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NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 2019 |
IN THIS NEWSLETTER... VIP Pickup Party... at the ADC Report from the Tasting Room Note from Jenni |
VIP PICKUP PARTY
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Creative Mankind Painting and WineSaturday, November 23rd
So... come on out, grab a glass of wine, and spend a fun afternoon laughing and creating your own masterpiece, all while sipping your favorite Chrysalis Vineyards wine! This 3 hour event is just $40 and includes all art supplies, an awesome staff, and a whole lot of fun (wine and food must be purchased separately). No experience is necessary. For additional information please contact Creative Mankind at 571-403-1912.
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REPORT FROM THE TASTING ROOMThe stars aligned this month, because it let us switch to new vintages of several of our wines at once! The 2017 Rubiana, 2017 Schitz and Giggels, 2016 Norton Estate Bottled, and 2017 Norton Locksley Reserve are all available for purchase in the tasting room or on our website. Whereas the 2016 Rubiana was a blend of Fer Servadou, Graciano, and Tinta Cão, the new vintage is 100% Fer Servadou grapes—fans of our Tximeleta rosé will most certainly enjoy this heavier Fer Servadou wine. The 2017 Schitz and Giggels remains 100% Norton grapes, which is as fruity and drinkable as ever. The 2016 Norton Estate Bottled has had a bit of a change in its makeup. This time, Norton is joined by Nebbiolo, Tannat, and Fer Servadou, but the Estate Bottled still keeps its trademark spiciness and serves as a great counterpoint to Schitz and Giggels. Finally, the 2017 Norton Locksley Reserve retains its award-winning components of Norton, Petit Verdot, and Tannat—why mess with perfection? Try all of our new vintages in your next tasting or flight! And remember.... if you are a VIP club member those tastings and flights are FREE, one of the best perks of our membership! Cheers! Laurie Stevens, Tasting Room Manager |
REPORT FROM THE CELLAR
In short, carbonic maceration is the fermentation of grapes in an anaerobic environment. We start this process by pouring whole clusters of grapes into the tops of our stainless steel tanks. Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to use machinery for this process, so our winery and vineyard crew all pitch in and pour the grapes into the tanks, 25 pounds at a time. Just for perspective, our largest tanks will have about 16,000 pounds of Norton in them when we are done (that's about 640 lugs to dump into each tank!). The tanks are then filled with carbon dioxide to remove all oxygen present, thus creating an anaerobic environment. In this type of environment, yeast have a hard time performing fermentation. The lack of oxygen forces natural enzymes, which are present on the grapes, to start fermentation inside the grape. This means that each grape undergoes its own, individual, fermentation. After about a month, the grapes will be removed from the tank, de-stemmed, and placed into bins for primary fermentation. So, why go through all of this extra work? Well, carbonic maceration is crucial for our Norton production because the enzymes assist in breaking down malic acid, which reduces the overall acidity of our final product. In doing so, this technique creates a very rich and balanced “mouth feel”, and elicits fruit flavors that make the wine “pop”. Also, Norton’s natural aromas will be enhanced, with a particularly fresh and lively appeal.. Jake Blodinger, Assistant Winemaker |
REPORT FROM THE VINEYARD
This is concerning to us because the wildlife, which are foraging for winter food stores, will begin to take advantage of the vulnerable and exposed grapes. Birds, deer, and the occasional bear can clear out whole blocks of Norton in a matter of days. Luckily, Freddy has already taken steps to mitigate the damage. The vineyard crew places temporary netting around the blocks to help deter deer and bears from entering them, and to deter birds, we put out speakers that emit a noise that sounds like a bird in distress. Our vineyard crew has worked extremely hard this season to ensure the best possible fruit is brought to the winery. We can’t thank them enough for their hard work, and the care that they have put into the vineyard this growing season. We are truly lucky to have such a stellar vineyard crew! Jake Blodinger, Assistant Winemaker |
REPORT FROM THE LITTLE RIVER BAKEHOUSE
The VIP pick up party is coming up on the 8th, so be sure to come out for tastings of both wine and food and our new Merry Men Pizza, which will make its debut that weekend. It will include our new cheese, Merry Men Manchego, offered by the fine folks over at Locksley Farmstead Cheese. Manchego is one of my personal favorite cheeses, so I couldn't resist throwing it on a pizza steeped in Spanish influence, with a house made harissa sauce, castelvetrano olives and grilled chicken topped with our new delicious manchego. Be sure to make it out that weekend to be one of the first to try it! Keaton Beus, Little River Bakehouse Manager |
REPORT FROM LOCKSLEY FARMSTEAD CHEESE COMPANY
Erin Saacke, Assistant Cheesemaker |
Note from Jenni |
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Reviewing the newsletter this month was fun! What great images of our food and wine; our new Manchego cheese (Manchego style, really, since it’s from cows’ milk, not sheep… but boy, is it good!), that incredible new pizza Keaton’s done up (another “hit”). And… the photo I picked for this Note… the last clusters of Norton hanging on the vine. What an incredible native “gem” Norton is. I remember many years ago, Dr. Richard Smart was lecturing us at Dennis Horton’s place in Orange. (Richard Smart is an Australian viticulturist and renowned consultant on viticulture methods. He co-created the Smart-Dyson trellising scheme, named after him and his American associate, John Dyson.) We had lunch (yes, with a bit of wine :-) and perhaps Dr. Smart’s social inhibitions had relaxed a little bit, because he proceeded to chastise us Virginia growers something fierce! “What the hell is wrong with you people? Why aren’t you growing more Norton? Hell, we’d give our eyes teeth to have a native grape like Norton!” Of course, my head was bobbing up and down the whole time, and he must have thought I had some strange vertical palsy in my noggin! But I always thought he was right, of course, and I’m as excited now about growing and making Norton wines as I was in 1997. At that time there was just one varietally labeled Norton wine available for purchase, and Chrysalis Vineyards would soon become the second. Now there are nearly 40… maybe more, as I haven’t checked in a while! Norton, The Real American Grape!®... what a plant! Take care, and have a Happy Thanksgiving. ![]() Jennifer McCloud
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