Chateau Morrisette Wines Receive Prestigious 2015 California Wine Competition Awards

04 Feb 2015 --- Chateau Morrisette Winery, located at milepost 171.5 on Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway, announces its most recent award-winning wines from the prestigious San Diego International Wine Competition and San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The winery's 5 Red Grapes, Our Dog Blue, Nouveau Chien, Chambourcin and Archival 1 – all of which retail for under $20 a bottle – won awards.

At the 2015 San Diego International Wine Competition, Chateau Morrisette's 2012 5 Red Grapes (94 points) won best of class and platinum awards among hybrid reds, and our Dog Blue (95 points) won a platinum award. A platinum medal is given when all judges unanimously award the wine with a gold medal. Also, the 2013 Nouveau Chien (87 points) won a silver award.

"Chateau Morrissette struck a blow...with a platinum award and score of 94 points for its 2012 5 Red Grapes, a proprietary blend of Bordeaux grapes combined with the hybrid Chambourcin at $15. Virginia is coming up in the wine world and [Chateau] Morrissette is one reason for that," commented Robert Whitley, director of the San Diego International Wine Competition in Creators Syndicate Wine Talk.

At the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, three of the winery's signature wines received silver awards: 2012 Chambourcin, 2013 Nouveau Chien and Our Dog Blue. The 2012 Archival I received a bronze award. Considered the largest competition of American wines in the world, this year's San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition received over 6,300 wine entries, its highest number of wine entries to date.

"We are very pleased with how Chateau Morrisette winery continues to be recognized by experts and wine lovers alike for the exceptional wine we produce," said David Morrisette, president of the winery. "While we are well-known for our well-priced signature and orchard series wines, with our expert winemaker Brian Cheeseborough at the helm, our new blended and varietal wines are flourishing, too."

Chateau Morrisette has established retail distribution throughout Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Tianjin, China. In 2015, the winery is expanding distribution to most of the regions of Kentucky via Bottles and Barrels, a division of Kentucky Eagle, Inc., its newest distributor. The winery plans to increase production to 79,000 cases this year as well.

Chateau Morrisette wines are served at the winery's tasting room and the Restaurant at Chateau Morrisette and can be purchased at the winery, online at the thedogs website or at participating retailers.