The other finalists are pretty damn good company, too. Though we’re pretty proud to be the only one that doesn’t pen about Colorado craft beer (#winesnob).

We’ll pop a bottle of bubbles, win or lose.

While we wait for the results, be sure to read the other finalists:

• Denver Off the Wagon
• Fermentedly Challenged
• Brewtally Insane

By Jacob Harkins | Local Winos Magazine editor

Beaujolais nouveau will be released on Thursday. The iconic French red from this season’s harvest is a hit the minute it hits shelves. Matt Cookson likes to one up the Burgundy region, releasing the annual Wild Cañon Harvest blush rosé one full day ahead of Beaujolais.

“To throw eggs, you know what I mean … to say that we can do it faster than the French,” Cookson says.

Sparky fighting words aside, The Winery at the Holy Cross Abbey has taken a page from the harvest celebrations of Beaujolais, mixed it with the unique history of Cañon City and created an annual release like none other in Colorado — or perhaps the world for that matter.

Cookson, Holy Cross winemaker, came up with the idea in 2002 to focus on the harvest of the region, using the winery property as the core. In the early days of area farming, the property the winery now occupies used to be the spot where all the neighboring farms would drop off produce to pack and ship all over the country.

As an homage to the pre-19th century practices, Cookson invited area grape growers to sell their juicy berries to him, regardless of flavor. Year one yielded about three tons of fruit from 30 growers — some professional and some hobbyists — with a mix of grapes including everything from Concord to the classic wine varieties.

Because of the unpredictable mix of red and white, and flavor and quality for that matter, he opted to combine everything into a sweet rosé. The idea caught on, despite some admitted trial and error.

“Because of all the grape varieties in there, there’s no way we are going to make a red wine, there’s no way were going to make a white wine. Let’s just make it what it is,” Cookson says. “The first years we really didn’t understand what we were doing. Now we understand how things are going to come in.”

And what for that matter.

The 2012 version, released tomorrow, features 30 tons of grapes from about 130 area growers. There’s Concord, Niagra, Riesling, Norton, Baco Noir, Cabernet Franc, Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cayuga White, Pinot Noir, Canadian Muscat, Steuben and a host more.

• We review the 2011 version

The winery pays $800 a ton to its neighbors for grapes like Concord and Niagra, and $1,200 for Vinifera such as Pinot Noir, Riesling and Cabernet Franc.

Cookson will throw in a little extra for those who lug the grapes from far away places such as Pueblo. “Some people come in from as far away; I pay them a little extra for gas,” he says.

Each grower gets his or her name on the back label, in order of the weight of grapes provided. The 2,200 cases produced will sell out by spring, proving the community harvest celebration wine has been a success.

Beyond the popularity, it has also served as an experiment in Cañon City grape growing. Each year, Cookson helps the farmers get the most out of the varieties on their properties, and also discovers rich growing pockets for some of the most sought after grapes in the world.

“When you see people that are growing acres of Pinot Noir and acres of Cabernet Franc, the potential is there,” he says. “Most of these guys that never really produced are in their seventh and eighth year — and it just seems to be optimum now.”

This year alone, he crushed some good Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Viognier and Riesling. The Viognier, in fact, was good and plentiful enough that he may even create a separate release of it.

“It’s in beautiful brand new barrels, and it’s going to be a screaming Viognier,” Cookson says.

You’ll have to wait a few months to see that wine to fruition; he’s not racing the French to bottle on his more serious wines.

• More wines of the fall

There are serious wines and not-so-serious wines. Then there are wines that are simply seriously cool in concept. The annual Wild Cañon Harvest blush rosé from The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey is one that falls into that latter category.

It’s a blend, in any given year, of 15-30 grapes grown in the backyards of those who call Cañon City home. There might be Concord, Syrah, Norton or just about anything else you can imagine in the release each year.

It’s a community wine, with the neighbors Holy Cross Abbey contributing the grapes and winemaker Matt Cookson turning it into a sweet, blush-style rosé.

It offers wafts of Welch’s, showcasing an ample inclusion of sugar and likely a heavy dose of Concord grapes. Then there are several hard-to-place smells that are indicative of 20 some-odd grapes (many that you’ve never drank before) all blended together.

