Chateau Morrisette Wines Receive Prestigious International Wine Competition Awards

FLOYD, Va., May 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Chateau Morrisette Winery, located at milepost 171.5 on Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd County, Virginia, announces all four wines entered in the 2013 Tasters Guild International Wine competition won silver awards.  The winning wines are the 2011 Chardonnay, 2011 Chambourcin, 2008 Merlot, and 2011 Vidal Blanc.  In addition, as part of the winery's first-ever Asian export agreement, the winery shipped 1,150 cases of Merlot to China.

Established in 1987, the Tasters Guild consists of more than 30 active chapters; the 26^th Annual Wine Judging took place in April 2013.  For this year's competition, Chateau Morrisette competed against entries from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Italy, Canada and throughout the United States. 

"Chateau Morrisette is proud to be recognized for the world-class wine we produce," says David Morrisette, president of the winery. "While we are well-known for our signature and orchard series wines, our Virginia varietals are of the highest quality and consistently perform well against varietals from around the world."

"Given our recent contract to export Chateau Morrisette wine to China, this international accolade only enhances our reputation on the world stage," observes George Weldon, general manager at Chateau Morrisette.  The agreement to export Chateau Morrisette wine to China is a five-year contract between the winery and Tianjin Commodity Exchange Company Limited (TJComex). 

Most recently, in-house sommelier Will May has focused entries heavily on west coast wine competitions, and has been pleased with how well Chateau Morrisette wines have performed against what he calls the "varsity teams." May says, "We put our Virginia varietals up against premier California varietals from Napa, Sonoma, and the Russian River area on their home turf, and we held our own."

At the San Diego Wine Competition, the 2011 Chardonnay and 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon both took silver awards; the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon took silver at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition as well.  At the Monterey Wine Competition, among 681 wines judged, Our Dog Blue received a gold medal, and the 2011 Chambourcin and 2011 Cabernet Franc took silver awards.

While winemaker Rick Hall is proud of Chateau Morrisette's honors, he believes, "Our continuing success is really a testament to our great wine grape growers across the Commonwealth of Virginia.  We are fortunate to work with a variety of Virginia vineyards each year, and are committed to ensuring our wines continue to reflect the excellence of our wine-growing region."

About Chateau Morrisette

A fun day trip from Roanoke, Charlottesville, Blacksburg, Christiansburg or the Piedmont Triad, or a great weekend away from Washington, DC, Richmond, Hampton Roads, Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte, Knoxville or Charleston, WV, Chateau Morrisette is located at Milepost 171.5 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd County, Virginia. Wine tastings are $8 per person. For more information, including winery events, visit www.thedogs.com, call (540) 593-2865, or follow us on Facebook.

SOURCE Chateau Morrisette Winery