Announcement to our VIP Members

The Monthly VIP Club Wine Pick-up Event

TRUMMER’S ON MAIN is back once more by popular demand at Chrysalis Vineyards

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 and enjoy the beauty of the countryside.

For this month’s event Alan will be pouring samples of the 2011 Albariño and 2011 Nebbiolo.

Back by popular demand, Trummer’s on Main will once again, offer our members mouth-watering creations to complement our August wine selections. The owner, Victoria Trummer, will be on hand to introduce herself and to share with us information about her amazing restaurant . (see This Month’s Guest Visitor below.)

The event will take place on Sunday, August 19 and will offer exquisite food samples, created by Trummer’s Chef Cory Lambert, under the cover of Jenni’s Pavilion. You may also wish to bring your own picnic basket of goodies and purchase a bottle of your favorite Chrysalis Vineyards wine to enjoy while listening to the vibrant sounds of live music from Practically Einstein.

One of my goals as manager is to help you evolve your appreciation of wine and to enjoy memorable events for you, your family and friends here at Chrysalis Vineyards. With this in mind, we have moved the pick-up parties to Sundays from 6:30 – 8:30 pm to accommodate members and to share with you guest speakers from top restaurants in Northern Virginia.

Join us on the lawn outside the tasting room on Sunday, August 19 from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. We’re closing the food-sampling portion of the event to the first 200 VIP Club members who respond to this invitation – I’m afraid there will be no exceptions! Please let us know by Tuesday, August 14th if you wish attend. Please call Tammy Cavanaugh at 540-687-8222, ext. 206 or or email TCavanaugh@ChrysalisWine.com. RSVP now because these events always fill up quickly.

**** Please do not hit "Reply" to this newsletter ****
**** Call Tammy or email her using the link above for reservations only ****

Upcoming Events

VIP Club Appreciation Dinner

6:30 - 9:00 P.M. Friday, September 14, 2012

For those VIP Club members who have been with us for a while (received at least the last three months VIP Club wine selections), we’ll all enjoy delectible hors d’oeuvres under the stars with wine pairings, live music, dancing and a friendly atmosphere. RSVP required by August 31. (PS, if you’re new to our VIP Club, you’re welcome to catch up with the required three month’s shipments.)

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.

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 EXPRESSLY 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.

New VIP Club benefits at Chrysalis Vineyards

On behalf of Chrysalis Vineyards we would like to thank you for being loyal and dedicated fans and ambassadors in the community for Chrysalis Vineyards. Since 2001, our VIP Club has grown predominately by word of mouth. Thanks to you!

Chrysalis Vineyards is dedicated to providing its members with great wines and even greater benefits to show our appreciation and support for you, our patrons. Our owner, Jenni McCloud, is greatly appreciative and would like to offer our members two exciting new perks:

Wine Appreciation Classes

Chrysalis Vineyards will now be offering monthly wine appreciation classes for our customers and friends. The classes are designed to help you decipher the wonderful world of wine. You will have the opportunity to learn about grape and wine varietals, wine pairings and wine appreciation tools. We will hold these classes the first Monday night of each month (6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) in the winery. The first class will be held September 3. Please call Tammy Cavanaugh at 540-687-8222, ext 206 to sign up. Seating is limited, so don’t wait! $30.00 tuition per person - FREE for VIP Club members.

Class topics:

September 3 – Wine Appreciation 101
Wine Tasting 101 (learn the basics of tasting wine, such as eyeballing, swirling and swishing, color, clarity, aroma, serving temperatures and food pairings)

October 1 – Why You Taste….What you Taste!
Why does my wine taste like apricots, grapefruit, and almonds….or chalk, even? Gain insight into how the distinct aromas, flavors, and textures develop in wine. Demystify how they get all those flavors and scents from one little grape!

November 5 – Port & Chocolate
Experience the amazing interplay of some of the world’s most luxurious taste sensations: chocolate and port. Learn how Chrysalis Vineyards’ port-styled wines are made. Best of all, sample chocolate and Borboleta, our new Norton “port”.

December 3 – How to order wine in a restaurant?
Confused by restaurant wine lists? Intimidated by wine language, wine terminology and wine regions? Want to try a new wine but don't want to waste your money? You can begin to judge a wine by how it is listed on a wine menu. Learn how to order wine in a restaurant in this class.

Happy Birthday from all of us at Chrysalis Vineyards

Your birthday coming up soon? Come celebrate at Chrysalis Vineyards. For each VIP Club membership we’ll provide the birthday boy/girl with six free Reserve Tastings, and end off the festivities with a delicious birthday cake. Happy Birthday from all of us at Chrysalis Vineyards! Please call Tammy Cavanaugh at 540-687-8222, ext 206 a month before your visit to make reservations so we have time to have a cake ready for your visit.

