Winery Visit: Chateau Morrisette

Tristan, Ginny, Peter, Katie, Dillon, Robin and Doug standing in front of the Chateau Morrisette sign ready for a fun tour and the tasting of delicious wines!

Our first activity upon arrival at the winery was to go on a tour. On the tour we learned about the actual building as well as the wine making process. Since many of us are civil engineers we were fascinated by the wooden trusses supporting the roof which can be seen in the picture below. The tour guide told us how most of their building is made out of recycled wood which I thought was very neat. The shop and tasting room had a very nice log cabiny feel to them. After learning about the building in general, we them proceeded outside to the de-stemming and crushing area. Although a majority of the grapes are not harvested onsite, all wine production is completed on site. There are two machines used for crushing: one for white grapes and one for red. After being crushed, the juice from the grapes is moved inside the facility where it will be processed, fermented, aged and bottled. Unfortunately, we were not able to go into the bottling area since they were bottling wine that day. However, we were given a

brief description of the process. You 

can see the stainless steel containers 

where the grape juice is being fermented into wine and the barrels where the wine  aged. The chateau just hired a new wine maker who has experience working at wineries in both California and Bordeaux. He plans to release a chardonnay in December which will have been oak aged for a year. He plans on focusing more on blending varieties of wine in stead of releasing varietal wines every year. He has a very different style from the previous winemaker who was much more focused on a New World taste and having fewer tannins in the wine.

Following the tour, we proceeded into the shop and tasting room. As part of the tasting portion of the visit, we had the opportunity to try 10 different wines. There were some wines on the tasting list which I hadn’t tried before, like the fruit wines and the red muscadine, so they were very much interesting to taste. 

2011 Chardonnay - $18

This chardonnay is a mix of wine which has been aged in steel and oak barrels. This made it taste much less buttery than other chardonnays I have had. There were definitely hints of green apple and grapefruit in the aroma and palate. 

2011 Cabernet Sauvignon - $18

This cabernet sauvignon had an aroma reminiscent of the produce section of a grocery store with a wide range of fruit and vegetable aromas mixing together. The smell of raspberries and cherries were the more prominent smells which came through. This was a relatively dry wine with tastes of red cherry.

2011 Merlot - $21

The merlot had a distinct strawberry smell on the nose. The taste is reminiscent of a mix of strawberries and cranberries with a bit of tartness coming through. It was a fruitier merlot, not as dry or tannic as some merlots I have tried. 

2011 Pertit Verdot - $20

The aroma of this petit verdot had hints of raisins and toast. This wine did have more tannins than others in the tasting and it was not among my favorites of the day. Perhaps I would enjoy it more if paired with food. 

Angel Chardonnay - $13

This may have been my favorite wine of the tasting, which surprised me because I usually prefers red wines to white wines. The nose had hints of pineapple and citrus. This wine was a blend of wine aged in steel and oak barrels as well, but with 90% of the wine coming from the steel barrels. This allowed for more subtle flavors and was definitely much less buttery than other chardonnays. It was also not too dry. 

Our Dog Blue – Riesling - $11

One of the facts that I always found fascinating about this wine is that it used to be called "Virginia Riesling," but when the winery changed the name to our dog blue and changed the label to a diamond shape with a picture of the dog, sales increased by 600%. It definitely demonstrates how important marketing is for a business. The wine was a pretty generic riesling for me. Very good with citrusy fruity smells and very sweet tastes. It would be prefect for relaxing on a warm summer evening sitting on the porch.  

Cherry Wine - $11

As expected with a wine made exclusively out of various types of cherries, the nose and palate were dominated by cherry. The smell reminded me slightly of cherry flavored medicine and it tasted like cherry candy. During the tasting, we were given chocalate bites to taste with the wine which defeinitely accentuated the flavor of the wine. 

Red Muscadine - $11

This wine was not like any other kind I have tried before. It is apparently a type of grape which is much more popular in North Carolina than most places. The smell was kind of like grape juice and some kind of strange candy. It tasted similarly to strawberry soda, especially since it was lightly sparkling. Fortunately it was not too syrupy and overly sweet. The aftertaste was quite odd. I did not really like this wine.

Blackberry Wine - $11

This wine is made out of 100% blackberries and since I really like blackberries, I also really liked this wine. It was very good and tasted like blackberry juice. We were told that it makes a great substitute for water when making brownies from a mix. After the tasting, I did buy a bottle and tried this and I must say, the brownies were very good. Another one of my favorites for the day. 

Heritage – Dessert Wine - $20 for 375mL bottle

This is one of the few times I have tried a true dessert wine. Brandy was used to increase the alcohol content and the wine tasted very syrupy and thick. It smelled of plums and tasted a bit better to me after getting a bite of chocolate to pair with it. 

And of course the trip would not have been complete without a few ridiculous selfies and photobombings outside the winery.