It’s sweet and unique on the palate with flavors more akin to a strawberry punch than a crisp Tavel rosé. Is the wine itself serious? Nope, but how cool is it that dozens of Cañon City area residents contributed the grapes to this release?

The 2012 Wild Cañon Harvest featuring 28 grapes will be released in mid-November. 

More:

The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey 2011 Wild Cañon Harvest
Colorado table wine
Price: $12 (sold out; 2012 due out mid November)
NR on Local Winos’ completely arbitrary rating system

Like this:

• Winery at Holy Cross reviews
• Colorado Rosés

By Jacob Harkins | Local Winos Magazine editor

What defines a wine as “fall?” Technically nothing. The fact is that just about every wine can be worked into any season based on circimstances.

So when the good folks over at Everyday Colorado on Fox 31 sent a query last week to appear on the show talking fall wines, I went with feel and food to define the autumn flavors.

Crisp whites seem so summery, and huge reds scream for a ski lodge and fireplace. Wines that fall in between that spectrum of boddy seemed just about right. With that in mind — and autumn veggies and turkey on the table — here are six fall Colorado wines I brought on the show:

Five really old (by Colorado standards) local wines.

By Jacob Harkins | Local Winos Magazine editor

The average American wine experience consists of hopping in the car, motoring a few blocks to the wine shop, picking out a bottle, returning home, opening and enjoying.

While there’s nothing wrong with this level of instant gratification, a life without vintage wine is not worth drinking.

With a little bit of cash (or foresight and planning), it’s not terribly difficult to enjoy wines from premier regions of the world that are decades or more older. In Colorado, an industry that started producing wines (for the most part) only two decades ago, not so much.

That’s what made Max Ariza’s “Life of Wine” seminar as part of Colorado Mountain Winefest (Sept. 15) so appealing. It was an opportunity to explore five local wines with some relatively serious age on them — and compare them to a newer counterpart.

It was a topic that had me geeking out as soon as the Mountain Winefest seminar schedule was released. Prior to this tasting, my “old” Colorado wine consisted of three bottles:

• 1997 Canyon Wind Cellars Merlot
• 1998 Trail Ridge Winery Cabernet Franc
• 2003 Carslon Vineyards Riesling (a wine judged the best in the world in 2004)

From those experiences, I’ve begun to believe in the aging potential of the wines made in the Grand Valley. It seems Ariza has the same sentiments, but he was sure to point out that across the entire world, it’s really the only 1 percent of vineyards and winemakers in each region that produce wines that can age a decade or much longer.

“Only the best vineyards and the best grapes (age),” Ariza told the dozen gathered for the 10-wine vintage tasting. “Colorado, we’re gonna see.”

Ariza came by the old wines when a friend dropped off seven cases of Colorado selections, mostly from the 1990s. After tasting through the lot, he devised the seminar not as proof that every Colorado wine is age worthy, rather that the top few percent are certainly cellar worthy, just like every other region in the world.

“I’m going to show you every facet of aging; it isn’t always pretty,” Ariza says.

The proof of that statement came in flight 2, a comparison of Cabernet-based blends from Colorado Cellars, the longest continuous operating winery in the state. The 1999 version was likely back-blended with Lemberger, but the fruit dropped out of the wine during the Bush administration.

It was all acid and nuts and rather unpleasant, especially when paired with a respectable version from 2009.

The lesson here is not to say Colorado Cellars made a bad wine in 1999; it was just made with fruit and style much like 95 percent of the wines in the world, meaning it should be drank within a few years of release.

A 1997 Pinot Noir from Carlson Vineyards also fell in the “not-so-pretty,” category; the elegant flavors of the Pinot had long since disappeared.

But a 2000 Riesling also from the pioneering vintner Parker Carlson proved that Colorado has the grapes to last. This 12-year-old offering was a complex mix of honeycomb, peach and petrol. It’s sugars and acids have continued to dance together in the bottle over the last 10 years and its taste was perhaps the most remarkable flavoring I’ve enjoyed in a local wine to date.

The 1997 Plum Creek Winery Cabernet was the most lively of the old wines, showing delicious promise for a few years for those who might still have a case in the basement.

As we filed out of the two-hour lecture and tasting, the simple question that was poised by the topic was answered.

Can Colorado wines age?