This Month’s Guest Visitor - Victoria Trummer

Clifton, Virginia native Victoria Trummer is coming home. Born and raised in this historic area, Trummer views her return as bitter sweet. “After living in one of the best cities in the world, New York City, I cultivated a new appreciation for a small town like Clifton, rich in American tradition. Although the town is very different from the city I love, Clifton’s charm, history and small-town generosity have completely won me over.” This fondness is in reference to the past eight years of living in the Big Apple. Now, Trummer returns to her hometown with a keen sense of business and restaurant expertise alongside her husband, Stefan, to open Trummers on Main.

Trummer and her husband bring to the table eight years of extensive experience in the bustling restaurant milieu of New York City. Having left Clifton for New York to attend Marymount Manhattan College in 2001, Trummer fell in love with an unsurpassed energy. It was during this time that her own piece of history began to unfold when she took her first position in a New York restaurant. Over the course of two years, Trummer worked as Captain at famed Citarella the Restaurant. She followed this with the hospitable positions of Maître d’ and Manager at renowned, award-winning Chef Rick Moonen’s Restaurant RM, elevating her exposure to fine dining at this three-star mecca.

She continued her education at Baruch College School of Business where she received her MBA in marketing.

Progressing within the restaurant industry, Trummer then assumed the position as Manager and Director of Special Events at Compass Restaurant. This proved to be her most challenging, yet most gratifying experience. Trummer was not only in charge of service training and development, but also assisted in the renovation of the private dining space in an effort to attract a broader audience. A great sense of fulfillment came from a re-review by The New York Times Bruni. Trummer was a leading member of the team whose dedication and skill elevated Compass from a one-star to the current two-star rating, truly an extraordinary achievement.

Report from the Tasting Room

Chrysalis Vineyards is pleased to announce a new face in the tasting room, Ruben Roa.

He hails originally from Venezuela, and has lived stateside in Virginia since the age four. Therefore, he considers himself American as Apple Pie, but still genetically tropical. Mr. Roa studied psychology, where he learned all about different personality types, traits and characteristics that make us all complex and always interesting individuals. He is a people-person who enjoys meeting new people and seeing new faces. Ruben looks forward to learning about Chrysalis Vineyard and the business so he can better facilitate questions and wine tasting needs of each and every customer visiting Chrysalis. Next time you visit Chrysalis Vineyards, make a point of saying hi to Ruben.

Guest Band for August

Cheap Sunglasses is a classic rock band based in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. We like to rock hard and have a good time doing it, and if we can make the crowd yell or sing along with us on great old classic rock tunes, then that's all the better! Come and see Cheap Sunglasses at Chrysalis on August 11th from 1 – 5 p.m.

Tammy Cavanaugh
Tasting Room & Direct Sales Manager

Report from the Winemaker

This month’s winery article is by Alanna Kinne, the daughter of our winemaker Alan Kinne:

People ask me, fairly often I'd say, what it's like to have Alan Kinne as a father.

“Oh your dad is the winemaker! It must be so fantastic to have him as a father. He is just so talented.” And as a kid growing up I never really thought of him as a celebrity of sorts, I thought of him as just my dad. He made sure dinner was on the table every night, even after he worked all day. He left his wine splattered work boots at the front door and put on his dad slippers, picking up his second shift right as he came inside the house. First we'd do homework. The kitchen table was designated the homework spot, so that while we worked on pre-calc or economics, he could stir spaghetti sauce. Every night we had our routine of homework, dinner, and a few episodes of Doctor Who or the X-Files before bed. That was during the normal part of the year. Harvest was different.

I remember the first harvest I “worked”. Now I put “worked” in quotes because, honestly, I was maybe 5 or 6 years old in a sundress with giant bow in my hair (and much to my chagrin I am sure that somewhere there is photographic evidence of this happening) stomping grapes. I remember how they made my feet feel cold and slimy, the same way it felt to put my feet in the creek behind our house in the winter, when moss covered stones went between my toes. I remembered thinking that Dad's job was fun, I mean how could it not be. He got to stomp around for work.

Fast forward to the high school years. Harvest meant Dad was at work late and that after school I came to the winery. We yelled statistics problems back and forth to each other among the press noises trying to get my AP homework done. There were nights where I sprawled out across three chairs with Dad's jacket, in a half sleep, waiting until they were done for the day.

