APRIL 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
Spring is finally here, and we could not be more excited! While we enjoy the peace and calm that comes with the winter season, we are ready to rev things up again. You may notice a few of us getting jazzed up about spring in our reports and it truly is a genuine excitement for the return of busy season. Spring always brings both new and old friends to the tasting room, so please mark your calendars to come and see us soon!
Be sure to take note of the new tastings we are offering, musicians playing at the vineyard, and upcoming events.
APRIL MUSIC LINEUP:
April 6th - Joe Martin
April 20th - Andrew Renner
April Events:
April 20th - Arbor Tastings
Join us at Chrysalis Vineyards on April 20th 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.
Register for the Arbor Tasting
NOTE TO OUR VIP CLUB MEMBERS
We invite our VIP club members to join us on April 12th for a Blind Tasting Challenge pick-up party! During this event, use your investigative wine skills to identify the mystery Chrysalis Vineyards' wine. Members must RSVP no later than April 10th 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 Tximeleta. The Tximeleta has aromatics of citrus, strawberries, and cranberries with notes of grapefruit, lemon and lime zest, and raspberries on the palate. Composed of Fer Servadou that was specifically grown for rosé production, this is the perfect wine to enjoy in the warm spring weather.
In celebration of our gold medal win at the Virginia Governor's Cup and to thank you for your continued membership, we have applied a special one-time, additional club discount to the 2021 Locksley Reserve Norton so that you can enjoy this award-winning wine as part of this month's VIP bundle. The Locksley Reserve is a blend 80% Norton, 5% Petit Verdot, and 15% Tannat with aromatics of dried cherries, tobacco, and herbs and notes of black currant, spices, and black pepper on the palate.
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
SPRING HAS SPRUNG!
The season certainly brings a vibrant transformation to our outdoor spaces with budding trees, blossoming flowers, and lush green fields. The gentle warmth of the sun and the refreshing breezes create a perfect atmosphere for guests to enjoy the beauty of the Agricultural District. EVERYTHING IS COMING TO LIFE!
It seems as though it has been a lifetime since we saw you last! So, we invite you to visit Chrysalis Vineyards to take in the beauty of spring at the Ag District. During your visit, partake in our newly debuted guided tasting menu. After your tasting, don't run off, treat yourselves to a delicious pizza, panini, or salad from the Little River Bakehouse and pair it with our Spring Rose’ – 2021 Mariposa.
We are 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.
- Lori Tate, Tasting Room Manager
Employment opportunities – Do you know of a teenager or college student looking for a job? Have them reach out to TR-Manager@Chrysaliswine.com because we would love to chat with them about opportunities at Chrysalis Vineyards!
REPORT FROM THE VINEYARD
If you are keeping up with us on social media, you may have noticed that we’ve recently started sharing our “wine truths”. These wine truths are focused on clearing up misconceptions about wine while allowing us to prepare you for the next wine trivia night. (Hint! Hint!) I’ve enjoyed reading these. My favorite one recently was about the misconception that Norton is bulletproof in the vineyard and I thought I would elaborate on this a bit more.
Norton is a "bulletproof" grape in the vineyard in regards to its high resistance to standard disease pressure in the vineyard. The problem lies in the mindset associated with it being bullet proof. It's a still a plant and should be cared for. Many times, I see Norton in other vineyards over grown, pale green leaves, and a sporadic fruit shelf. Growers will excuse this neglect because it's bulletproof and they have high yields. What they are often overlooking is that plants only produce fruit in an effort to carry on their lineage. The more a vine struggles the more it feels the need to reproduce or create fruit, resulting in elevated yields.
Many winemakers forget that higher yields rarely ever result in higher quality. I regularly hear, "I got 5 tons per acre of Norton this year but the fruit wasn’t very good." Well, it's not bulletproof to neglect, just highly resistant to diseases. We've found that Norton needs a higher amount of nutrients and care. That vigor has to come from somewhere after all.
Norton being a native means it was first cultivated in Virginia for the purpose of making wine in Virginia. Essentially, it's perfect for the climate, soils, and disease pressures found in Virginia, which is where the bulletproof characteristic comes from. Nowhere in any text does it say, "Norton is bulletproof from disease, feel free to neglect it.”
Others would say we treat our Norton like a premium variety because it gets the same quality of care as others treat their vinifera. Truth is, we treat Norton like a premium variety because it is.
