Winery Visit - Chateau Morrisette

Sign near walkway into winery, not a lot of greenery yet even though it was technically spring.

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend Kayce (who is also in this class) and I went to visit Chateau Morrisette in Floyd, VA. It was an extremely beautiful drive to get there, all backroads mostly, through the town of Floyd, which I need to go back to some day, and then a short stint along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is actually the road that the winery is off of. The location is absolutely amazing, surrounded by big rolling mountains and lots of forests and wildlife. They have a restaurant on location, as well as a band stand for summer concerts and plenty of space to sit and walk around outside.

We arrived near the end of the day, just about an hour before the last tour was set to leave, so there were not a lot of people there. We purchased a tasting to kill some time, and for about $8 we were supposed to only get 10 wines to taste, but our pourer was extremely nice and friendly and ended up letting us try nearly all of them, maybe about 16 different wines. You also get to keep your wine glass as well, so that was $8 well spent. My favorite wine was their Cabernet Sauvignon.

Me at the tasting bar. Note the dog prints on the ground

After tasting we went on the tour, and for the first half of it or so it was just the two of us taking the tour. Our pourer was also our tourguide, so we were already good friends at this point and that made the tour a lot of fun. She began by giving a little history of the winery. Apparently William Morrisette planted his first vines in 1978 just to pursue his hobby of making wine. As he got more serious about making wine, his son David who had studied viticulture came back to work with his parents at the winery, becoming the first wine maker. They eventually expanded as production grew, and Mrs Morrisette decided to build a restaurant so that visitors would have a place to eat.

The building was a work of art in itself. Most of the big beams used in the structure, both in the front tasting room and store area and the warehouse where the magic is made, are reclaimed timbers that had been dredged up from the St Marie river, I believe she said from an old sunken ship. The wood was beautifully restored and added an architecturally fascinating aspect to the place.

Beautiful reclaimed wood beams. In my opinion, if you look at it upside down it looks like the frame of big wooden ship.

Next we went into the warehouse where the production happened. Right up front were the oak barrels aging their wines. Our guide said they used French and Hungarian oak barrels. I had never heard of Hungarian oak before this. Next to those were rows of stainless steel vats used for fermentation. These vats are refrigerated so they can control the temperature of the wine during fermentation, which allows they to basically control the speed and keep it from getting out of hand.

Stainless steel vats. The whites ones are white because they are covered in frost from refrigeration. 

The bottling area is in the back of the warehouse. After this the tour was over but we walked around a little bit more before leaving. We saw the press outside on the porch (which had more awesome views to see). On the tour she told us that they grow some grapes on site, but get a majority of their grapes from other vineyards around Virginia.

Bottling operation.

Grape press on the porch outside the warehouse.

After touring we were pretty hungry so we decided to get dinner at the restaurant there. The building was also very pretty, rustic looking, with a lot of wood and stone showing. The food was delicious. I had the cinnamon chili rubbed pork medallions, which was quite tasty.

Restaurant at Chateau Morrisette.

I definitely recommend anyone taking this class and everyone who lives within a reasonable distance to take the time to visit Chateau Morrisette. It has a breathtaking location (just driving there is a stress reliever) and great friendly staff and great wines. I would love to go in the summer during one of the festivals they hold there, and see the place in full winery swing.

My tasting notes for the Cabernet Sauvignon I purchased:

Smelled like cherry and raspberry jams. A little spice came through on the nose as well. Very nice body, well balanced fruit and tannins. Some light spice and dark fruit components, and a smooth buttery finish. Very delicious.

Cabernet Sauvignon from Chateau Morrisette