Yes.

But it has to be a wine from the right vintner, vintage and vineyard.

Turns out Colorado isn’t that much different from the rest of the world in that regard.

Tasting Notes from Life of Wine:

Flight 1

Carlson Vineyards 2000 Riesling

Carlson Vineyards 2010 Riesling (coming soon)

Flight 2

Colorado Cellars 1999 Red blend (coming soon)

Colorado Cellars 2009 red blend (coming soon)

Flight 3

Carlson Vineyards 1997 Pinot Noir (coming soon)

Alfred Eames Cellars 2009 Pinot Noir

Flight 4

Carlson Vineyards 1999 Cougar Run Shiraz (coming soon)

Carlson Vineyards 2009 Cougar Run Shiraz (coming soon)

Flight 5

Plum Creek Winery 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon (coming soon)

Plum Creek Winery 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (coming soon)

What a treat. Seriously. This Carlson Vineyards 2000 Riesling has held up beautifully over the last dozen years and even impresses a tad more than the Carlson Riesling from 2003 that won “best in the world” bragging rights. Honeycomb flavors serve as the base with a delightful mix of peach and petrol blending throughout. The nose suggests the same, and the color is now a perfect deep gold. It’ll last a little while longer, too.

* This wine was sampled as part of Max Ariza’s Life is Wine seminar, preceding the 21st annual Colorado Mountain Winefest

More:

Carlson Vineyards 2000 Riesling
Colorado
Price: N/A
92 points on Local Winos’ completely arbitrary rating system

Some Colorado wines can collect this much dust and still taste vibrant. Max Ariza will try to prove that during the Sept. 14 Life of Wine seminar.

By Jacob Harkins | Local Winos Magazine editor

In the late 1980s, Max Ariza had that wine moment that all of us cork dorks long for: He tasted the most remarkable wine of his drinking days. It was a 1949 Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne Chardonnay, a Grand Cru Burgundy that at the time was nearly 40 years old.

The former sommelier at the Brown Palace and Adams Mark in Denver and current wine instructor at Johnson and Wales can rattle off an impressive list of old — scratch that, very old — wines he’s comsumed. A 1960 Latour, ’49 Mouton, ’61 Lafite, a “bunch of Burgundy from the 30s and 40s” and a Port dating all the way back to 1892.

The man has had his share of vintage wine, but it’s that dry, Chardonnay that sticks out.

“It was showing so beautifully,” he says. “It was stunning; you don’t expect that from a white wine. To this day that was the most exquisite wines I’ve ever had.”

When Ariza takes the stage on Friday for his “Life of Wine” seminar the day ahead of Colorado Mountain Winefest, he’ll likely leave guests with a similar level of shock. See, he’s pouring vintage Colorado wines, selections dating back to the mid 1990s, a time when few knew anything about local wine.

The seminar will showcase old wines from some of the state’s classic and pioneer vintners alongside fresh and vibrant youthful versions. For example, 2010 Riesling from Carlson Vineyards will be paired alongside Carlson’s 2000 vintage and Plum Creek Winery 1996 and 2008 Cabernet Sauvignons will be compared as part of the 10-wine tasting.

This event came to fruition by fluke. Ariza, a near life-long wine professional, had never tasted an old Colorado wine until a friend, recently, unloaded a few cases of it on him, with vintages covering most of the 1990s (the modern area of Colorado-made wine began in 1980 or so).

Was he surprised when he dusted a few off and tasted?

“Yes,” he says, rolling into a knowing laughter. “Yes because I didn’t know in what condition they were kept.”

He didn’t really have any idea if the folks in the early days of Colorado made long-lasting juice, either. Ariza knows now, and he hopes those who come to his seminar will take away a few lessons:

“We can put a few (Colorado) bottles away and wait 10 years and wait to consume it — and have a better product sometimes,” he says.

Plus, it will hopefully help a few more people realize that not all wine has to be consumed within 30 minutes of return from the wine shop. That’s the French in him coming out. He grew up in a culture of cellaring wine for years.

Now he can showcase that it’s possible to do that with some of the state’s select wines and not just top bottles of Burgundy that costs hundreds of dollars.

