MAY NEWSLETTER 2024
IN THIS NEWSLETTER...
VIP Wines of the Month
Report from the Tasting Room
Report from the Cellar
Report from the Vineyard
Report from Locksley Farmstead Cheese
Note from Jenni
An unforgettable experience awaits you at Chrysalis Vineyards that combines the best of entertainment, relaxation, and indulgence. This May, gather your loved ones, mark your calendars, and join us at Chrysalis Vineyards for a weekend filled with laughter, music, exquisite wines, and delectable food. Be sure to check out our May Music Lineup and our upcoming events when planning your visit. Let's create lasting memories together!
MAY MUSIC LINEUP:
May 4th - Patty Reese
May 11th - Caleb Nei
May 12th - Joe Martin
May 18th - Melanie Pearl
May 25th - Luke Andrews
May 26th - Ryan Jewel
*Reminder: During our Summer Music Series enjoy music at Chrysalis Vineyards every Saturday (and the occasional Sunday) from 2-5 PM.*
May Events:
May 18th - Arbor Tastings (For Adults 21+ ONLY)
Join us at Chrysalis Vineyards on May 18th for Arbor Tastings! This event will take place beneath our beautiful vine-covered arbor that overlooks the Ag District. We will be hosting 3 sessions (3pm, 4pm, & 5pm) and space is limited. To learn more about the event and to purchase your ticket(s), follow the link to our event page.
Ticket purchase will be made available May 1st through our events page. For questions or help registering, reach to a team member in our tasting room 540-687-8222 ext 0.
May 30th - Book Club: Book Tasting (For Adults 21+ ONLY)
Join us at Chrysalis Vineyards on Thursday, May 30th, from 5 - 6 PM for Book Club! This monthly gathering will occur on the last Thursday of every month and is completely free to attend. We are delighted to have the wonderful team from Loudoun County Library hosting and leading the discussions. Plus, they will provide the books for club members to borrow each month. For our inaugural meeting, there's no need to have read anything beforehand! Instead, join us for a unique "book tasting" experience where we'll explore different book options together and collectively decide on our first read. The LCPL team will bring along a selection of books to help us kick off this literary journey in style.
Interested in attending? Email Jill.Smedley@TheAgDistrict.com.
NOTE TO OUR VIP CLUB MEMBERS
We invite our VIP club members to join us on May 10th for a Derby Day themed pick-up party! For this pick-up party, dress in your derby best and partake in our hat/fascinator or bowties & blazer contests. Members must RSVP no later than May 8th by emailing TR-Manager@ChrysalisWine.com. Please include your name, number attending (up to 2 per membership), and preferred time (5:00 PM or 6:30 PM). When planning your visit, please remember that we close at 8:00 pm.
Not a VIP Club member yet?
Learn more about the benefits below and join the club today!
This month, the white wine selection for our VIP Club members is the 2022 Albariño. Chrysalis Vineyards was the first vineyard/winery in the country to commercially plant Albariño and as one of our flagship white wines, we take pride in our longstanding reputation for producing a high-quality and delicious wine from this varietal. This vintage of our Albariño has aromatics of pineapple, honeydew, and grapefruit with notes of nectarine, citrus fruit, & yellow peaches on the palate.
The red wine selection for our VIP Club members this month is the 2021 Bull Run Mountain Cuvée. Chrysalis Vineyards is located at the base of the Bull Run Mountains and to pay homage to the great lands where our Norton is planted and has grown for the past 25 years we have produced this delightful wine. The Bull Run Mountain Cuvée has aromatics of vanilla, spice, black currant, and black cherry with notes of crème brûlée, cherry, and vanilla on the palate. This is a great wine to pair with BBQ. So as you're gearing up for BBQ season, consider pairing our delicious Bull Run Mountain Cuvée with your feast.
As a reminder to our members, all VIP wine is available for pickup at the Ag District Center tasting room anytime during regular business hours.
NOTE: Please do not reply to this emailed Newsletter. Your email will not be handled in a timely manner or may even be lost.
REPORT FROM THE TASTING ROOM
The tasting room is abuzz with excitement and energy this month as we welcome the arrival of the busy season! As the warmer weather beckons wine enthusiasts and travelers alike, our team is gearing up to showcase our exceptional wines and provide unforgettable experiences to all who visit Chrysalis Vineyards.
As you plan your visit to Chrysalis, we wanted to share a few friendly reminders and updates to enhance your experience.
Tasting Experiences: Take time to sip and savor by partaking in a guided tasting conducted by our sensational tasting room staff (Offered Friday - Sunday). Want a little something more? Upgrade to a guided wine and cheese tasting, which features the addition of cheeses from Locksley Farmstead Cheese Company alongside our fine wines.
