Chateau Morrisette Visit:
Welcome to the beautiful Chateau Morrisette! Nothing says crisp winter/spring months like trekking on over to Floyd with the family for... lunch. I was a little bummed to not be able to see the entirety of the vineyard/process rooms (my grandparents are, unfortunately, not as spry as they used to be), but the opportunity to eat lunch with a pairing sounded amazing to me.
The restaurant was gorgeously quaint, white walls with rustic vaults. There were these little antler sconces on the walls that added a very Virginia touch to the whole thing. We were seated in the middle dining room next to a toasty fire, fantastic in its own right.
For dinner, I ordered the oriechette: it was my cheat day and I had a mad craving for carbs. The meal was paired with the Chateau Morrisette Viognier, the personal favorite wine of my mother. The pasta, first off, was exquisite: normally oriechette is served in the classic Italian style with broccoli rabe, but Morrisette's was unique, instead served with candied ginger and caramelized onions. That candied ginger ended up being the star of the show: when contrasted with the softer buttery flavors of the Viognier, the subtleties of the ginger and the intense sweetness and acidity of the flavors underneath really shown.
The... main course, as it were ended up being roasted Brussel sprouts in a whipped feta cream sauce. We ended up ordering a few plates and they became the star of the dinner. The crisp, dry flavors of strawberry in the Vin Gris punched through the cream sauce, exemplifying the underlying flavors of pepper and lemon, and made the perfect blanket for the caramelized and bitter tastes of the Brussel sprouts. That night for dinner I ended up going home and making the exact sprouts withs sauce and opening up another bottle... it couldn't be helped.
The Vin Gris was exceptionally delightful... I ended up finishing it in the back seat of the car on the way home. You can find the link to the tasting review previously in my blog.
The last food of the meal we ended up making the last course at home, if it still counts: cherry wine brownies. It was a simple fix that ended up making, simply, the best brownies I've had the chance to eat. It ended up being a simple exchange - switching the water in brownie mix for Chateau Morrisette's Cherry Wine - that created cherry based, fudgy, chewy, unparalleled brownie. Good god damn, if you haven't done this with a wine before you better; it's life-changing.
And there it is, three courses and three wines, each better than the last.
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