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Upcoming Events
The Monthly VIP Club Wine Pick-up Event
This is a notice for our monthly VIP Club
"Pick-up Party" where two of you can meet our winemaker, Alan Kinne, and talk with him as he pours your monthly selections. This is your opportunity to ask him questions about our wines, his experiences around the country, and just get to know him. Chef Hump Astorga will be here to offer food pairing suggestions, as well as to provide a
"food pairing bite" specifically created to complement each of your selections (with the recipe as a treat for you to take home). This month Hump will offer a limited quantity of his food pairing, produced in our new commercial kitchen, for you to purchase and enjoy with a glass of wine after the event or to take home with you for later enjoyment. Of course, VIP Club Coordinator/Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Meaghan Tardif, will also be on hand to provide the hospitality to which you have become accustomed.
This special "Harvest Pick-up Party" is going to be a lot of fun. Join the winemaker and his cellar crew as they show you how Chrysalis Vineyards award-winning wines are made. You'll be shown how they transform grapes into juice, then actually see fermenting tanks and barrels! We'll have samples of newly fermenting Chardonnay and Viognier. This is a unique opportunity to actually experience a little bit of harvest time. Be careful...you may be asked to wash out the press
Please join us at the winery building on Sunday, September 12, 2010 between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Since this is a work in progress, we are limiting the event to the first 150 VIP Club members who respond to this invitation. Please let us know by Monday, September 6th, if you will attend. Simply call Meaghan at 540-687-8222, ext. 203 or email MTardif@ChrysalisWine.com.
Chrysalis Vineyards Presents
The Celebration of Virginia's Native Grape!
The 10th Annual Norton Wine & Bluegrass Festival
October 2 & 3, 2010
Visit Chrysalis Vineyards in the midst of harvest and experience the hottest festival of the year. Enjoy the bluegrass pickings of Jackass Flats, Hickory Ridge, and A Good Natured Riot throughout the weekend; food for sale from local
"BBQ Catering King" and from our own super-chef, Hump Astorga; cheese, chocolates, and chutneys from Virginia's most highly regarded producers; exquisite jewelry, photographs, and artifacts from top-notch designers and artisans; hay rides and vineyard tours; a special 9-wine tasting that includes all of our Norton wines with a commemorative take home glass, and refresh from the sun with Sarah's Patio Red. Factor in that you are at Chrysalis Vineyards, the world's largest grower of Norton, The Real American Grape!® and you truly have a celebration! Admission is $20 per person at the door, $15 in advance. Free admission for our VIP Club members. Call Kelda Kinne 540-687-8222, ext. 206 for more information or email KKinne@ChrysalisWine.com.
Advanced admissions close on Thursday, 09/30/2010
Click here for full festival details.
The 2008 Norton Wine and Bluegrass Festival was the winner of an Event of the Year award from Loudoun County's Visitors Association.
Volunteer Opportunities
Virginia Wine Festival
This is one of the big, annual wine festivals held at Bull Run Park - Centreville, Virginia
September 18 (Saturday) 10 am. - 7:00 pm.-ish
September 19 (Sunday) 10 am. - 7:00 pm.-ish
We still
have a few volunteer opportunities available and could use your help. If you are interested, contact Meaghan
Tardif at MTardig@ChrysalisWine.com or call 540-687-8222, ext. 203.
Wine Updates
2009 Chrysalis Vineyards Albariño - released
2009 Chrysalis Vineyards Barrel Select Norton - pre-released to VIP Club only
Will be released to the public at the Norton Wine & Bluegrass Festival
2009 Chrysalis Vineyards Private Reserve White - released - VIP Club only
2008 Chrysalis Vineyards Private Reserve Red - released - VIP Club only
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and so forth
Current Wine Releases and Tasting Notes
On our website, we maintain a complete list of all currently available wines, pricing and tasting notes. Click for details.
Recent Awards and Recognitions
A complete list of our Competition Awards is on our web site.
