Beatrice's Blushes: Boulder Creek Winery Dry Rosé

Welcoming a new child into a family is an awesome experience. For over four years, we've been a family of just three, but now we get to share the world with Beatrice. Big brother Ben is just completely enamored with his new little sister. He loves holding her and comforting her when she cries - which is not very often. He talks about things he wants to do with her when she is old enough. It brings a smile to my face to just think about the adventures that the future holds.

Just as my family is welcoming Beatrice into existence, the Colorado wine family is saying goodbye to one of its brightest stars. Sadly, Boulder Creek Winery is shutting down operations at the end of the year. Grape supplies and building lease issues convinced Mike and Jackie Thompson it was time to retire from their retirement project. They've been great people to get to know over the years and I've always enjoyed their wines. I'm glad that I have a small collection of Boulder Creek in my wine cellar to enjoy after they're gone. As my family starts off on this new journey, we decided to start the Beatrice's Blushes series with the only bottle of Boulder Creek Winery Dry Rosé that we had.

This 2011 Boulder Creek Winery Dry Rosé is everything I like in a pink wine. It is bone dry with tart red fruit flavors - admittedly starting to fade. There is a savory component that makes you pause for a moment to consider what types of herbs come to mind and what cured meat would be the perfect accompaniment. Thinking about how Mike and Jackie always wanted to promote dry rosés brought a smile to my face as the last drop passed from the glass, to my mouth and then down my throat to its final resting place. Thank you for all the memories and wonderful wines, Mike and Jackie (and of course Will, too). I wish you all the best of times with whatever you decide to do after you walk out of the winery building one last time.

2011 Boulder Creek Winery Dry Rosé

Ben's Blush: Boulder Creek Dry Rosé

Four years ago, I decided to start a weekly series on sparkling wine in honor of the impending birth of our first child: Benjamin. It was a fun way to celebrate our new bundle of joy and reflect on his milestones, all while exploring a specific style of wine each week. This year, I decided to resuscitate the concept, but with rosé. I didn't time it with Ben's birthday in mind, but his fourth birthday is rapidly approaching.

It also happens to be the 125th birthday of the City of Littleton, where we have lived for the past six years. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Littleton, it is a quiet suburb of Denver located about 10 miles to the south. The historic downtown area is home to a few shops and restaurants, but an influx of more youth and energy would be highly welcome (though many residents want to keep things as they've always been), as downtown is often too quiet. The addition of Breckenridge Brewery this summer should push things along in that direction.

We happen to live between two parks just a few blocks to the east of the downtown district. Littleton uses one of these parks for its fireworks shows several times a year and we get a front row seat. For the birthday celebration this year, the City decided to use the other park for a fireworks show because the Littleton Museum, next door, was hosting a reception featuring Breckenridge beer and food from the Breckenridge's Farm House Restaurant. A few of our neighbors and our trio of kids all trekked the two blocks to the park to watch the show. I admit, it was odd seeing fireworks going off with snow on the ground, but the show was entertaining nonetheless. Ben ooh'd and aah'd on his own without any prompting. On the way back home, the little ones had a spontaneous dance party, complete with bubbles, on the sidewalk in front of our neighbors' house.

The next morning, Ben and I walked down to the rec center for the birthday carnival and pancake breakfast. I was quite surprised how long the line for pancakes was, but I guess free food will do that. After filling up on pancakes and orange juice, Ben spent a good hour running back and forth between the two inflatable entertainment centers (bounce castles). It was fun seeing all the kids having so much fun (and burning all that excess energy at the same time!). I guess you don't have a 125th birthday every year, but it sure would be a great way to kick off Spring and the coming warm weather every year if the City were to throw a party each March!

2013 Boulder Creek Winery, Dry Rosé, Grand Valley AVA

Sadly, Boulder Creek will not be making any more rosé - any wine for that matter. The owners decided to wind down operations because they couldn't find a new location at a reasonable price. This merlot-based rosé is their swan song for the category of wine they thought could be a signature style for Colorado, even though they had trouble selling it because of the lack of sweetness. The color is almost a neon pink. This was an odd, but interesting, wine. Not because of the wild strawberry, or basil, or thyme aromas and flavors, but because of the smoked pepper - almost cayenne - undertones. The finish was notably spicy and with a bit of heat. It went down easily and was surely unique. 13.2% abv Purchased $16. Good

Colorado wineries earn two prestigious Jefferson Cup awards (yet again...)

For the sixth year in a row, a Colorado wine earned a Jefferson Cup. The Jefferson Cup Invitational competition honors the best of the best among wineries from all of America’s wine regions. Each year Doug Frost, one of only four people on the planet to hold both the Master Sommelier and Master of Wine credentials, invites wines from across America to enter, whereas most other wine competitions are dominated by entries from California. Jefferson Cups were awarded to wines made from both Vitis vinifera grapes (a European species responsible for most famous wines such as Chardonnay and Cabernet) and non-vinifera varieties, which flourish in the more extreme climates in the center portion of the U.S. I am hopeful that the frontenac and vignoles (non-vinifera hybrids) vines in my backyard survive the record cold temperatures we experienced, yet again, a few weeks ago along the Front Range of Colorado! I actually had a crop of frontenac this past fall, but waited one day too long to harvest because the birds got to them before I did.

This year, seven Colorado wineries earned a total of 28 medals from the fifteenth annual competition. Bookcliff Vineyards took home their fourth Jefferson Cup for their 2013 Malbec and repeated the honor they earned the previous two years! The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey's 2012 Merlot Reserve was also a Jefferson Cup Winner for the first time. Other Colorado wineries that were invited and garnered awards in 2014 were Anemoi Wines, Boulder Creek Winery, Canyon Wind Cellars, and Grande River Vineyards. Colorado's past Jefferson Cup winning wines include Boulder Creek Winery's VIP Reserve (2010), Bookcliff Vineyards' 2009 Petite Sirah (2010), Canyon Wind Cellars' 2009 Petit Verdot (2011), Bookcliff Vineyards' 2010 Ensemble (2012), and Bookcliff Vineyards' 2011 Cabernet Franc Reserve (2013).

