Rocky Mountain Wineries…

The Colorado River that slices its way through the Rockies was once called the Grand River. And so the Smiths, originally from Missouri, named their vineyards and winery after the famous river, the same one that farther downstream carves the Grand Canyon…

Rocky Mountain Wineries; a travel guide to the wayside vineyards. Boulder, Pruett Publishing, 1994.

Thirty years after publication, Bob and I (the authors) still love to visit the vineyards of Palisade — Colorado’s first federally-designated American Viticultural Area (AVA). At the time we wrote the book Colorado had only nine wineries; only four of which were located in Palisade.

Our guidebook — the first to focus exclusively on American wineries east of Colorado, is 30 years out-of-date, I am happy to report.  In 2024, the state licenses over 150 wineries, cideries, and meaderies. Yet our book is historically accurate, and some of our favorite wineries and vineyards remain in production. We had a wonderful few years doing the research. NOW MORE RESEARCH IS NEEDED!

Grande River Vineyards has consistently grown and made a variety of excellent wines — wines that reflect the unique terroir of Palisade. Here are a few photographs I took when Bob and I recently spent a little fall crush-time at Wine Country Inn. We visited a few rows of grape vines that were planted in the late 1980s, when we first tasted Steve and Sharon Smith’s wines.