Click here for 2010 Awards
Click here for 2009 Awards
VIP Club at Chrysalis Vineyards
Receive a 15% discount on ALL purchases at Chrysalis Vineyards; enjoy our Private Reserve White and Private Reserve Red, made EXPRESSLEY for our VIP Club members, be our guest for the VIP Club members' Recognition Party and much more. Click for details.
Groups and Facility Rentals
Hosting an event or having a wedding? Planning a group tour? Click for details.
Report from the Chef
So, how do you like the food being offered at Chrysalis Vineyards? From our end, we can only judge how the items we place in our tasting room refrigerator sell and the response from our visitors who have purchased them. Every weekend, I am able to produce dishes that, for the most part, sell-out and have received only positive reports. As you know, any new venture requires a period of time to fine-tune and slowly move in a direction that works well. In 2004, when I opened my critically acclaimed, fine dining restaurant, Aster, we conducted a period of two full weeks of
"Soft Openings," during which we fed more than 300 guests whom we invited without charging, so that we could allow ourselves the time necessary to get it perfect before we opened to the general public. In a restaurant environment, it is easy to see how well things are going because you are directly interacting with your guests and are able to instantly judge how the experience you are attempting to create is or is not being accomplished. It is different for me at Chrysalis Vineyards, since I am not able to interact directly with our guests who have purchased my food offerings and chat with them. Therefore, I am asking for your feedback so that we can better accomplish the goal we posted on our website.
There is a new tab on our website, "Order Chef Hump's Food". When you click on that link it opens to a note from me, which says:
I am very excited to announce that Chrysalis Vineyards finally offers our visitors simple, creative foods that I produce to enhance your visit. My goal is to offer you fresh, great tasting dishes of the highest quality possible, adding to what sets us apart from the rest.
Warmest regards,
Hump Astorga, Director of Culinary Operations
It is my sincere desire to help Jennifer McCloud and the rest of our team create for you a hospitality experience when you visit that is beyond what you receive at any other vineyard/winery. Last month, I wrote that on weekends, we see hundreds of visitors, many of whom bring food purchased elsewhere to eat while drinking our wines and enjoying the beauty of our countryside. This has always been frustrating to us, realizing that I could create fresher, better tasting dishes of the highest quality, and thus elevate the visitor experience, which would once again set Chrysalis Vineyards apart from the rest. Please take a minute and drop me a note – your feedback is important. HAstorga@ChrysalisWine.com If you don't know that we are now offering food for sale in the tasting room, please check it out!
The end of summer is when corn is at its peak, and the BBQ grills are in full blast. We must take advantage of both. I am including a very simple recipe that explains how to grill Corn on the Cob in its Husks. This process imparts an additional dimension of flavor to this simple, fresh food that elevates its already incredible flavor to a real food experience. Pair this with our 2009 Chrysalis Vineyards Viognier and you will be able to end your summer in style.
Hump Astorga, Director of Culinary Operations
Report from the Tasting Room
Perhaps you have noticed that in these monthly newsletters, we have asked various members of our Tasting Room staff to share their thoughts about wine and their work at Chrysalis Vineyards. Since the beginning of 2009, we have included the thoughts and observations of our loyal crew, which we believe enables you to interact at a more personal level with all of us. We hope to continue with these contributions, as it is always special to make a connection with those who pour your wine. Enjoy
Can you see it? Can you smell it? Can you taste it? I'm not just talking about the caramel apples that are springing up everywhere, I'm talking about the harvest season ... FALL! What a joy that first crisp night brings. We get out that favorite sweater that has been staring at us all summer long, but has been too hot to wear. We snuggle with the ones we love and enjoy an evening out on the deck under the stars with a glass of wine. Yes, fall is here.
One of those glasses of wine might be a Norton variety. I'm sure by now you know the story of how Dr. Daniel Norton created the Norton grape ...but who exactly is Dr. Norton? What drove him to his curiosity of grapes?
