IN THIS NEWSLETTER...
VIP Pickup Party... at the ADC
Creative Mankind Painting and Wine
Report from the Tasting Room
Report from the Cellar
Report from the Vineyard
Report from the Farm
Note from Jenni
VIP PICKUP PARTY…
at the AG DISTRICT CENTER
Saturday, May 12th
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
at The Ag District
(RSVP REQUIRED)
May is traditionally one of our busiest months in the tasting room. Warmer weather, fresh spring air, and longer days make everyone want to spend some leisure time at the Ag District. If recent weekends are any indication, this May could be our busiest ever! Chef Sarah is filling the Ag District with the aromas of freshly baked bread and other goodies so, be sure to check out all of her new food offerrings available to accompany your wine selections! Oh yeah.... remember to check out the creamery while you are visiting - we have some test batches of Gouda in the aging cell and soon we will be producing our first cheeses available for retail sale!
We will have live music every weekend in May, Saturdays May 5th, 19th and 26th and on Mother's Day Sunday (May 13th for those who need a reminder!). Speaking for all the moms in the tasting room - there's no better way to show your appreciation than an afternoon at the Ag District relaxing to the sounds of Lenny Burridge while sipping a cool glass of Mariposa!
Our VIP Pickup Party this month will be held on May 12th from 7:00 pm until 9:00 pm (Please note the new time!). This event is FREE for our members (2 attendees per membership), but does REQUIRE advance RSVP no later than May 9th. To RSVP please send an email to VIP-Club@ChrysalisWine.com. Verbal RSVP’s and voice mail responses cannot be guaranteed confirmation.
Our spring and summer hours began on April 1st and we are now open 10am - 6pm Monday through Thursday and 10am - 7pm Friday through Sunday. Please remember… as always, our last tasting will start an hour before closing. Last call for purchases of open bottles or glasses will be 30 minutes before closing!
The red wine selection for our VIP Club members this month is Chrysalis Vineyards 2014 Tannat. The 2014 vintage is a blend of 86% Tannat and 24% Fer Servadou that has been fermented in stainless steel and barrel aged for 26 months. The first impression is one of stewed red and black fruits, plums and blackberries in particular, leading to a soupçon of Christmas spices, cigar and dark coffee. Imbibing delivers all of this plus a very noticeable touch of cranberry. The big structured tannins and moderate acidity portend a long life in the bottle. The tannins in this wine call out for fat. Try pairing it with a grilled pork belly in a cranberry reduction.
Our white wine selection for May is Chrysalis Vineyards 2017 Mariposa. Mariposa is a rosé-style blend of Tannat, Petit Verdot, Nebbiolo, and Norton that is fermented cold to retain as much of the aromatics as possible. The nose is redolent in fresh, ripe strawberry, watermelon, dark cherry and maybe a touch of sage. An initial surge of sweet strawberry and dark cherry is quickly tempered by the refreshing acidity that follows. Mariposa is a food-friendly wine that goes as well with lobster paella as it does with cherry cheesecake.
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. If you can’t make it out to pick up your wines on a monthly basis, we will hold them for you. Due to storage limitations, however, we do ask that you pick them up once you accumulate a case (6 months). We can also arrange for wine to be shipped to most locations, at your request.
Also, please remember that you can always find your paired recipes and detailed tasting notes at www.ChrysalisWine.com in the Private VIP Club Area. Pairings and tasting notes are available for wines dating all the way back to 2007 (especially useful for any of those with older, aged vintages). Also check in with us or follow us on Facebook for updates and announcements.
NOTE: Please do not reply to this emailed Newsletter. Your email will not be handled in a timely manner or may even be lost.
Creative Mankind Painting and Wine
Sunday, May 13th (Mother's Day)
1 pm – 4 pm
at the
Ag District Center
39025 John Mosby Highway
Middleburg, VA 20117
Creative Mankind will be hosting a “paint and sip” event at Chrysalis Vineyards on Mother's Day --- Sunday, May 13th. (From their website: Creative Mankind is an art company that offers art classes and hosts parties and events for all ages. Our motto is “Everyone is a Creative Genius!” It's just a matter of people reconnecting with their creative self. Our mission is to enrich our community with art education and culture in a fun and accessible way.)
In honor of Mother's Day - Moms paint for FREE (when accompanied by a paying guest - 1 mom per paid registrant)!! So...bring Mom and spend a fun afternoon laughing, listening to music and creating your own masterpiece! This 3 hour event is just $40 and includes all art supplies, an awesome staff, and a lot of fun. No experience is necessary. For additional information please contact Creative Mankind at 571-403-1912 or go to their website listed below. [Editor's Note: cut and paste this long link if it doesn't activate by clicking on it. Thanks.].
https://sites.cimplebox.com/events/registration.aspx?s=5329&c=3146&eid=390080&r=0.7469977
REPORT FROM THE TASTING ROOM
Hello May! Everyone in the Tasting Room has been waiting for this month to arrive for more than one reason. Not only will we see the Northern Virginia countryside erupt in the colors of spring but we will see one of our perennial favorites, Mariposa, return to our tasting room and your glasses. And as if that weren't enough..... Chef Sarah has started supplying the tasting room with her fresh breads, cheese spreads, cookies, donuts, and all sorts of other decadent treats. The fresh "milk bread" pictured here is soft, slightly sweet, and completely delicious! Chef Sarah prepares it with Jenni's Free-Range Eggs, which are also available for purchase in the tasting room.
