Colorado offers skiing, ice skating, and snow tubing in the winter, and the summers have unparalleled hiking, mountain biking, paddle boarding, and camping.
Include the alluring vineyards and wineries, so you’ll discover the perfect pairing, from raspberry-honey blend to peach or Viognier to Cabernet Franc. Colorado offers countless wines, capturing recognition worldwide as more than legitimate but celebrated. All of which the locals have known for a long time.
Four regions in Colorado provide some of the best wine tastings in the state, including Grand Valley and Western Slope, South-Central Colorado, and Four Corners Region. You’ll treat your palate to some of the best award-winning wines by visiting these areas.
With over 140 vineyards and wineries in the state there are plenty of opportunities to experience wine tasting in Colorado, let’s look at a few places that stand out as unique, award-winning, and complex to rounded flavors.
Where To Go For Wine Tasting in Colorado
- Snowy Peaks Winery
- Stone Cottage Cellars
- Fox Fire Farms
- Mesa Park Vineyards
- Mesa Winds Winery
- Qutori Wines
- Leroux Creek Vineyards
- Reds Wine Boutique
1. Snowy Peaks Winery
The stunning view of the Rockies alone invites you to visit Snowy Peaks Winery. Massive stones loom in the panorama view, with elk meandering along the streets.
An inviting place lets you relax, breathe and savor some cheese, sipping a lovely bottle of red.
The tasting room offers flights that include five wines at an affordable price. Picking the wines is up to you, which is difficult considering the options.
Their grapes come from Colorado, including dry, sweet, or award-winning semi-sweet Riesling, Albarino, Mourvedre, Malbec, and award-winning Cabernet Franc.
The winery’s Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 will satisfy your palate if you savor a dry red. Black currant and blueberry flavors soothe the palate with a velvety vanilla finish that holds your taste buds forever. With packed tannins, this rich red does not disappoint.
Open daily from 12 to 6:30 PM. The winery hosts musical events every week on Fridays and Sundays.
2. Stone Cottage Cellars
Welcoming staff will make your visit a happy memory, pulling you to return to Stone Cottage Cellars, sit under a shade tree, sipping delightful wine.
Tucked away in the North Fork Valley, this family-run business stays connected to the heart of the land and mountains, building a sustainable life. The winery offers an extraordinary approach to the art of winemaking in Colorado.
Brent and Karen left their corporate world in 1994 to raise a family in a rural community, connecting the land where they built. They purchased one of the highest elevation vineyards in the world, producing some grapes with crisp acidity and rich flavor.
Their philosophy is that though wine is refreshing and singly pleasant, try it with a well-prepared dish.
Open daily from 11 AM to 6 PM, May 27 through October 31, and Saturdays and Sundays in May. The Stone Cottage in the center of the estate is a delightful farm-stay opportunity, allowing you to get a feel and taste of living in a vineyard.
The winery holds events during the warmer months. They either host them on the premises or team up with local venues to help host dining events or harvest festivals.
3. Fox Fire Farms
Fox Fire Farms is a commercial vineyard and winery in the region nestled between Durango and Pagosa Springs. A Colorado Centennial 910-acre livestock farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, makes this slice of heaven more than just a winery.
It is the ideal backdrop for sipping a glass or sharing a bottle of wine. The stunning farm creates a relaxing setting for an afternoon picnic, wine tasting, or special event.
Their handcrafted wines are irreplaceable in this area. The cold climate vineyard grows Corot Noir, Marquette, Traminette, Petite Pear, Brianna, and Vignoles grapes. As hybrid varieties, they offer exceptional tastes and balance.
Follow the flower garden to the tasting room is friendly and open Thursdays through Sundays, from 1 PM to 6 PM during the spring and summer months. You can begin with the dries and let them linger before trying the sweet and semi-sweet wines.
Make sure you try the 2012 Marquette, thanks to winning the Best of Show and Triple Gold at the Colorado State Fair. Appreciate the dark red, brick color, tasting ripe plums, and black cherries with an aroma of smoky oak, raisins, vanilla, and spices.
The winery hosts several events, including the Spring Creek Carriage Service offering a carriage ride to the renovated Old Schoolhouse on the property. It includes a two-hour round-trip ride and a walk inside the historic school building.
4. Mesa Park Vineyards
Visiting Mesa Park Vineyards, you not only taste notable wines but also see what life is like in Palisade. The largest flattop mountain in the world, Grand Mesa, shelters the region known for abundant vineyards, orchards, and farms.
