Morais Vineyards: A European Escape

A big thanks to Kurt from Wine About Virginia and Maddie, the events coordinator at Morais Vineyards and Winery! Kurt connected me to Maddie who then organized a great visit for us along with Nancy from Virginia Wine In My Pocket.

Morais (pronounced "more-ice") was not only gorgeous, the wines were good, there was a great food to nosh while tasting and owner and staff couldn't be more hospitable! I often feel that wineries fall into the "don't judge a book by its cover" category since a lot of the small operations have quality wines and wineries housed in gorgeous tastings rooms don't always have wines that match the quality of their facilities. Well, Morais surprised and impressed us all!

Crab-balls, Croquettes & Cheeses! 

For $8 we leisurely tasted all 9 wines and enjoyed a plate of appetizers. The Morais family is of Portuguese decent and their winemakers (1 French, 1 Portuguese) incorporate old world practices in their wine making-meaning they actually stomp the grapes. Yes, that's right, they STOMP the grapes by foot in granite vats. We thought it was a joke, but no, we saw the vats, true story. There was a such a variety of wines to try that I think all those in my group-Megan, Debbie & Lori-found a favorite wine or 3. My favorites were the Select White Wine a Rkatsitelli that had a tart apple finish, Rose Wine a dry rose made from Cab Franc tasted like a crisp white, the 2010 Red Select a 50%-50% blend of Merlot and Cab Franc, and the 2011 Merlot a soft Merlot that was just released. Megan, in true "Nose" fashion, found the Battlefield White Wine to be the best smell of the bunch, it was a green wine and Morais is the only known producer of this wine in the states, its a blend of Vidal Blanc and Albarino. Lori loved the Moscatel and the Battlefield White as well while Debbie was drawn to the 2011 Touriga Nacional, the traditional Portuguese wine. All the grapes used here are grown on site too.

Mr. Morais discussing the winery history with Nancy
in the Cellar

After our tasting Mr. Morais took us for a tour of the event space, cellar and the winery's original tasting room. They still use the original tasting room while weddings or other events are going on at the facility. While we were in the cellar I couldn't help but notice how the smell took me right back to the wine cellars of Moldova. After the cellar tour we scoped out the property, which includes some farm animals and a wooden train for small children to play on.




As previously mentioned, we had a great visit and I think its impossible to take a bad picture of the stunning exterior of Morais. If Virginia wine tasting is on your agenda, try to squeeze this one in and you'll be happy you did!