The five most important Colorado wines of 2011

By Jacob Harkins | Local Winos magazine editor

I drank way too much wine in 2011. Just looking back at the company receipts for the year is a little scary. Mom would not be proud. At least it gave me incredible insight into the Colorado wine world, covering the great to the horrific and everything in between.

Heading into 2012, I can honestly say there’s a lot of hope that our local industry can really make a name for itself. It almost seems as if a lot of stars are finally aligning. Five bottles in particular give me that feeling. These are the most important bottles that were on Colorado shelves in 2011. Notice I didn’t use a loaded term like “best.” These wines, which where all quite tasty, went beyond a rating. They did something that helped further the goal of Colorado wine becoming more important than it is today.

5. Liliputian Winery Shangri-La ginger wine
Scratching your head yet? Ginger wine. Yup, it made the list, and for two good reasons. First, it’s tasty and fun, an interesting take on wine that shows a curious side to production. Second, it’s a cash cow. Liliputian owner/winemaker Lisa Fairbanks can make this bad boy year round and sells a ton of it. One of the major issues hurting the local industry is the ability to make bigger profits with small productions levels. Well, here’s a solution, and it pairs really well with sushi.

4. Boulder Creek 2010 Viognier
I took this wine to showcase during a Colorado wine tasting at Row 14 I taught in the fall. It was a basic wine class meant to show off the haute eatery’s local vino list, and I asked to bring one outside selection. This one. Well, it was a hit. This wine soon became a favorite of chef Jensen Cummings and the restaurant actually called Boulder Creek to get it on the list. When does that happen? Umm, never. This Viognier is a delicate offering that shows finesse with a tough grape is possible in Colorado.

3. Guy Drew 2007 Metate
It’s a shame that Gary Vaynerchuk stepped away from his daily videos on wine. At least he got to Colorado first. He was so entertaining and informative with both the Wine Library TV and Daily Grape, and he never judged a wine on anything but the flavors. On a visit to Denver, he got hold of a Guy Drew wine; his response couldn’t have been any better. He rated the wine 89 points plus, said “wow” after his first sip and thought about buying up cheap vineyard land near Cortez. Guy Drew sold a few extra cases that week, and nearly 1 million people saw the video that gave Colorado wine some serious credibility in the wine world.

2. Anemoi Wines 2009 Boreas
Colorado needs two things: More bomb $40 to $50 bottles and more really satisfying $10 options. The $24 wine is stuck in an uncomfortable spot in the consumers’ mind. So when Jay Christianson took over Canyon Wind Cellars from his retiring father, one of his first orders of business was to launch a separate, more expensive brand, Anemoi. Many bemoan price locally, but his $40 Bordeaux blend is a brilliant wine that comes packed in wood crates and personifies a higher end of the market that should be available in Colorado. Kudos.

1. Infinite Monkey Theorem 2010 Sparkling Muscat
Classically speaking, this was far from the best wine in the state; or winemaker Ben Parsons’ lineup for that matter. Doesn’t matter. This might be the most important wine the state’s ever produced because it came in a can and was so damn fun that it took over Aspen Food & Wine. It also became a sensation in the chic circles of Denver and there are now plans to go national with wine can distribution. Colorado wine needs some serious attention, and sometimes it takes a funny wine in a clever package to do so.