- Jake Blodinger, Winemaker
REPORT FROM THE CELLAR
The 2021 Locksley Reserve Norton has been a hot topic as of late. Last month, I wrote about our flagship red earning a gold medal in the Virginia’s Governor’s Cup. More specifically, I focused on the blend. During the last pick-up party, we kicked off the event with a tasting of this delicious wine and it was then that I unveiled the secret behind the 80% Norton. The Norton in the wine is actually a blend of 3 very different styles of Norton.
Well, while putting together a potential blend for the 2022 Locksley Reserve Norton with Jenni, I had a funny thought. What if I squeezed in 5 different lots of Norton? As I’ve said many times in the past, our vision for our Locksley Reserve Norton is to one day have the blend be a 100% Norton. It’s the impossible dream, Norton lacks the necessary tannin and structure, hence the vinifera in the blend. You reach for the stars and land on the moon, right?
During this particular tasting with Jenni, I blended Block 8-1, Block 8-2, Whole Berry, Carbonic, and a splash of de-stemmed and crushed Norton to form the base. The base alone was terrific, fruity, dark red fruit, lingering finish. To finish the blend, I added some Tannat and a bit of Petit Verdot for structure. When tasting the wine with Jenni we were both amazed at how elevated this potential Locksley Reserve came across. This wine was complex, heavy, and the finish was forever.
Now Jenni and I have been through 10 renditions of this wine in just this year and most recently had begun to settle on another simpler blend. After tasting this wine though, we scrapped the previous blend and here we are again starting over with this new blend. I believe this wine reinforced the concept of making individual components from various styles instead of limiting ourselves by just varietals.
Utilizing different winemaking techniques allows us to create different components showcasing various flavors and aromas. It’s allowed us to take a single variety and create a range of wines, each different from the next. After a decade of winemaking, I can’t think of another variety as flexible as Norton.
Jake Blodinger, Winemaker
REPORT FROM LOCKSLEY FARMSTEAD CHEESE COMPANY
Hello from Locksley Farmstead Cheese! We’re all excited about the longer days, warmer temperatures, and blooming flowers that let us know that the farm is waking up from its long winter nap. We’ve had three new calves born already this month with more to come and all of our pastures our beginning to turn from brown to bright green! That translates to a couple of changes in our cheese production. First, our milk volumes will be increasing so we’ll be busy turning it into delicious farmstead cheese. Second, those big vats of milk will be changing color! The fresh spring grass is full of beta-carotene that causes the milk to change from winter white to creamy golden hues. While there are some seasonal flavor changes in our artisan cheeses, the changes in milk color don’t affect the quality of the cheese. The change in color does carry through from milk to cheese and batches produced in the winter are much whiter than batches produced in spring and summer.
We’ve started a new program in the Ag District tasting room to show off our cheeses! Our wine tastings can now be upgraded to wine and cheese tastings. Our guests can now enjoy a paired tasting of five Chrysalis Vineyards wines paired with five Locksley Farmstead cheeses. This has been a very popular addition to our local agricultural experience. Where else can you taste wine and cheese that was all produced on the same land? It’s something that we're all very proud of and another step in Jenni’s vision of maintaining the agricultural heritage of Loudoun County. So, next time you stop by make sure you try out our new paired tasting and support local agriculture!
- Teri Scott, General Manager
We’re all excited to see spring happening here in the countryside. The vines are ready to break bud, the cows are giving birth to this spring’s new calves, and the tasting room is excited to offer up new music and events for your outdoor enjoyment this April.
I’m also very excited to offer our VIP Club members this April’s selections… two wines that I very much enjoy myself on a regular basis (good thing I love our wines, too, huh?!). It’s worth repeating, I think, for those who maybe didn’t get a chance to read our March newsletter, that our 2021 Locksley Reserve Norton received the first ever Gold Medal for a Norton wine in the 2024 Virginia Governor’s Cup Wine Competition. And as mentioned under our NOTE TO OUR VIP CLUB MEMBERS, we very happy to offer this Gold Medal wine at a discount for our VIP Club members. You guys deserve it, and we look forward to your thoughts and considerations about this vintage of our Flagship Wine.
Spring is a beautiful and joyous time in the countryside. Please come and let us share it with you.
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