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Colorado Winemakers Channel Creative Energy to Produce Award-Winning Wines
In partnership with: Colorado Department of Agriculture
Move over, California – Colorado’s talented local winemakers are crafting creative, premium wines from classic grapes as well as cherries, peaches, plums and even honey allowing for the state’s industry to flourish with these unique flavors. Colorado’s abundance of sunny days, cool nights, and low humidity make it an ideal place for vineyards to thrive, and wineries are popping up all over the state.
In 2021, the Governor’s Cup Winemaking Competition received 257 wine submissions from 41 Colorado wineries, including several newcomers. Carboy Winery of Littleton won the Cup for its 2019 Teroldego, an Italian grape relatively new to Colorado.
“Teroldego is a red grape that has enormous potential in Colorado due to its hardiness to cold and heat. As a wine, it’s very complex and yet approachable to a wide array of palates,” says Kevin Webber, CEO of Carboy Winery, which opened its flagship location in Littleton in 2016 and has grown to include three additional locations in Denver, Breckenridge and Palisade. “Teroldego is something different, and we’re in a market where fun and different is what Colorado was built on. Teroldego is potentially one of the red grape varietals of the future, not just for Colorado, but for the U.S. in general.”
Despite challenges such as fall freezes, supply chain issues and shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Carboy Winery had its best year in 2021.
“It was our biggest year for growth since our inception,” Webber says. “We’re entrepreneurs built to innovate. It’s fun to be part of the wine industry here, which is more collaborative than competitive. It’s a tight-knit community where we all push one another to help grow the industry.”
Fruits of Winemakers’ Labor
At Mountain View Winery in Olathe, on Colorado’s Western Slope, Michael and Wendy Young grow seven grape varietals on the same orchard where Mike’s family has grown fruits since 1960.
“Moving into grape growing in 2000 seemed natural,” Wendy says. “Mike has a background in culinary arts and a love of good food and wine.”
Mountain View’s bestselling wine is Dare Devil Red, a syrah blend.
“We love to experiment with grape and fruit blends, such as our cherry merlot we call Uncompahgre Red and an apple chardonnay we call Ash Mesa White,” Wendy says. “We also make straight fruit wines using local fruit, like apple, pear, rhubarb, cherry, peach, wild plum and apricot.”
Like Carboy Winery and other winemakers across the state, Mountain View has experienced recent challenges.
“Our price for bottles – if we can even get them – has quadrupled,” Wendy says. “Our grapes have had a couple hard years as well. The offseason freezes hurt our harvest. Our whites are in short supply with the lack of crop the past two years.”
One venture that has helped Mountain View thrive is Harvest Hosts, a membership program that allows RV owners to camp at wineries, breweries and farms nationwide with no camping fees. Mountain View was one of 14 Colorado wineries listed as Harvest Hosts in 2021.
“With COVID and folks needing to social distance, this enterprise kept places like ours afloat,” Wendy says. “We hosted at least one RV every single night of the summer, both in 2020 and 2021. They stay in their own self-contained units. We offer a space to park, with the suggestion that they support us by buying wine. It works well, and we have met fun people from all over the U.S.”
See more:Â Pandemic Partnerships: Coloradans Serve Their Communities With Fresh, Local Food
A Spectrum of Sparkling Wines
In Palisade, Kaibab Sauvage has grown grapes for Colorado wineries for more than 20 years on his 60-acre vineyard. In 2019, Sauvage launched his own winemaking operation, Sauvage Spectrum, with business partner Patric Matysiewski.
“Patric has been working with our grapes for years and knew they were perfect for sparkling wine,” Sauvage says. “We wanted our wines to be expressed in a manner true to where and how they were grown, highlighting Colorado’s exquisite terroir.”
Sauvage Spectrum is best known for its Sparklet series, a lifestyle brand focused on fun, fruit-forward and affordable sparkling wines.
“We offer a white, rosé and Candy Red, a very rare Lambrusco-inspired sparkling red wine that was recently awarded a double gold at the Governor’s Cup Winemaking Competition,” Sauvage says.
Sauvage also offers a lineup of still (non-sparkling) wine, several of which have already won awards. Their Domaine Red, Reserve Red, Reserve White and Sparklet White all received gold medals at the 2021 Sunset International Wine Competition.
Like other winemakers, Sauvage Spectrum has dealt with bottles being challenging to source and increasing in price, as well as “freight rates going through the roof.” A fall freeze reduced their 2021 harvest to 16% of normal.
“Our crews spent all their free time in 2021 reestablishing the overwintering portion on over 30,000 vines to get them back in shape to produce a crop in 2022,” Sauvage says.
Despite the risks, Sauvage believes it’s a great time to be in the Colorado wine and grape business.
“The environment is teeming with creativity, progressive winemaking techniques and an immense collaborative spirit that is pushing the boundaries of what Colorado wine is and will be,” he says.
To learn more about these and other Colorado wineries, visit coloradowine.com.
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