The drive was really pretty, lots of farmland, and went by fairly quick as we both chatted over the hour. We arrived in time for the 2 pm scheduled tour.
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| Chateau Morrisette - main building |
We met our tour guide, Austin, in the main building. Our tour guide was hugely dynamic - his name was Austin and he started the tour by telling us the story behind Chateau Morrisette. The main building itself is strictly a tasting room and gift shop, and a production facility behind-the-scenes. Austin described how the whole building was made from reclaimed wood and is still the largest structure in Virginia. The winery also has a restaurant, which was a few steps away on the other side of the parking lot.
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| Entry way of main building |
The winery itself has been around since 1978, and currently produces around 1 million bottles of wine per year. Chateau Morrisette's signature brand is the black lab. The story is the owner of the winery had a black labrador named Hans, and when he was a puppy, he would sit under this one particular oak barrel that leaked. It took the owner a while to realize that he had not a sick puppy, but a slightly intoxicated puppy. When Hans passed away, the owner started incorporating the dog into his marketing and branding - he renamed two of his signature wines and added a black lab to the label.
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| Original wine labels for initial two wines - a red blend and a Riesling |
After the introduction, we moved to behind the scenes. The next room contained the giant tanks where the wine was made. I can't remember the exact number of tanks, or how large they are, but again, the winery produces 1 million bottles a year. The winery is incapable of growing enough grapes to meet the demand, and to still be designated as a Virginia wine, they must use a minimum of 75% of Virginia grapes. Our guide assured us Chateau Morrisette uses no less than 97-98% of Virginia grown grapes.
This room also contained several oak barrels. The barrels only have a lifetime of 5 years, then they are thoroughly cleaned and sold to distilleries to age liquors, such as bourbon and whiskey. The barrels run $1,000-$2,000 each. Austin pointed out that some of the barrels have a paw print embossed on the outside. These do two things - one, they designate which are red wines. Two, it's a nod to Hans, who used to lap up the red wine from the leaky oak barrel.
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| Tanks for wine |
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| Oak barrels |
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| Paw print |
Towards the back of this huge room, was a small production line. This is where all the wine was bottled. Austin explained the process - how it must meet FDA approval, and the facility is sterilized with vodka, which is the only cleaner that won't leave behind a residue in the wine, tainting the flavor.
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| Bottling production line |
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| Austin, our tour guide, and the other half of the production line |
That concluded our tour. Afterwards, Austin led us back to the tasting area. My friend and I decided to do a wine tasting - it was only $8 to taste 10 wines. The gentleman, Ray, who served us was quite a character, and made our day with his interesting stories.
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| Tasting list |
We tasted the following wines:
Nouveau Chien - Ray quizzed us on our French. The furthest we got was that nouveau means new. The name means "new dog" and featured a profile of, you guessed it, a black lab.
2015 Vin Gris - a pleasant white wine, a dry rose. Not my favorite, but still delicious.
5 Red Grapes - This was a red blend. Enjoyed this one, but a little dry for my tastes.
2012 Archival 1 - Another red blend.
The Black Dog - I almost took home this wine. It's one of their signature wines, and a red wine blend. Very easy to drink, and
Our Dog Blue - This was a "semi-sweet Riesling". It seemed to lack a little "pop" or "oomf", but it was good and not overly sweet.
Sweet Mountain Laurel - Sweet white wine.
Sweet Mountain Apple - I've never had an apple wine, so I had no idea what to expect. This smelled and tasted exactly like a green apple Jolly Rancher candy.
Blackberry Wine - Not overly sweet, like some blackberry wines I've had. Ray explained they get the blackberry juice from Oregon.
Cherry Wine - The cherry juice comes from Wisconsin. I don't usually like fruit wines, they're too sweet and cloying to me. But Ray told us he'd give us 3 sips of this wine. He told us to drink 2 sips of this, then eat a piece of dark chocolate and drink the last sip. WOW. It was like eating a chocolate covered cherry...SO delicious! The nose smelled more like grape juice but it tasted like cherry juice.
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| Gift shop and tasting counter |
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| Example of bottle label |
Overall, a fantastic tour and tasting! But the best part was that this winery allows guests to bring their dogs - there was an abundance of black labs, and a few other breeds. But then my friend and I spotted an 8 week old chocolate lab and THAT is what made this tour so much fun. This was the most well behaved puppy I've ever met!
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| 8 week old Gracie |
Thanks for the great blog entry about your visit with us here at Chateau Morrisette. I's so glad you enjoyed your visit and hope you will come back and visit again soon. Check out all the things we have going on at http://www.thedogs.com
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