New Release Reminders: We have quite a few new things at the tasting room, so it's time to take note! I don't know about you, but I love cheese and am so excited about the recent addition of the Farmstead Cheese Box to our cheesy offerings. The Farmstead Cheese Box features an assortment of Locksley Farmstead Cheeses that are simply to die for. This a great option to share with a friend or to enjoy all to yourself! Now that I'm done being cheesy, let's talk wine! We've recently released a new vintage of the Tximeleta (Available to purchase by the bottle). The 2023 Tximeleta pairs perfectly with the spring weather and will surely be one of your new favorite rosés! And... If you absolutely love rosés and are interested in trying more of what Chrysalis has to offer, check out our 2021 Mariposa!
Events: Our team is working hard to put together events that you'll love so stay up to date on all the happenings at Chrysalis Vineyards with our event calendar!
Cheers to sensational wine and unforgettable moments to be made at Chrysalis Vineyards!
- Lori Tate, Tasting Room Manager
Large Groups – We're ready to make your visit sensational! So, mark your calendars and set the date because it's time to visit us at Chrysalis Vineyards! Remember to reach out to us – TR-Manager@Chrysaliswine.com - when you’re coming to visit with a group larger than 8 ppl.
REPORT FROM THE VINEYARD
Spring sprang and now it has sprung! You can tell our crew has been enjoying the warm weather because you'll see many hoodies, jackets, and vests hanging from the fence posts in the afternoons. The weather has been so nice that our vineyard broke bud on April 9th, now three weeks earlier than 2022 and 2 weeks earlier than 2023.
Before we all begin getting worried about frosts or throwing glares at the weather, allow me to present a new idea. I was recently talking with a viticulturist friend about the early bud break and every year we talk about how it happens earlier each time. I proposed a new theory though, “what if it’s not early but just on time for the 2024 vintage?” In fact, it’s only early in relation to years before it, but if you go back to 2010, the dates are similar.
Plants are very interesting creatures as they have complicated systems for deciding when and how to grow. It was recently discovered that plants use their leaves for shading to cool off and that they use bacteria in a symbiotic relationship to tease various nutrients out of the soil. With that in mind, what if the vines decided that the current climate conditions are ideal for growing and thus broke bud?
We’ve done a lot of work to strengthen our growing environment, cultivate the soil, and fertilize the vines in an effort to bolster their integrity. Even though vines are dormant, they aren’t a light switch set to the off position. Vines function on their stored reserves but their root system is still growing and searching albeit much slower during colder months. When the soil temperature rises, the ambient temperature rises, and the vine begins to activate internal systems to start swelling buds so that it can grow anew.
Bud break is only early when there’s a threat of a cold snap. What if there is no cold snap? Then was it early or on time? Guess we will find out.
- Jake Blodinger, Winemaker
REPORT FROM THE CELLAR
Last month’s VIP pick-up party resonated with many of you. If you weren’t there, we led a blind-tasting session where we briefly discussed the methods and thought processes used to blind taste wines. Many of you discovered that it’s difficult to be handed a glass and asked to determine what’s in it. Imagine being the person making the wine?
I was asked how often Jenni and I blind taste wines and truthfully, it’s rare to be handed a mysterious glass of wine with no explanation and asked to determine what it is. However, Jenni and I do a lot of “blind evaluation” of our wines. This is done every week during our tasting sessions when we are deciding what blend to bottle.
For instance, we just fined and filtered our 2023 Albariño for final evaluation. We had tasted this wine a few times prior to this, but this was the first time we had tasted the wine in a “polished” state. All the excess phenolics and lees have been removed resulting in the most honest expression of a bottled wine. During our session, removing the screw cap from the sample bottle, the wine filled Jenni’s kitchen with tropical aromatics, bright citrus-y notes, and a touch of that beachy air. It was a lovely wine, gone before the session was over!
You could argue that I taste the wines every day, and I had just filtered the wine, I even tasted it during the process ensuring everything was fine, so I’m not “blind tasting”. It’s a winemaker’s responsibility to make sure everything is tasting and smelling great, so I’m just doing my job. When a wine is removed from a cellar and evaluated in any other setting is the first time you can actually get a sense of what a wine is going to be. There are lots of smells in our cellar, ranging from cleaning tanks, stifling steam, or just barrel smells. We have a lovely-smelling barrel room!
My point is, evaluating a wine in the cellar versus anywhere else is quite distinct, it’s why we do it in Jenni’s kitchen. Jenni always says, “It’s where most people open a bottle of wine and blindly taste for the first time.” It’s a real-life setting for our wine that is beyond the tasting room and where we hope you take our wine, home.
Jake Blodinger, Winemaker
REPORT FROM LOCKSLEY FARMSTEAD CHEESE COMPANY
Here at Locksley Farmstead Cheese Company, we talk a lot about how important the “Farmstead” part of our name is and what it actually means. It’s sometimes thought to be another word for “artisan”, which actually means handmade and small batch. For people who aren’t familiar with the term it might simply identify cheese that’s made on a farm rather than in a more commercial facility or it might provoke descriptors like handmade, fresh, or local. While all of those things are true of farmstead cheeses, the real meaning of “farmstead” goes much deeper and is really at the heart of what The Ag District is all about … high-quality, local food and wine products created with emphasis placed on good stewardship of our land and waters.
