was very noticeable. A light-bodied wine full of taste and I would consider this to be phenomenal and I guess I only like expensive Chardonnay because it was $17.99. I would probably drink this wine during the summer time with some kind of seafood.

Chateau Morrisette Merlot, favorite red of the day!

I knew that if their white wines were excellent, that I was in for a real treat with their reds! Merlot is one of my favorite types of red wine, currently I am torn between whether Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is my favorite. Anyway, this wine is aged in oak for 15 months and the smell was very intense, comprised of dark fruits, spice, and some heat. The taste of the wine was identical to the smell and I really enjoyed the heat and spice aftertaste the wine left.

Frosty Dog which we enjoyed at lunch

My friends and I loved the wine so much that we bought a case and we received a 10% discount. As the saying goes it is always cheaper to buy in bulk. Overall, I really enjoyed the afternoon there and I thought it was good we could experience all that Chateau Morrisette has to offer to visitors! I would definitely go back any day and even recommended going there when my parents come down to visit me at Tech this semester.

One last group photo before we departed back to Tech