Daniel Norborne Norton was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, in November 1794. From 1812 to 1815, Norton attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1818 at age 24, he married his first wife, Elizabeth Jaquelin Call. Sadly, Elizabeth Norton died in childbirth along with her baby on December 17, 1821, just three years after their marriage. Dr. Norton was devastated. We know this, from a letter that was found, that he had written to his brother two years after his wife's' death. That letter stated:
"My [more than two-month] journey through the State of New York was pleasing and served in a great measure to dispel the gloom and melancholy that had fastened on me leading little by little to perdition. I had, my dear Brother, looked to the grave with pleasure as a retreat from misery ... No one knew the keen affliction I labored under, the silent sorrow that was gradually undermining the strength of my body and mind. For more than a year I never slept but for a few moments at a time, and then I would dream of Heaven but wake in Hell."
By this time in Norton's life, a passion for viticulture had already been established. To distract himself from his grief, he turned to horticulture, saying in the same letter, "My little farm will amuse me this winter. I shall employ myself much in attempting to improve it, and when you return you shall have grapes that will compare with those of France or Italy."
I definitely see the silver lining in this tragic portion of Norton's life. He followed his other love in life, horticulture. What another tragedy it would have been if Norton just gave up.
So I would like to look at the up-coming season with optimism ... I want to look at it as a new beginning. I look forward to the chilly nights. I can't wait for the cool days to hang out at the vineyard with loved ones and friends. I look forward to tipping my glass and honoring Norton and his dedication, tragedy and triumph. And who knows, maybe you too can find another passion in life like Norton did.
Karen Sullivan, Tasting Room Associate
Report from the Winemaker
As I write this, harvest is just a few days away. This has been a hot summer and the grapes are ripening ten days to two weeks early this year. It is looking to be an excellent vintage here at Chrysalis Vineyards. One of the most exciting things about making wine is that you are doing something that has been done for centuries all over the world. But that doesn't mean there still isn't a lot to be learned every year. I truly enjoy winemaking, but I also love teaching the art and science of winemaking to others. I have many protégés making wine not only in the U.S. but abroad. This year, Chrysalis Vineyards will have two harvest interns helping us. It's a long-standing tradition in the wine industry to bring in interns to help out during the vintage season. (Kerem Baki interned at Chrysalis Vineyards before his family started Hillsborough Winery.) You get eager, enthusiastic people who want to learn how to make wine; people willing to work the long, hard days (and nights) of harvest, so that one day they can be a winemaker. Let's meet our two interns:
Bastien Ballion-Mussi is from the Jurançon region of France. He's young, but a veteran of several vintages in France, Spain and New Zealand. He is thrilled to come to Chrysalis Vineyards to work with Petit Manseng and Tannat - it'll feel just like home! He brings skills not only in the winery, but also in the vineyard. He speaks fluent Spanish, so that's an added bonus.
Samuel Pompei is also from a foreign land - California. But he knows the east coast of the U.S. He is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina with a degree in European history and romance languages (French as a specialty - he and Bastien should have a good time). Sam has just returned to the U.S. after working in a Paris wine bar and a winery in South Africa. He doesn't have the hands-on experience of Bastien, but shows a great love of learning and wine.
So, this should be the best harvest team ever at Chrysalis Vineyards. Owner/vintner Jennifer McCloud, winemaker Alan Kinne and cellar man extraordinaire Brenden McMahon (who wants to intern down under next year), along with two ready to learn, hard-working interns. The results should be fantastic. The grapes arrive next week.