True farmstead cheese is produced from milk that comes from cows on the same farm. That’s important to us because it means that we have complete control over the quality of our product from start to finish. We care for our land because the health of our dairy herd depends on the health of our pastures. We care for our cows because healthy, happy cows produce high-quality milk. Our milk production goals are focused on quality rather than quantity and that’s reflected in the rich, delicious cheeses that come from that high-butterfat milk that our happy cows give us. The picture on the left above shows that creamy, golden color of the milk that we get from our pastured cows and if you look closely you can see a rich layer of cream that has separated and floated to the top. While the milk on the right is delicious to drink (it's actually from a co-op of Virginia and Maryland dairies), it's not produced with the final goal of creating delicious, farmstead cheese.
While other small cheese producers in our area may produce delicious artisan cheeses, and some may also be farmstead producers, most of the farmstead producers are making goat cheeses. We produce artisan farmstead cow’s-milk cheeses. That’s a rare combination and we make it available to you right here at The Ag District!
- Teri Scott, General Manager
I have some sad new to relay… Alan Kinne, my friend who guided me in the formation of Chrysalis Vineyards passed away on April 14th.
Many of you have heard me talk about my trips to Spain and Portugal in the mid ‘90s, where I was introduced to the fantastic Albariño grape. It was Alan Kinne I traveled with and whose lead I followed. I think it’s important to spread the word about Alan’s contribution to American viticulture and viniculture. It’s not insubstantial and the facts should be in the historical record.
On Monday, April 15th I received an inquiry from a journalist asking for some details about Alan’s passing. He wrote:
“… My condolences -- I know he was instrumental in helping you launch Chrysalis.”
Here was my response:
Indeed, I’m in Virginia growing Norton, Albariño, Viognier, Petit Manseng, and Fer Servadou mostly because of Alan Kinne. His guidance and insights were instrumental; the foundation of Chrysalis Vineyards wines rests with Alan Kinne.
E.g.,
• Albariño - Alan and I went to Spain in 1996 where I was introduced to this great variety, and wound up having the first Albariño vines planted in America in 1997 (at Ingleside Vineyards, since I didn’t have land yet).
• Petit Manseng – Tony Wolf, VA Tech Viticulturist, had experimented with this variety at the VT Winchester Experimental Vineyard and was pulling it out to plant another variety. Alan suggested it would make a top-flight sticky for Virginia. Done (grafted 1997/planted 1998)… I had never heard of the variety, and years later I wound up doing the petition to the BATF to get it on the List of Prime Names for American Wines so we could call it Petit Manseng. No one, probably, would be growing it throughout the mid-Atlantic now, if not for Alan. He also suggested that Dennis Horton plant it, which he did.
• Fer Servadou – Bruce Zoecklein told us that this was one of the better red wines they had made at Virginia Tech from Tony’s fruit at Winchester. Alan suggested we save that vine, too, which we did in 1997 and planted in ‘98..
• Verdejo – I grafted those cuttings and we also planted them at Ingleside Vineyards in 1997. I later grafted a larger quantity and they were sold to and planted at Keswick Vineyards, which they continue to produce to this day. I believe these are the first Verdejo plantings in Virginia, as well, if not the U.S.
• Graciano – Ditto, but we planted them at Ingleside and then here at Locksley Estate in 1998 (along with Tempranillo from Pesquera and Viña Pedrosa cuttings).
… And, not the least of recognitions should go to Alan Kinne for teaching America how to make a great Viognier! The 1993 Horton Viognier was stellar, made by Alan, and was one of the varieties that lured me to Virginia (the other was Norton). As a consequence, Alan’s and my Aroma, Flavor and Texture circle chart is now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Museum of American History, where it was displayed for years at the Food Pavilion where Julia Childs Kitchen is. And, as you know, Chrysalis Vineyards has become widely known for producing world-class Viogniers. I owe that to Alan Kinne!
And then there’s Norton, America’s contribution to the world’s fine red wines. The 1992 Horton Norton was earth-shattering to me, and I was one who collected Classified Growth and First Growth Bordeauxs (I know what a good red wine is!) To this day, I’m as excited as ever to be growing Norton, Virginia’s native gem and making outstanding wines from this historical and significant variety.
Anyway, after the family has had their own time to privately grieve, I hope that we are all publicly reminded of Alan’s accomplishments and contributions, because Alan himself was humble and never tooted his own horn enough, IMHO.
Alan was my friend, mentor, educator and collaborator. I will miss him. May God rest his soul after his years of dreadful illness.
(I selected a photo of my garden's purple irises, as it symbolizes wisdom and respect, certainly appropriate for this message.)
Take Care,
Jennifer McCloud
Chrysalis Vineyards at The Ag District
39025 Little River Turnpike (Tasting Room/Creamery/Kitchen)
23876 Champe Ford Road (Winery/Milking Center/Offices)
Middleburg, VA 20117
McCloud@ChrysalisWine.com
Office: 540-687-8222
www.ChrysalisWine.com
Facebook.com/ChrysalisVineyards