The Line Up:

• 2000 Carlson Vineyards Riesling and 2010 Carlson Vineyards Riesling
• 1997 Carlson Vinearyds Pinot Noir and 2008 Alfred Eames Cellars Pinot Noir
• 1996 Plum Creek Winery Cabernet Sauvignon and 2008 Plum Creek Winery Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1999 Colorado Cellars Cabernet/Merlot/Syrah blend and 2009 Colorado Cellars similar red blend
• 1999 Carlson Vineyards and 2009 Carlson Vineyards Syrah

Tickets:
The Life of Wine with Max Ariza, 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14 at the DoubleTree in Grand Junction. Tickets are $45.

Colorado Mountain Winefest is Sept. 15 at Riverbend Park in Palisade. Tickets are $43

Garrett Estate Cellars Pheasant Run Red 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon.

By Jacob Harkins | Local Winos Media editor

Garrett Estate Cellars is still one of the new kids on the Colorado wine block with its first vintages dating to 2008, and to date, its white wine production has outshone its darker half.

Well, that’s beginning to change, if the 2009 Pheasant Run Red Cabernet is any indication.

Just a hair shy of its third birthday, the wine is already showing some slight oxidation in its coloring (an orange hue mixing with the dark red wine colors of Cabernet). This is not a bad thing more than an excuse to drink the bottles you have kicking around soon rather than stashing it in the cellar.

The nose showcases some blackberry notes mixing with a touch of a not-unpleasant soap burst. In the mouth, acids kick in strong, suggesting a lamb dish might be in order to maximize the flavors. After a second in the mouth, a surprising sweet and tart blueberry flavor kicks in, mixing with some strawberry tastes. The result is a light and easy-going Cabernet.

I still think the whites, as a whole, are stronger, but it’s nice to see the bigger whites of GEC catching up.

More:

Garrett Estate Cellars 2009 Pheasant Run Red Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol: 14.5
Colorado
Price: $16
82 points on Local Winos’ completely arbitrary rating system

A little Desert Moon Vineyards port goes a long way in this take on a swizzle.

During the Colorado Wine Cocktail Celebration earlier this month, cocktail consultant Matty Durgin took a classic swizzle recipe, adding some Colorado wine in the form of Desert Moon Vineyard’s Ruby Port and made an all around interesting drink that seems destined for the holiday table.

Lord Nelson’s Swizzle

Glass: Collins Glass or Footed Pilsner
Ice: Crushed
Garnish: Grated nutmug, orange zest

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Desert Moon Vineyards 2008 Fireside Ruby Port
• 0.5 oz El Dorado 3 Year Demerara Rum
• 0.5 oz Fino Sherry
• 0.5 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime
• 0.75 oz Blood Orange Juice
• 0.25 oz Demerara Sugar
• 1 Barspoon St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
• 2 Dashes Aztec Chocolate Bitters

Method:

Add ingredients to glass. Fill halfwith ice. Swizzle at length until healthy frost appears on outside of glass. Fill balance with ice. Garnish with Nutmeg, a Spoon Straw, and a large piece of Orange Zest.

• More Colorado Wine Cocktail Celebration recipes

A cocktail to make if you have an extra bottle of Creekside Cellars Syrah kicking around.

Matty Durgin has the cool title of “cocktail consultant,” which means bars near and far pay him to help develop their bar programs. Pretty cool, right?

The man knows how to shake a drink.

He’s also known as a complex cocktail artist, using a bevy of ingredients. His À L’ancienne drink made for the Colorado Wine Cocktail Celebration earlier this month is no exception. It features Creekside Cellars 2008 Syrah.

À L’ancienne

Glass:  Chilled Coupe
Ice: Chipped
Garnish: Orange zest

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Creekside Cellars 2008 Syrah
• 0.5 oz Amoro Cio Ciaro
• 0.5 oz VSOP Cognac
• 0.5 oz Egg White
• 0.25 oz House Orgeat Syrup
• 0.25 oz Fresh Orange Juice
• 1 Dash Reagan’s Orange Bitters

Method:

Add ingredients into mixing tin. Dry shake for 10 seconds. Fill the balance of the tin with chipped ice, and Hard Shake at length to emulsify. Strain contents into a chilled Coupe. Garnish with a discarded, flamed orange twist.

• More Colorado Wine Cocktail Celebration recipes