From the cutting room floor...

A few months ago, I wrote an article about five female social media personalities who are important to the Colorado wine industry. The list caught Wine Spectator's editor Thomas Matthews' eye. He asked me to sit down with meteorologist Jennifer Broome to talk about her thoughts on the local wine wine industry. How awesome is it that the country's most influential wine periodical is interested in Colorado Wine! I spent several months working with the magazine's editors polishing the piece and last week Wine Spectator published the highlights of the interview on their website. Please check it out and share it with people you know who share your love of local wine!

As it happens and as I knew would happen, only a handful of the questions were selected to be published. I want share the rest of the interview with you here.

CWP: How did you get into wine?

JB: I think it just came from eating really good food. How do you enhance that dining experience? It really stems from that. I’ve done quite a few trips to Napa Valley, in particular, and the more I started enjoying wine and trying new things, it grew from there.

  

CWP: What wines do you collect?

JB: One of the wines I’ve fallen in love with is Staglin. I’m also a Quintessa girl. I’m also a Flora Springs girl. I love Trilogy. Spottswoode and Sea Smoke are a few others. You can’t go wrong with Silver Oak. The owners of Silver Oak are actually from Colorado, so there’s a connection right there. I also like malbecs, Riojas and I’ll dabble with Italian wines.

CWP: What’s your most memorable bottle of all time?

JB: I should probably say my next glass.  But one moment that stands out was my 35th birthday.  A friend surprised me with a 1988 Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac and a 2001 Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac.  The wines were spectacular, making an evening with friends even more special.  Just like the complexities of wine, the gathering of friends was unexpected and complex with friends from different aspects of my life - television, fitness, charity, and travel - coming together in a special blend for a memorable evening.

Also, I’d have to say drinking library wines in one of the caves during the Quintessa Harvest Party in 2008 was very memorable.

CWP: What’s one wine that you have never had, but would like to try?

JB: Screaming Eagle (she says while laughing). Anemoi Boreas is also a local wine that I just picked up and looking forward to sharing with friends and family. Anemoi were the mythological Greek gods of wind. Being a meteorologist I certainly love the weather correlation. Boreas is God of the North Wind.

CWP: Has your experience in the TV industry come in handy in the wine industry?

JB: I think so. More that I get to share something that I love with people. If I go somewhere and have a great wine, I am able to share that experience. More of that has to do with my social media outlets than television. I am also able to spotlight some of the different wineries that I have been fortunate enough to go visit. Leroux Creek Vineyards in western Colorado. They have this beautiful, amazing place that you can go and stay at and experience some excellent hybrid wines.

CWP: What do you find unique about the Colorado wineries?

JB: I have had the unique experience of drinking a glass of wine in a pumpkin patch at a pick-your-own farm and winery in western Colorado. There’s not too many places that you can do that. Being in a scenario where all the wineries are locally and family-owned and walking in and meeting someone that is not only passionate about wine, but is probably the owner, you can get a lot of the background of the wines. You can’t get that intimate experience in too many places. I think it is just a cool state. I think the wineries let people come in, celebrate life and share their labor of love. They are letting you into their life and it is really well done here. Also, the juxtaposition of going into world-class skiing towns and getting a bottle of wine that is from Colorado from one of the many restaurants is just such a great wine experience.