Colorado Wine Room's Latest News
Wine Tasting 101 - A Classy Evening
Do you find wine intriguing? Want to learn more? Join us in less than two weeks as we sip and swirl our way to a better understanding of wine and its complexities. We will discuss such wine concepts as dryness, fruitiness, tannins and acidity. Spend an evening sampling a variety of fine Colorado wines followed by light hors d'oeuvres. Make it a Date Night, a Girl’s Night Out or a great excuse to meet new people! Sign up early—this one will fill up fast! Pre-registration with payment is required. Call 858-6330 to register. This class takes place here at the Colorado Wine Room on Saturday, July 21 from 7 to 9 pm. Cost is $30 for Wine Club members, $35 for all others. Go ahead and eat a decent meal beforehand, but we'll have crackers & tapenades available afterwards.
A Show on the Road and Beyond
The Colorado Wine Room does both onsite and offsite special events. One of the more memorable events in recent history was a blind tasting at the gorgeous and historic Coulter Lake Guest Ranch, north of Rifle. The ranch sits in my favorite habitat: mixed conifer and aspen forest from 8000 - 9000 elevation. This is nesting territory for the Goshawk, my favorite raptorial bird. The Guest Ranch offers hiking, horseback riding, fishing, hunting, fabulous meals prepared by the staff and much more. Our role on this particular trip was to entertain and educate a group on a company retreat at the ranch. We talked about Colorado wines, wine styles and wine tasting techniques. Thanks to Jack & Pam Allard for their wonderful hospitality and a fine time in the mountains. If you're interested in having a wine tasting either at our shop or at an offsite location, please contact us.
Pinot Country
A trip to the West Elks American Viticultural Area
(Also known as an "AVA", a special, government-designated grape growing region) gave us an intriguing glimpse at several Delta County winemakers who grow and make Pinot Noir, arguably one of the most difficult and potentially rewarding wines to grow . One of these winemakers is the affable Eames Peterson of Alfred Eames Cellars. Eames began his winemaking career in Spain when he was eighteen. He's matured like a fine wine since then, and has a beautiful and unique winery in Paonia, CO, with an impressive lineup of distinctive wines. We couldn't help buying quite a few of them to please your palate. Currently we have his Pinot Noir available to taste. It's light and soft with a burst of black pepper - very intriguing. At right you can see two winemakers at "work".
Another of the more unique winemakers in the state that we were able to spend some time with is the talented and elusive Steve Rhodes of S Rhodes Vineyards. Steve is a symphony cellist, and a well-known recluse. His wines have been recognized by some of the top wine professionals in the nation. The accompanying picture captures the moment after Steve delivered a choice cut of humor. Steve was being his usual shy self, not wanting to pose for the camera. I offered that he could look at me instead of the camera or the ground, and he quickly returned that he'd rather look at Natalie. As you can see, we all got a pretty big kick out of it. Steve allowed us to buy just enough of his high end Pinot Noir to share with our Wine Club members, as he is running short. This wine is like liquid silk. It is truly sublime, and we believe one of the best examples of a Colorado Pinot Noir we've seen.
A third Pinot maker in the Delta County fold is Lance Hanson of Jackrabbit Hill, pictured here in front of his pot still. Lance and his wife Anna make not only wines out of their certified organic grapes, but also fruit spirits, liqueurs and grappa. By the way, we love their barely off-dry Riesling, dubbed the Lone Eagle, and it is selling rather quickly here at the shop. We don't know if we'll get more, but it's here now, so come get it while it's hot (the weather, not the wine). Their Hail Mary Pinot Noir, so called for a hailstorm in 2004, is unusually dark for a Colorado Pinot Noir. It also offers a noseful of high alpine forest and blackberries. The wine was aged 10 months in first year Chardonnay barrels. The vines are a field blend of Dijon clones 113, 115, and 119 on rootstock 3309c. Most of us, yours truly included, are not familiar enough with the different clones, rootstocks and their unique characteristics to make any use of this info, but we've included it just in case.
As you can see, Delta County seems to be the hot spot for Pinot Noir in Colorado. It also is home to some nice Pinot Grigio, aka Pinot Gris grapes. Hopefully we can share with you some of our findings in this department as well in the near future.
Viognier (Vee oh NYAY) Stroked on the Street
It's gratifying to hear very well-respected wine writers singing the praises of my favorite grape. When I saw this article in the Wall Street Journal, I knew we'd taken yet another step toward nationwide recognition of this severely underplanted grape. I tell folks here in the shop I've never met a grape in Colorado I liked better. Overall performance for the grape grower is top of the line; none better for both yield & price. I also tell people it's not very well known because it's three syllables and two silent letters. Sadly, this seems to be more than the average mouth can handle.
By the way, the Talon 2006 Viognier, made right here at the Colorado Wine Room, has developed very nicely in the bottle since January. The hard citric edges have rounded significantly so that most everybody that tries it likes it quite well. It's got a flavor all its own, reminiscent of grapefruit, melons, and a touch of Lichee fruit with nice acid balance and goodly weight. Not quite as heavy as a Chardonnay, but heavier than a Pinot Gris. Great food wine, great solo on a warm summer afternoon. The best dish we've had with it was a greek chicken recipe. The chicken pieces were stuffed with a mixture of feta cheese, pesto and sundried tomatoes, then brushed with lemon juice and olive oil. Fabulosa!
Cheers!
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