3 replies to this topic

[TomasK]

My wife and I will be spending several days in Western Colorado later this summer, and I wonder if anyone can recommend some of their favorite wineries to visit. We'll be in both the Grand Valley and West Elks AVAs.

[Hummer]

My wife and I will be spending several days in Western Colorado later this summer, and I wonder if anyone can recommend some of their favorite wineries to visit. We'll be in both the Grand Valley and West Elks AVAs.

TomasK, I hope you're coming for the Colorado Mountain Winefest, held in Palisade, Sept. 13-16, 2012. Most of the state's wineries will be represented so it will give you the best opportunity to sample the variety of wines Colorado has to offer. There are seminars, tours, tastings, catered dinners, and an amateur winemaker awards tasting event. The Festival in the Park, along the Colorado River is always great fun.

If you enjoy biking, the riverfront trails are easy and enjoyable rides, and the Fruit Loop through East Orchard Mesa is a wonderful winery and orchard tour by bike.

I've toured only some of the local wineries so other folks may be more helpful. Check out this listing of wineries. It appears a bit dated but of those I'd suggest visiting any of these in the Grand Valley: Canyon Wind Cellars, Carlson Vineyards, Colorado Cellars Winery, DeBeque Canyon Winery, Garfield Estates Vineyard & Winery, Grande River Vineyards, Meadery of the Rockies, St. Kathryn Cellars Winery, Varaision Vineyards and Winery, and Whitewater Hill Vineyards. Carlson Vineyards is a local pioneer in bottling fruit wines from our local orchards. The Mesa Park Vineyards, just down the road from our orchard has produced an award winning Cab Franc under the previous owners but I haven't tried recent bottlings since the the great freeze that took 1/3 of the valley's vines a few years ago.

The wines from Alfred Eames Cellars in Paonia are well regarded so a prearranged visit to the winery might be worthwhile. The only winery/tasting room I'm familiar with in the West Elks AVA is Stoney Mesa Winery in Cedaredge. They make some nice Gewurtz and Riesling, and a previous vintage Merlot was a favorite of ours. Perhaps the owner will offer a tour of his small vineyard winery. The Ptarmigan Vineyards is connected with Stoney Mesa and bottles premium wines from that vineyard.

Don't miss visiting the farm market stores in Palisade and on East Orchard Mesa for the world's best peaches. We'll be busy gearing up for apple harvest and sell to most of the local produce stands, so give me a shout when you're here and I'll be happy to connect you with some of my favorites.

Finally, make sure to set aside a morning to drive through the spectacular Colorado National Monument.

Cheers

[TomasK]

Steve, thanks so much for the great information. Unfortunately, I'm scheduled to work the week of the Mountain Winefest, so we won't be able to visit then. We're tentatively planning to head that way the last week of July/first week of August. Can we expect any peaches, or other stone fruit, to be ripe that early?

I may take you up on the offer for more info as we get closer. Thanks again!

[Hummer]

The drought and early warm weather has pushed harvest ahead about two weeks for all fruits. Apricots and cherries are available now, and probably some early cling peaches. In late July there should be plenty of the better free stone peaches as well as cherries.

You might be interested in the downtown Farmers Market held on Thursdays along Main St. Produce, artisans and music draws a good crowd.