Mermaid now has two locations. The original is in the Palace Station Shops on West 22nd street in downtown Norfolk, in the Ghent neighborhood. This was opened in 2012 by owner Jennifer Doumar. A second space has now been opened in Virginia Beach, on Shore Drive in the Chix’ Beach area, replicating mermaid’s successful Norfolk formula. Mermaid is most definitely a winery and not a vineyard, and calls itself Virginia’s “first urban winery.” Grapes are sourced from vineyards in Virginia and California and bottled here by winemaker Dean Gruenburg under the Mermaid label. Indeed Mermaid is as much wine bar/ restaurant as winery, offering a long list of over 800 wines from around the world, as well as selections with the Mermaid label.
Wine. Tier III. As noted, grapes for the Mermaid-label wines are purchased either from elsewhere in Virginia or from California. Available are Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Merlot, and Chardonnay, and raspberry and peach fruit wines. The wine bar offers a wide selection of unrelated wines, many different tasting flights, and also functions as a wine shop.
Setting. Both locations feature a hip-style urban setting, looking much more like a restaurant/wine bar/wine shop than traditional winery. The restaurants offer a wide range of both classic and unusual entrees. The winery hosts various events. Definitely a unique experience among Virginia wineries.
Stories. Naval Station Norfolk. Only California has more active-duty military personnel than Virginia, with over 125,000 full-time Armed Forces members in the Old Dominion. The Armed Forces are a major contributor to the state’s economy. Nowhere is this more visible than in the Hampton Roads area, where Virginia plays host to the world’s largest naval installation, Naval Station Norfolk. The base occupies 4 miles of waterfront space, supports 75 ships and 134 aircraft, includes 14 piers and 11 aircraft hangars, and houses the largest concentration of U.S. Navy forces. It is the home of the US Navy’s Fleet Forces Command, to four carrier strike groups, and the submarines of the Atlantic Fleet. Over 3,000 ships enter or exit the facility annually. Air Operations also conducts an average of 275 flights per day out of adjacent Chambers Field, or one every six minutes, over 100,000 flights a year. It is the hub for Navy logistics going to the European and Central Command theaters of operations, and to the Caribbean. The base maintains a force of over 80,000 enlisted personnel, with 110,000 family members, and employs over 30,000 civilian workers.