Colorado Wine Country

Recently, I took a little trip to the heart of Colorado wine country. Here I found several things that made this trip worthwhile. See for quite some time now I have been hoping to visit an actual vineyard to see for myself all the workings of what all goes into creating a bottle of wine. I would love to have traveled to California to visit Napa Valley or Sonoma or really any of the regions out there. But I was unemployed, without a whole lot of money, and without many people to make the trip with me. Luckily for me, the press coming out of the western slope of colorado was very inviting.

And after experiencing some of these Colorado wineries, I must say that I was impressed. Now, to start off there is some bad news to get out of the way. Colorado is not a place for red wine. The wines taste too much like alcohol and not enough like wine. The cabernet sauvignons bite rather hard and do not show fruit very well in their flavors. Many of them have very interesting, earthy aromas, yet the inviting scents just do not translate to flavor. Almost every red that I tasted was dry. With Syrah, Merlot and Cab Franc dominating the red varieties, there isn't much sweetness in the grapes to begin with, but regardless, when an unbalanced, tannic, non-fruity wine is completely dry, it doesn't make for a very enjoyable experience.

Luckily though, the same is not to be said about the white wines. I am not one to drink white wine very often outside thanksgiving and other select holidays but I must say, after experiencing the Gewurztraminers and Rieslings of the West Elks and Grand Valley AVAs, I may have become more of a white wine person. Wines that I always took as too sweet and tart for my liking were surprisingly softer and more dry. Very pleasant aromas and just enough sugar to meet expectations made these wines more than I could have hoped for. So my advice to anybody interested in learning more about colorado wines, look into the whites. Even the Chardonnays came off light and buttery and while I am not a fan of the wine, they compare very well with many of the Chards coming out of california or other new world regions.

Another pleasant surprise found on the western slope is the dessert wines. Many different kinds of port and muscat and other dessert wines are extremely enjoyable. Now being as these were pretty much the first dessert wines I have ever tried, for a pleasant, stomach easing, after dinner treat, these sugary, high alcohol wines are like drinking candy. I highly recommend the dessert wines from Stone Cottage Cellars in Paonia as well as those at Graystone and Garfield Estates in Clifton and Palisade.

To top off the experience, the landscape in the area is incredible. the mountains surrounding the valley look like something from another planet. Definitely like nothing seen in colorado. To add to the beauty of the area, the people are an absolute joy to talk to while tasting the wines they have to offer. The majority of these people love sharing their knowledge of wine and do a great job of recommending other places to go. Many of the wineries buy from each other and share each other's wines for tastings.

Overall, while I was disappointed with the selection of red wines, learning how enjoyable the white and port wines are combined with the beauty of the people and place made this little trip one to remember. This is something that I would definitely do again in the future.