The Blue View
On the way to the Chateau Morrisette Winery, we snapped a photo of the usual suspects at the Saddle Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway where my husband and I got married 10 years ago. Besides me, the line-up consisted of my brother-in-law Nelson, my mother, my sister Sherry, and my brother Joey, all in town for my son Dylan’s wedding.
At the Winery, I bought 5 cases of “Our Dog Blue,” a popular semi-sweet white wine, requested by my husband Joe’s mother, who would also be in town to attend the wedding. The Our Dog Blue bottles are cobalt with an image of the Winery’s black dog mascot jumping over the moon on the label. Joe’s mom and her friends back in Delaware love Our Dog Blue inside and out.
There really is a black dog that hangs out at the Winery. His name is Nicholas, and he belongs to Winery owner, David Morrisette. My husband, Joe, got to meet Nicholas in 1998 when Joe was part of the timber framing crew that built and raised the winery’s new building. According to a story in the Roanoke Times New River Current, the gift shop, which has a wine tasting area and room for wine production, is 54 feet tall and more than 30,000 square feet. (A football field is 48,000 feet, the Times pointed out). Built with recycled timber from rivers and old buildings, it might be the largest reclaimed timber structure ever built, the Current reported. 
A photo similar to the one posted below of Joe hanging from the construction rafters appeared with the story. He would probably like readers then and now to know that there is a lot of time spent waiting for the cranes to raise the large timbers that interlock together like toy Lincoln Logs and that he is not a slacker, as the photo might suggest.
When Joe and I got married, our wedding reception was held in the older vine-covered winery building that now houses only the restaurant. It was the last wedding reception that the winery hosted, which I hope had nothing to do with the fact that over 100 people stood in a circle on their front lawn, giving Joe and me their blessings. We partied and danced, in what was then the wine tasting room, with the full moon shining in through the skylights. When people see the wedding photo taken on the Winery porch of Joe and I in all in white with a blazing sunset behind us, many of them ask if we got married in the Caribbean islands.
The Winery holds Black Dog Blues and Jazz Festivals throughout the summer and fall, and, according to a newsletter that I recently received in the mail, Nicholas has retired from his position as the black dog mascot.
I hope he got a good dog biscuit pension.
July 14th, 2006 11:29 am
What a lovely place to hold a wedding reception! The winery sounds like a very interesting place to visit, not only because of the wine tasting! Here via Michele’s this time, happy friday!
July 14th, 2006 1:16 pm
I love the various wineries out in your neck of the woods…
July 14th, 2006 6:14 pm
I never really knew there were wineries here in Virginia.
Is there a Nicholas II waiting to take over the mascot duties?
July 14th, 2006 6:16 pm
Colleen,
Just checking in to tell you that I’m back at my blog. I still love your prose. Liked it better when you get deeper into your feelings and psyche. You’re really good when you’re in touch with your emotions, I’ve missed that recently.
July 14th, 2006 6:22 pm
I had wanted to use Earl when I heard they needed a new mascot. I thought I would get to take him and get free tickets to events. ha. I didn’t realize Earl would be living there! So much for that.
Coincidently I just popped open a bottle of their Angel Chardonnay…a new fave of mine!
Great picture…you guys look fabulous!
July 14th, 2006 6:32 pm
Villa Appalchia is another winery that, like Chateau Morrisette, is right up the road from us. http://www.villaappalaccia.com/ According to the Chateau Morrisette newsletter, it looks like they have 2 new black dogs to take Nicholas’s place… and yes, they live at the winery!
Bill,I guess you didn’t scroll down far enough to where I wrote about my youngest son, Me and D. But it’s true, I’ve been posting more photos because due to my son’s wedding and having company, I haven’t had as much time to write. The trends come an go.
July 14th, 2006 7:29 pm
Amy and I used to go to the Jazz festivals before the boys came along. Our Dog Blue has always been my favorite wine and for Amy and I it is always the sentimental pick for special occasions. I had a bottle hidden in Amy’s closet the night I proposed to her.
I haven’t been to the winery in a long time. I think the last time I went the new building was still being built. That’s a cool photo of Joe.
July 14th, 2006 8:11 pm
What about Sweeet Mountain Laurel?! My favortie, but I’m not the only one. Sherry took several in carry-on on the plane ride back to Massachusetts.
July 14th, 2006 11:38 pm
Considering that my name means “My Vineyard,” I read this with even more interest than usual. They really are magical places, and I’m always amazed at how gregarious the people who own and manage them can be.
Thanks for the journey.
July 15th, 2006 6:02 am
Your nieces Beth and Molly still talk about getting sick when they visited the winery over ten years ago. The ride up those swirvy mountains, topped off by the smell of the wine being made really got to them back then.
I prefer red wine, but I really love the cobalt blue bottles. Luna di Luna also has one of their white wines, a blend of Chardonnay & Pinot Grigio, in the same color bottle.*
Next time I visit, (when’s Josh getting married?) perhaps you can bring me for a return visit to the winery. And if Beth and/or Molly visit, I’d make a bet they’d love it today.
*it’d make such nice sea glass too.
July 15th, 2006 9:32 am
Very pretty place to have a wedding / reception!
The wine bottles are cool…..wonder if they will replace the photo of the dog since the other one has now retired?
Here from Michele’s today. Have a great weekend.
July 15th, 2006 10:09 am
From one state with a Black Dog mascot to another… although I’d much rather have our black dog represent a winery than a bakery on a snooty (but beautiful) island.
Here via Michele.
July 15th, 2006 5:54 pm
What a great family photo. I’m looking forward to visiting that winery when I’m there in October and what a gorgeous bottle of wine….I can see I’ll be stocking up on some to take home.
PS…you must post that wedding photo, so we can see it too!
July 16th, 2006 11:19 pm
I knew that we keep an empty bottle of Our Dog Blue in our kitchen, but I had to double check that it was the bottle I thought it was before adding it to my comment. But I have now verified that it is the bottle from the night I proposed to Amy in Blacksburg back in 97.
July 19th, 2006 11:01 pm
We’re off to our week in the Finger Lakes in a couple of weeks–Keuka Lake, the one with the most wineries. Can’t wait. I broke my blogfast today, by the way, with a painting of the lake and a vinyard at sunrise. And, of course, the obligatory poem. Did I say I can’t wait?