Our Mariposa is a melody of beautiful color and taste. It is the perfect wine to enjoy as you celebrate spring and usher in summer. It's the ultimate accompaniment to so many things. Whether it's a slice of decadent strawberry topped cheesecake, your favorite pizza or a sunset after a long day, our Mariposa will be your "go to" pairing. We promise !
As always our VIP Club members will be the first to enjoy the release of the 2017 Mariposa. But never fear --- we will be releasing it to the public on Mother’s Day weekend. Plan now to spend your Mother’s Day with us enjoying not only our Mariposa but all our other exemplary wines (be sure to check out all of our Farm Fresh goodies to pair with whetever you are drinking) . And if you can’t wait that long… JOIN OUR CLUB. It’s the perfect gift for Mom !
Laurie Stevens, Tasting Room Manager
REPORT FROM THE CELLAR
With summer almost upon us (I promise!), we are well on our way towards getting wines from the 2016 and 2017 vintages into bottle for your future enjoyment. Along with perennial favorites, like Rubiana, Barrel Select, Viognier, et.al, you will soon see a couple of new surprises in your shipments. Stay tuned! At this time of year, most of our focus is on happenings in the vineyard, but there are still blends to be finalized before bottling, barrels to be racked and cleaned and maintenance to be done, so it’s not just downtime.
Filering wine takes up a lot of our time in the spring in preparation for bottling. The piece of equipment you see in the photo is a Plate & Frame filter. Its primary function is to provide you with the crystal clear product you’re used to finding in your bottle. Using different grades of filter pads (made out of readily biodegradable cellulose fibers), the wine goes through two passes through this machine at increasingly finer levels of porosity (the size of the space between the fibers) to remove all residual microorganisms, bitartrate crystals and any fining materials used in the treatment of the wine. Doing so helps to increase your overall organoleptic enjoyment of your Chrysalis Vineyards wine.
Finally, it’s also at this time of the year that we begin to assess what works, what we can do better, and think up creative ways to introduce new innovations to our process and products. Thinking Caps On!
Mark Patterson, Winemaker
REPORT FROM THE VINEYARD
Well, spring has sprung! Sorta. As May begins, we are finally starting to see some life in the Vineyards. Viognier and Albariño broke bud around April 21st and are now beginning to develop into the grapes (and future wines) we know and love here at Chrysalis Vineyards. The reds followed close behind. After a cooler than average early spring we are anticipating much better growing conditions going forward and I don’t see any issues with ripening as the season progresses. If we can avoid a late frost in May, and the inevitable hail in June, we will once again be marching onwards towards the harvest season, which will come soon enough. The fields are abuzz with activity. We have replanted a number of Fer Servadou, Petit Manseng, Graciano and Tempranillo vines to raise our levels of available fruit from these varieties, and are beginning to fill in holes in our Norton plantings which naturally accumulate over the years as winter injury, age and other factors endemic to growing grapes in the mid-Atlantic region take their toll. We have Norton vines for sale to our customers if you would like to have a few examples of Norton, The Real American Grape® in your gardens or on your pergolas! Just inquire at the tasting room.
Mark Patterson, Winemaker
REPORT FROM THE FARM
Hello all! --
This picture makes me smile and I want to share it with you! To me, it offers anything but sterile beauty- it is a true snapshot of the living enterprise that is our farm and a glimpse into some of the finer aspects of livestock agriculture. A real dairy herdsman knows each and every one of his cows as an individual personality, through and through. That said, with the several breeds we work with there are a few broad generalizations that are fun to poke fun at and that are very important in making management decisions. In this photo, a mother-daughter pair of Brown Swiss cows are attempting to exit the frame towards their breakfast. Large and in charge, they are strategically holding up all of the other cows behind them so that everyone eats according to their pecking order. Next in line were our Holstein girls, always a bit more athletic of body and mind but respectful of the Swiss's sheer size in those close quarters. Bringing up the rear, our two outstanding Jersey cows darted about, acting a bit like Chihuahua dogs afraid of getting stepped on! Behavior like this is not simply for our amusement, but on our farm its observation translates into altered management practices in order to keep each cow as happy and stress- free as possible. For anyone that does not aspire to be a polished herdsman, enjoy the picture and come on out to taste the fruits of our labor!
Eric Hilgartner, Estate Manager
Take a look at the above, and take a guess where this is? Yep, you guessed it… it’s in the front aging cell of our creamery at the Ag District Center! Cheese is imminent!
We’re going through the final phases of inspections and procedures to receive our Plant Permit, which authorizes us to process, package and sell cheeses to the public. (Earlier this week we received our Dairy Farm Permit, which authorizes us to milk cows and sell the milk. This was the first permitting part.)
The cheese in the photo is not for sale, however, but was the result of running through the entirety of the process from the milking of our cows, to transporting the milk to the creamery, pasteurizing the milk, adding rennet to curdle the cheese, forming the cheese in molds, and finally carefully moving the cheese to the aging cells where they’ll slowly dry and age to perfection. This is my cheese!
Boy, oh Boy, I know it’s been a long time a’comin’, and I know y’all have been incredibly patient with us. Thank you. We’re all so very grateful for your tolerance while we’ve traveled this path to offering you our artisan cheese. We’re almost there.
BTW, you just have to come and get the new 2017 Mariposa. It’s fantastic and a perfect wine for this time of year.
Take care. See you on the farm.
Jennifer McCloud
Chrysalis Vineyards at The Ag District
39025 John Mosby Highway (Tasting Room)
23876 Champe Ford Road (Winery/Offices)
Middleburg, VA 20117
McCloud@ChrysalisWine.com
Office: 540-687-8222
www.ChrysalisWine.com
Facebook.com/ChrysalisVineyards