THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9503300038
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: HUMBLE STEWARD
SOURCE: JIM RAPER
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
CHATEAU MORRISETTE is Virginia's most out-of-the-way winery. More than once I've gotten lost trying to find wineries tucked away in the state's countryside.
The other wineries, however, are all within a reasonable drive from population centers in the eastern half of the state.
Chateau Morrisette is perched 3,000 feet above sea level in a southwestern stretch of the Blue Ridge Mountains that the winery's proprietors readily admit is ``known for 'shine, not wine.''
The nearest post office is in Meadows of Dan. Roanoke is a little more than an hour to the north and Greensboro, N.C., about two hours southeast.
It's an unusual place to build a sturdy, Alsatian-looking winery, with visitors' center and swank restaurant. It's also an unusual place to plant noble grapes such as cabernet sauvignon and merlot.
But Chateau Morrisette does have a geographical advantage: The Blue Ridge Parkway snakes past its front door, bringing tourists close enough to see the vines and smell the wines.
Other factors in the winery's success have been the determination - and deep pockets - of the founding Morrisette family.
When William Morrisette and his son, David, tried commercial winemaking in the 1970s, they chose the mountainous site, relatively close to their home in Greensboro. They were told by grape-growing experts that noble grapes would thrive at the 3,000-to-3,500-foot elevations.
By 1985, the Morrisettes had 45 acres of vineyards and were well on their way to establishing a first-rate winery. But the winter of 1985 was especially cold and the owners lost their noble grape vines, as well as many of their heartier hybrid vines, to the deep freeze. They estimated their losses at $500,000.
Since then, the Morrisettes have established other vineyards nearby at an elevation of about 1,200 feet, and during times when they have been unable to grow enough grapes themselves they have found other sources in North Carolina and Virginia.
They also have expanded the winery, creating an expansive visitors' center and adding a restaurant, Le Chien Noir, which has three dining rooms.
It was the lure of the restaurant and of Chateau Morrisette's fine 1992 Chardonnay that brought me to the mountaintop on an icy night in February. I wanted to sample the much-praised cuisine of the young chef Mark Freedman, who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and to taste all of the chateau's wines.
I was already familiar with winemaker Robert Burgin's 1992 Chardonnay. Few $11 chardonnays have oak and butter and citrus flavors in such nice balance. Judges in Virginia's Governors Cup and Monticello Cup competitions gave the wine gold medals, and it won a bronze in the Indiana State Fair National Wine Competition.
A tasting room hostess who was pleasant and knowledgeable poured 10 of the chateau's wines for me. The best were the chardonnay, the 1993 White Riesling ($8) and the 1991 Chambourcin ($14). Chambourcin is a red French-American hybrid grape, and Burgin does more with it than any other Virginia winemaker. His 1991 is dark and jammy and spicy.
I also enjoyed the winery's big-selling nonvintage proprietary blends, Black Dog and Black Dog Blanc (both $9), each of which has a trace of sugar. The Black Dog is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chambourcin. The Blanc is usually made with chardonnay, seyval blanc and vidal blanc, but the bottling in current release has no vidal in it.
Those who prefer sweet and foxy grape flavor will enjoy the nonvintage Chateau Morrisette wines, which are made completely or partly from the native niagara grape: Virginia Blush ($7), Sweet Mountain Laurel ($7.50) and Red Mountain Laurel ($7.50).
From the tasting room I was ushered into Le Chien Noir (the Black Dog theme at the winery is a tribute to a Morrisette pet), where most of about two dozen diners were gathered near a cozy fireplace.
The gregarious Freedman let me sample four of his appetizers: conch fritters with a delicious peach chutney ($5.50); grilled Mediterranean vegetables with feta cheese, and a bonus of a few grilled shrimp ($4.95); smoked salmon and trout with creme fraiche, capers and shallots ($5.95); and salad greens with raspberry vinaigrette ($3.95). All were excellent.
Being alone and thoroughly charmed by my experience so far, I decided to order two entrees to test the range of the kitchen. The baked peppered sea bass with spinach, fennel and orzo in a broth of clam juice and chive-lemon oil ($14.50) delivered a riot of flavors that somehow worked together marvelously well. Even better was the perfectly roasted half duckling with maple-ginger glaze and herbed basmati rice ($13.95).
Other tempting dishes on the menu were seared venison loin with sweet potatoes and apple-apricot cider reduction ($18.50) and pistachio crusted rack of lamb with balsamic-thyme demi-glace and rosemary roasted potatoes ($17.50).
By the time I had finished the second entree, I was too stuffed to try the desserts, but I would expect the kitchen to shine there as well.
With the meal I had continued to drink the wines of the chateau, including the 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon ($11), which grew in my estimation as I tasted it with the duck. By itself at the tasting it had seemed thin and tannic.
The restaurant's wine list, by the way, includes about 25 wines from California, France, Oregon and elsewhere in Virginia, and the prices are unusually low. For instance, a bottle of Benziger Chardonnay is $12 and the Gundlach Bundschu Merlot is $17.
The winery is open to visitors every day of the week, but during winter the restaurant only serves lunch from Wednesday through Sunday and dinner on Friday and Saturday. Call (703) 593-2865 for information about the restaurant's spring and summer hours or about lodgings near the winery.
MEMO: The Humble Steward is a biweekly feature of Sunday Flavor. Send
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by CNB