Winery Visit Adventure Day: White Barrel and Chateau Morissette

          Today, I went with two ladies from work to two wineries very near Blacksburg.  We were planning on visiting Chateau Morissette and as we chatted about our plans to the waitress at lunch, she recommended we try White Barrel.  So, we went winery crazy and did two in one day!

          After lunch, we headed to White Barrel, a winery in Christiansburg that has been open to the public since 2011.  They currently have around 11,000 vines on the property and they are just a really quaint little place hidden in the farm areas of Christiansburg.

A view of the vines on the property

Where the tastings take place

          It was also surprisingly less expensive than I would have expected-- we got eight tastings for five dollars.  The woman who served the wine and gave us the tasting was very friendly and eager to answer questions, which made the experience that much better.

We tasted the Chardonnay, Vidal Blanc, 704, and 101 from the whites selection

From the reds, we had everything on the list except for the Cab Franc Reserve.

          I left with a bottle of the 101, an apple wine that was not too sweet and was overall refreshing and fruity.  I really could see enjoying it in the fall when the leaves are changing and the weather is just the slightest bit cold; it would pair so well with a warm cinnamon roll or vanilla ice cream, almost as though it were apple pie instead of wine.  I didn't love any of the reds, and the other whites were either just okay or they were rather plain; I was not thoroughly impressed with anything else enough to buy it.  I would absolutely go and visit again because it was fun and overall a lovely place.

Cozy seating area, perfect for today's dreary weather.

          After sitting with a glass and talking for a bit, we moved on and headed towards Chateau Morissette.  This place was hidden on back roads in Floyd, and it was even more beautiful than I was expecting.

This photo doesn't do it justice.

          I love the story behind this winery and their integration of dogs!  Here, we tasted eleven wines, one is not featured on the list shown below.

List of wines we tasted.

          I left this winery with two bottles, both were the white Muscadine, something I'd never heard of before.  This wine was sweet without being sickly sweet, and I don't think it was just good because it was the wine on sale, I promise.  This winery was more formal than White Barrel, and it had a nice autumn feel to it, where the other winery seemed more like a good wine to visit in spring, especially with today's weather.  This winery had an apple wine as well, but it made me happy that I got the apple wine at the first place.  Morissette's apple wine was sickly sweet and not as good as what I had already purchased.

Behind the bar in Chateau Morissette.

          Both of these wineries are places I would return in the future for fun; they were both very impressive in their own ways.  It was also fun to make a girls' day of it and visit the wineries with friends!

All of us at Chateau Morissette (I'm on the left!)