As a family-owned vineyard and winery, you’ll taste some award-winning estate-grown wines. Reds include Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Family Reserve Red. They also produce Riesling, Chardonnay, Rose, and Finz Dessert Wine.
The stunning views, relaxed surroundings, and cozy tasting room will make your wine tasting pleasant and carefree.
Highly recommended are the Barn Owl Red and the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The wineries limited production guarantees you receive full-bodied and award-winning wines.
The big red barn hosts the tasting room as a laid-back ambiance and an outdoor patio with stunning views while you sip your wine.
Open daily from 11 AM to 5 PM, bring your picnic and appreciate sitting outdoors, breathing the Colorado air.
5. Mesa Winds Winery
Mesa Winds Winery is a small operation that produces wine from grapes grown at a high elevation within Colorado’s Western Slope.
Here, the grapes experience intense sunlight, pure mountain air, and cool air. The unparalleled terroir makes their wine so unique.
Stop by the tasting room offers Chardonnay, Viognier, Meunier Noir, Mourvedre and Petite Verdot. The 2018 Viognier is a medium-full-bodied white with intensely aromatic and floral qualities, offering notes of honey and melon.
The 2019 Petite Verdot is a slice of heaven as a full-bodied wine in a perfect balance of black fruit and herbaceousness, finishing with high tannins.
Besides marveling at the gorgeous views of West Elks Mountain Range, don’t forget to tour the garden and orchards and see the farm animals.
The winery hosts several events throughout the season, including Summer Dinner Series, North Fork Uncorked, and Music at Mesa Winds. Take a stab at their Sunday Brunch or dining experience with organic produce from the farm and local farmers.
Hours are Thursdays, from 4 to 8 PM, Fridays, and Saturdays, from 11 to 8 PM, and Sundays, from 1- to 7 PM.
6. Qutori Wines
The Bennett family found the Qutori Wines in 2017, cherishing their Pinot Noir vineyard and cherry orchard, the central formation of the winery.
Visitors praise the café, winery, and outdoor patio with fantastic landscape and picturesque views of Mount Lamborn. You can sit, decompress and appreciate a glass of Cabernet Fran or Chardonnay.
Come by the tasting room inside the Root & Vine Market, surrounded by Aspen, Telluride, and Crested Butte. The spacious indoors and comfortable patio offer stunning views of the West Elks.
Start at their café and market, where you’ll find the tasting room. Make sure you check their website because their hours fluctuate. Open Thursdays through Mondays, from 10 AM to 6 PM, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Try the 2019 Governors Cup winners Pinot Noir and Rose or the 2017 Syrah, winning Best in Show.
7. Leroux Creek Vineyards
Joanna and Yvon call Leroux Creek Vineyards “a touch of Provence in Colorado.” They enjoy sharing grapes, experience, and knowledge along with a glass of wine, occasionally, from other vintners in the area.
Yvon, French-born, and his wife planted their first grapes in 2002 with big plans to keep growing, a dream to start a vineyard and country inn. Their goals came true, with visitors sipping their wine and staying at Leroux Creek Inn.
The vineyards grape harvest has become an annual community event, with people from the surrounding area helping Joanna and Yvon pick their grapes.
It’s a beautiful day with companionship, fun, fresh air, great food, work, include a couple of glasses of current vintages.
Stop by and try a glass or bottle featuring all organic wines. Sip the 2010 Gold Medal, Sonoma County Harvest, with a reminiscence of the South of France, rich black color. Soft tannins balance the acidity with the aromas of light chocolate.
The 2015 Pino Noir rolls around your tongue like a French Burgundy. The balance is stunning and joins the notes of fruit and acidity.
8. Reds Wine Boutique
Visit the rural town of Sterling and stop by Reds Wine Boutique, specializing in small-batch brewing wines. Cindy Graham hoped to establish a large winery but favored keeping it small and simple instead.
A reasonably young winery, their labels feature rescue dogs through their friends, family, and home. They even offer custom labeling and bottling for special occasions. The adventure began when Cindy won a competition at the local county fair. In 2018, she opened a winery.
The winery seems informal, with regular visits from friends and fun pictures of loveable dogs on their Facebook page.
Stop by for a friendly chat and delicious sips of wine. Open every day, from 12 to 6:30 PM, but check their Facebook page to see if something unique happens for them to close for the day.
