TR: Colorado Wine Tour 2008

[pechelman]

Took pechelwoman and myself on a much needed impromptu trip out to Palisade for a few days. As always a lot of fun. Thought id share this with folks who have no idea that this exists. Theres some really great wine out here as well. Mostly Sav Blanc, Melot, Cab Franc, Cab Sav, Syrah, and Merlot in the Grand Valley, and some really tasty gewurtz's in the west elks.
We're still learning and making a name, but Id stake my amatuer wino reputation that Colorado makes not only great wines for Colorado, but great wines from Anywhere. (obviously not all of them, but about a dozen or so from a handful of wineries...pm or post if you want reccos)

Anyway, enough of that, onto the pics.

The indispensible Colorado Wine Map Tasting Bible.


Whitewater Hill.
View of their vineyards which overlook the book cliffs and garfield mt.
Not bad eh?


Forgot what vineyard this was, but it overlooks Grand Mesa, the largest flat topped mountain in the world.


Mesa Park Vineyards. New this year on the map.
The guy who runs the place does everything and was awesome.
He even hooked us up with his last bottle of '03 merlot for free.
Really great '04 Merlot and '05 and '06 Cab Franc. yeah.
This pic is of 75% of the wine he makes in 1 year.


The rooster is watching at Plum Creek.


Garfield Estates




Reeder Mesa. Do not miss. Bring a picnic, its out of the way.
AMAZING Syrah this year. Wow.


Near the top of Grand Mesa. Unknown waterfall.


Looking back down at Lands End Road. Definitely a worthy drive.
The valley floor is ~6000ft down.




Random emo shot at Terror Creek in the West Elks


This was the view from the window in the tasting room at Terror Creek.
py huh?


Stone Cottage Cellars. Really cool folks. Dont miss it in the West Elks.
This is all the wine they make in a year, and at ~500 cases, doesnt even qualify as a boutique winery.


not sure if this is the norm, but i thought the irrigation system was cool.


what wine tasting photo trip report is complete without the macro of the grapes. these are gewurtz from stone cottage.


anyway
thats it.

definitely destination worthy

[trainnvain]

Garfields barrique room looks very clean and free of excess moisture.
Cool TR.

[AbsolutStoli]

nice TR! ive seen the CO wines aisle at the store, but have yet to try any since i really dont know which are good, and wasnt sure if any were, actually. which ones make a good gurwurztiminer? also, any reccos on some good reds? i typically drink boujolais, chianti, but do like exploring new territories.

by the way, how far of a drive from denver or boulder to get to some of these wineries? im thinking come fall there might be some wine festivals around there that might be good to check out, harvest season and all.

PS - i helped out at our booth (i cook at a restaurant in boulder) for the boulder food and wine festival, and i must say that i was pleasantly surprised by some of the wines that were there...some really nice icewines and whites there. i know stone cottage was there, but i cant remember for the life of me what other wines i really liked...it was a long day.

[Cruiser]

Quality shot! It's crazy, all those pics look level and focused. A long weekend of wine tasting for me would generate a lot of lopsided, out of focus pics. Just let me know when you're ready to start drinking some more of those crisp summery white out on the back deck.

[Rontele]

Nice work, P!

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

Fun trip, the western slopes best kept secret. It's a shame they don't get more exposure; Grande River's Viognier is one of my favorites.

[nopainnojane]

Very cool, my wife and I were out in Grand Junction for my work for 2 days this spring, we would love to go back and hit that area up for the wineries. Correct me if I am wrong, but don't they have a bike trail that you can visit alot of them off of?

I got her hooked on visiting wineries back in the Finger Lakes area in NY when we go visit family.

[stupendous man]

west elks = most underrated range in co. shhh.

[pechelman]

which ones make a good gurwurztiminer? also, any reccos on some good reds? i typically drink boujolais, chianti, but do like exploring new territories.

by the way, how far of a drive from denver or boulder to get to some of these wineries? im thinking come fall there might be some wine festivals around there that might be good to check out, harvest season and all..

Theres a lot of variety with gewurtz's
While I enjoy the ones that come from the grand valley, I really do like the ones from the west elks better. A bit more dry and not so overly sweet.
Terror Creek and Stone Cottage do a pretty nice job.
On the grand valley side, I want to say Ptarmigan had a good one this year.
Carlson does an OK one as well and is relatively easy to find.

As far as good reds
Really anything Two Rivers, especially their 1month ago bottled vinters blend (which needs a few more years).
Anything Alfred Eames, especially his meritage blend and Syrah. I honestly think AE does the best job with reds all around, and makes the best colorado pinot noir...though thats nothing Id buy. Its the best effort thus far. He's still figuring it out here.
I really like Canyon Winds' Cab Franc and Garfields Syrah as well.
Balestreri in denver does some nice ones too, especially their Zin last year, but he used grapes from Lodi.
Other than that, just the ones i reccomended above from Mesa Park and Reeder Mesa.

It takes us a leisurely 4 hrs from littleton to get there over 70 depending on traffic\construction. Id stay away during the fall festivals imo as they are swamped with people and it will be hard to get around. Part of the cool thing about going there is being able to relax and not be bugged by swarms of people. They also typically run out of wine so you may not get to taste everything you want. My recco is to go in spring.

Just let me know when you're ready to start drinking some more of those crisp summery white out on the back deck.

10-4!
my dads coming into town for about a week, so maybe we can work something out.

. Correct me if I am wrong, but don't they have a bike trail that you can visit alot of them off of?

not so much a bike trail as a bike route
the roads in palisade are fairly wide or untraveled so its pretty safe.
also the bike ride along orchard road would be great if you can handle all the right angle turns

[DJMingus]

nice writeup pechelman - I have always wanted to tour some of those.

I've only had a couple of Colorado wines and one was a surprisingly good Bdx blend - from Rhodes. I don't think they do tours.

[Chiz]

Nice man! I consider myself a WSIT (Wine Snob in Training) and I admit ruefully I did not know Colorado produced! Can you give me a few good labels to look for? I don't know if they will make it into Canada, but I will keep an eye out

[pechelman]

^ as mentioned above

Two Rivers
Alfred Eames
Reeder Mesa
Mesa Park
Canyon Winds
Plum Creek
Garfield Estates

[cantunamunch]

Anyone planting the Austrian grapes like Blue Frank or Gruner Veltliner?

[fallin]

Thanks for the TR--it will help a ton for a bachelorette partay to this destination in a few weeks!