Alan Kinne, Winemaker
Report from the Vineyard
Construction of the milking parlor continues as time allows. It is hard to imagine construction has been underway for nearly a year now. Fortunately, the end is in sight with recent completion of the electrical service and installation of an energy saving
"green" solar thermal system. The solar thermal system uses solar panels to provide domestic hot water, process hot water, and building heat. A large volume of relatively high temperature water (160-180 degrees F) is used on a daily basis during the milking process for cleaning and sanitizing milking equipment. A significant portion of the energy required to heat this
"process water" will be provided at relatively low cost by the sun. Importantly, the sun is also a source of clean energy that emits no carbon or atmospheric pollutants. Naturally, the sun is not always shining, so propane is occasionally employed as a backup to meet the demand for hot water and building heat during these
"sunless" periods. The solar thermal system also provides all the facility's heating needs. The heating system consists of radiant heat tubing embedded in the concrete floor. The radiant heat tubing is connected to the solar thermal system via a heat exchanger. Hot water from the solar panels is transferred to the circulating glycol solution contained and distributed throughout the facility by the radiant heat tubing. In this application, the circulating glycol solution is heated to 100 degrees F and is designed to keep the concrete floors at around 70-75 degrees F. The objective of the radiant floor heating system is to keep the building at a comfortable 50 degrees F on a 10 degree F cold winter day. The cows don't really mind the cold very much, but the individual doing the milking (me) does, particularly when wet, as is generally the case during milking. Naturally, the heating system must keep water lines and other equipment well above freezing temperatures. Importantly, the concrete
"cow decks" where the cows stand during milking and the alleys leading to and from the milking stanchions are also heated in order to prevent ice formation where the cows walk. As mentioned previously, cows don't mind the cold, but they strongly dislike walking on ice covered concrete and they REALLY hate slipping and falling in a confined area like a milking parlor. Next on the construction agenda is to install 1000 feet of underground waterline between the well and the dairy parlor so we have water available. Hopefully, we can complete this item before hurricanes hit or the snow flies.
Perry Griffin, Locksley Estate Manager
Wow, harvest is almost here. I can't believe the year has gone by so fast. (I keep telling myself to stop making these trite, inane comments about how time flies, but I just can't help myself! It's true. Jeeze ... it was just the "big snow" ... wasn't it?)
OK. You VIP Club members should make the effort to visit the crushpad on 9/12. Alan Kinne will be "doin' his thing" with our Virginia fruit for the first time in 12 years. Come learn a bit about making quality wine, taste some of it in the middle of fermentation, and expand and enhance your knowledge and appreciation of fine wine and how it's made. A not-to-miss event!
Changing topics: I'm sure you heard about the contaminated eggs that have been shipped all over the country from those "egg factories" in Iowa. Is that gross, or what? Don't buy them; BUY OUR EGGS. The eggs we sell from the fridge in the tasting room are super-fresh, and packaged up by yours truly from my own free-range chickens (real free-range, right in my backyard, all around my house, chickens). They're healthy, happy ... and outside in the sun all day long, not stuffed into a battery cage. On top of it, their eggs are infinitely better tasting. Just try them ... you won't ever have a grocery-store egg again. (And, they're way better for you. They've got everything going for them!)
Speaking of how our food animals are treated, let me just relay a personal observation. I believe there was a "pact" that man engaged in with his food animals that's been in existence for as long as we've been domesticating critters for food. It goes something like this, "We'll take care of you and your species and grant you respect and a decent life. In exchange, when the time comes, you'll give us your life so that we can survive, too. We keep your species going, you keep us going. Deal?" Well, we've broken that pact, haven't we? We've cut out the " ... grant you respect and a decent life" part. Personally, I'm ashamed of this. And I'm doing something about it. Are you?
And one last bit of more fun news. My friend Todd Kliman, author of The Wild Vine: A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine, will be the main attraction at our VIP Club "Pick-up Party" for the October event on 10/10/10. Todd will talk about Norton, The Real American Grape!®, and I suppose he'll talk a bit about my involvement in restoring this great American gem. Plan on being here to meet/talk with Todd, and buy a signed copy of The Wild Vine. Also, we just might be processing Norton at the crushpad, so you can experience that, as well. (Truth be told, I'm rather uncomfortable promoting the book, as it seems somewhat self-aggrandizing. It contains a good deal about my activities and my personal background, and I don't want to be seen tooting my own horn too loudly. But, the fact is, it really is an extremely well-written book, a real page-turner, and I'm sure you'll find it well worth your time if you have any interest in Norton, and its history ... or me, for that matter! :-)
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Jennifer McCloud Chrysalis Vineyards 23876 Champe Ford Road Middleburg VA 20117 email: McCloud@ChrysalisWine.com telephone: 540-687-8222 website: http://www.ChrysalisWine.com |
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