Mermaid Winery

September 9, 2023.  Mermaid Winery of Norfolk and Virginia Beach advertises itself as Virginia’s “first urban winery.”  Certainly, we have not encountered a downtown wine production facility that also offers such a great menu.  We have visited hole-in-the wall “winery” storefronts that beg the description of gourmet; and we have visited “wineries” that do nothing but sell stuff grown, produced and bottled by others with no value added.  Mermaid has both production and ambience.

We met our nephew and his wife, K and S, at Mermaid for a Saturday night dinner.  K, a Naval officer, recently relocated to Norfolk with S.  We hoped a nice dinner would give them a break from opening moving boxes all day. 

Mermaid has two locations.  The original “flagship” location in the Ghent neighborhood of downtown Norfolk opened in 2013.  We opted to visit the second location in the Chic’s Beach area of Virginia Beach on Shore Drive.  This opened in 2018.  

 

                                                        1. See credit below

Mermaid owner, Jennifer Eichert, put us in touch with Joshua at the Virginia Beach location.  We peppered Joshua with questions all night and were among the last parties to leave.  Thanks to Joshua for putting up with us.

Mermaid has two acres of grapes in the Charlottesville area from which most of the Mermaid whites are produced.  Jennifer noted that Dean Gruenburg manages the Virginia grape growing for them.  (I believe Dean is the manager at Bull Run Winery, and Rock Mill Vineyard in Rappahannock County.)  Most of the Mermaid reds come from grapes purchased in Lodi, California.  

Mermaid produces between 2,000 and 3,000 cases of wine annually.  They ferment and produce wine at both of their locations.  Another major plus for Mermaid is a wine list of over 600 wines, winning them the Best of Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator for four consecutive years.  There are only 1,400 restaurants in the United States with this recognized commitment to “serious wine lovers,” as the judging criteria says.  Joshua told us that Mermaid’s top selling wine is Mermaid Sparkling Rosé “Seaduxion” from Sonoma fruit.  So, if Virginia wine is not your thing (perish the thought!), you can surely find a wine of your favor among their extensive offerings.

 

                                                         1. See credit below

It is always a challenge selecting wines where the entrées for the table range from Grill Cheese and Shrimp and Grits to Salmon and Duck.  Joshua helped us to navigate the wine list for Kim and me and our guests, K and S.  We’ll get to our impressions of the wine below.  But all of us were very satisfied with our choices.  I, for one, found the duck among the best I’ve ever had – moist with a delicious raisin and cranberry glaze. 

Okay.  Without further ado, here are our impressions of the wine.  We’ve indicated where wines are Virginia or California in origin.  Finally, we did not record scores for these wines.

2019 Mermaid Reserve Chardonnay (Calfornia).  Steel-barrel  Floral aroma and citrus.  Kim says it’s a bit off.  K says it’s off-dry.  Maybe it’s vanilla.

In our group, S preferred the sweeter fruit wines.  At Mermaid, fruit source for these wines varies from year to year – either California or Virginia.  Jennifer tells us that the wines we tasted on this visit were from Virginia. 

2021 Mermaid My Beach Peach (Virginia).  This is a peach wine blended with Chardonnay.  We suspect the Chardonnay cuts the overall sweetness of the drink. 

2021 Riverview Raspberry (Virginia).  S liked the Raspberry wine over the Peach.  This is a raspberry blended with Zinfandel.  S said it would be easy to get drunk on this wine. 

2018 Norfolk Express (California).  The Norfolk Express is Mermaid’s first Bordeaux-style blend using Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon. It is semi-dry.  Cherry forward.  No earthy feel like a typical Bordeaux.  Not too distinctive. 

2020 Mermaid Cabernet Franc (Virginia).  The Cab Franc is light spice and vegetative.  Not too complex or compelling.  Perhaps slightly pet-nat as well. 

Mermaid is an unexpected pleasure amid the strip-mall/fast-food culture of Virginia Beach.  It is a sleek wine bar that serves excellent food.  Check out the wine bottle chandelier.

https://www.mermaidwinery.com/mermaid/

4401 Shore Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23455

757-233-4155

1.  Photos used by permission of Jennifer Eichert, Mermaid Winery.  Photos taken by George Kartis.

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