The first thing my father will tell you about wine making is that it is a craft that is equal parts art and passion. When I go to Pick Up events and see people talking to my father, it shows how intrinsic the craft is to him. My father is not a painter or a sculptor. Don't ask him to draw you a picture (trust me it's nothing fridge door worthy). His palate comes from a swath of reds and whites, and with these he creates moments. This to me is the true art of winemaking. Wine isn't about the bottle or the label or the grapes in it. Wine is about the experience you have with it, the moments created by it. My father creates moments for people, creates experiences you remember because he gives you a piece of himself with that bottle. People ask me how it is to have a winemaker as a father, and I'll tell them every time that as a person, as a winemaker, and as a father, he makes me proud to be his daughter.

I'm going into my senior year of college, something both of us are getting adjusted to still. Living over two thousand miles away from my dad has been difficult. He hasn't helped me with my homework in three years. He doesn't make dinner every night anymore, I do. And I had been wondering what to do when I graduate. I thought about my passions, my love for both literature and writing. I thought of the stories that needed to be written, and instantly I thought of my father and how his art is something to be preserved and documented. After college I plan on coming home and working a few harvests with him. I want to write about my father and about others too. I want to write about those who work in this industry (of both food and wine) and about those who live to create moments and experiences for people. So next year, I'm trading in my Converse for work boots. And maybe if I'm lucky I'll become an artist too.

Report from the Vineyard

For everyone interested in the Experimental Vineyards here is an email correspondence between Peter Barker and Cliff Ambers. Peter stopped by the vineyard and took photos in late July. At the end, we’ve attached the link to see Peter’s photos.

Peter Barker: Hi Cliff and Alan:

Sun appeared Sunday afternoon so I drove down to Chrysalis to look in on the Experimentals. According to the usual tables, veraison is coming up. Most sites are reporting bud break and flowering ~ 2 weeks early this season.

Notes:
-some vines have notably "petite" berries and clusters
-some have "spiny" shoots
-too early to see color development, but one cluster (only) showed grapes developing color; one vine shows pale grapes

Cliff Ambers: Thanks for the update! Some of the clusters look very nice. The spiny stems come from the labrusca in their pedigrees. Wild labrusca has positively fuzzy stems with all the stiff hairs on the canes. The flavors of the hybrids will range from distinctly Welchy to more like Norton. I doubt many will have near the color of Norton, though.

Peter: Your clusters are indeed impressive. Fascinating, the variability in berry number, size and cluster morphology. Presumably, there will be much heterogeneity of fruit chemistry as well in your crosses. I do not yet have a good sense of how much variability is "normal" for a given cultivar and how much is genetic and outside the range of what is usual for specific cultivars/clones.

Cliff: As far as I am concerned, I'd be thrilled to see any vine-by-vine harvest data you can produce. I expect that main harvest of the experimental vines will fall in mid-late September, but some may be a few weeks earlier and some may run into October. I expect if the whole lot were harvested around October 1st it could be used for a batch of fairly bizarre wine (requiring malic eating yeast and bacteria). The selection process depends on someone getting out there to taste (at least) the fruit and see which vines are producing significant amounts of fruit. As much as anything, the productivity is a key trait.

On the cluster shape, note how some are like cylinders and others are like long tapering cones. I see this over-and-over here. Also note the oblate berries (flattened across their axis) which is also common. Taste for tannin when you do. Vines with really tannic fruit will be important for building that into new grapes. By crossing these with some extremely dark but low tannin cinerea hybrids I have, we should be able to produce some really startling grapes (in terms of flavor, color and disease/pest resistance).

Link is: http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll247/drrivah1/CPAmbers July 22 Chrysalis/

Wow, what a jam-packed newsletter, huh? New treats for our VIP Club members (you guys deserve it), music for August, Victoria Trummer sharing her wonderful cuisine at our VIP Club “Pick-up Party”, Annual VIP Club Appreciation Party comin’ up, and new folks in the tasting room. Whoosh!

And… a quick update on the new building site. All the site work is complete, and we’re diligently working to finish the building drawings to send out for general contracting bids. The road is in, the parking lot is done, and the “front lawn” is sculpted. In a month or so, we’ll dig the basement and trench for the underground portions of our new facility (including our 96 foot wine and cheese cave, and pour the footings. Next stop, construction of the building itself. Stay tuned.

Thanks again, everyone, for your friendship and support. We know you have a lot of choices on how you spend your leisure time, and we greatly appreciate your choosing Chrysalis Vineyards.

Take care… hope to see you in the vineyards.

Jennifer McCloud Chrysalis Vineyards 23876 Champe Ford Road Middleburg VA 20117 email: McCloud@ChrysalisWine.com telephone: 540-687-8222 website: http://www.ChrysalisWine.com