In total, thirty-eight prestigious Jefferson Cups were awarded. The competition had representation of the best of what every quality wine producing region in the country is offering right now, including representation from California, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington. States that won Jefferson Cups included Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota (yes, North Dakota makes wine...), Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

The hail damage in Burgundy is sad, but...

Earlier this week, a violent hailstorm destroyed vineyards in Burgundy. Most wine media outlets reported on the storm. Over on WineBerserkers.com, terms like "heartbreaking" and "gut wrenching" were used in reaction to the news that 80-90% of the crop will be lost in certain vineyards. Yes, the crop destruction is sad when you think about the loss of income for hard-working farmers and their families, especially when hail destroyed a good chunk of the 2013 crop. Bottles of award-winning wine were aborted before anyone could even enjoy their existence. However, after reading the headlines and pondering for a second, the news made me smile.

Super Bowl Wines (show your support by drinking local)

With Super Bowl XLVIII only days away (interestingly, the NFL has made contingency plans to move the big game up or back a day depending on the weather), NFL fans can read the food, wine and beer suggestions that are popping up all over the Internet. For those of us in the Broncos' and Seahawks' home states, marijuana recommendations are also part of our reality now too! It just so happens that in addition to Cannabis, both Colorado and Washington have wine industries. For those NFL fans that also want to enjoy wine during the big game, this is a very good thing!

Kind of a big deal... (Colorado wins fifth Jefferson Cup)

For the fifth year in a row, a Colorado wine earned a Jefferson Cup. The Jefferson Cup Invitational competition honors the best of the best among wineries from all of America’s wine regions. Each year Doug Frost, one of only four people on the planet to hold both the Master Sommelier and Master of Wine credentials, invites wines from across America to enter; the 2013 competition included wines from twenty-two states, whereas most other wine competitions are dominated by entries from California. Jefferson Cups were awarded to wines made from both Vitis vinifera grapes (a European species responsible for most famous wines such as Chardonnay and Cabernet) and non-vinifera varieties, which flourish in the more extreme climates in the center portion of the U.S. I am hopeful that the frontenac and vignoles (non-vinifera hybrids) vines in my backyard survive the record cold temperatures we're experiencing along the Front Range of Colorado!

This year, six Colorado wineries earned a total of 20 medals from the fourteenth annual competition. Bookcliff Vineyards took home their third Jefferson Cup for their 2011 Cabernet Franc Reserve and repeated the honor they earned the previous year with their 2010 Ensemble. Bookcliff’s 2012 Petit Verdot was also a Jefferson Cup Nominee. You can read my interview with Bookcliff owner and winemaker John Garlich from two years ago, here. Other Colorado wineries that were invited and garnered awards in 2013 were Anemoi Wines, Boulder Creek Winery, Canyon Wind Cellars, Grande River Vineyards and The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey. Colorado's past Jefferson Cup winning wines include Boulder Creek Winery's VIP Reserve (2010), Bookcliff Vineyard's 2009 Petite Sirah (2010), Canyon Wind Cellar's 2009 Petit Verdot (2011), and Bookcliff Vineyard's 2010 Ensemble (2012).

In total, twenty-five prestigious Jefferson Cups were awarded to seven white wines, ten red wines, one rosé, three sparklers and four dessert wines from eight different states. The competition had representation of the best of what every quality wine producing region in the country is offering right now, including representation from California, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington. States that won Jefferson Cups included California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New York and Virginia.

Building relationships takes effort

The events surrounding Premiere Napa Valley were quite impressive. The Napa Valley Vintners and individual AVA associations know how to throw a party. The whole PNV week is basically a big party celebrating all things Napa. It doesn't hurt that NVV has a multi-million dollar budget to work with and they were wooing the world's top wine media (present company excluded) and trade members itching to spend tens of thousands of dollars, but that shouldn't stop emerging regions like Colorado from learning how to host similarly successful events.

Franc, Colorado's Cabernet...

In Europe, wines are named from the regions they come. Bordeaux is known for its cabernet sauvignon and merlot-based wines. Burgundy is synonymous with pinot noir or chardonnay. The Rhône valley is most often thought of as syrah territory. In Italy, Tuscany is known for its sangiovese and Piemonte for nebbiolo. I could keep going on. In New World wine regions, varietal labeling is commonplace. However, many wine regions still have grape varieties in which they specialize. Napa Valley has cabernet sauvignon, the Willamette Valley equates to Pinot Noir and the Barossa Valley is known for shiraz (aka syrah). Even an up and coming region like the Finger Lakes in New York is known for its riesling. Does Colorado have a signature variety?

Wine as Art and Art as Wine (and a visit at Eric Kent)

Wine is a science. Wine is Art. Wine is a craft. Wine is a commodity. Wine is a luxury. Wine is a many things to many people. Wine should be drunk. Wine should be discussed. Wine should be savored. Wine should be collected. Yet, any way you look at it, wine is meant to be enjoyed. Luckily, there are many different ways to enjoy wine. Some people like to feel tipsy. Some people like to simply smell the aromas for hours. Some people even like to collect it. Some do so for financial gain (or adrenaline rush or even ego). Some people even collect wine as Art. No, not necessarily for the masterpiece inside, but the label.

Is Colorado wine really too expensive?

Last year, a Westword blogger posted about why Colorado wine still sucks. One of her statements was that Colorado wine is too expensive. Yet in her next statement about marketing issues (with which I agree), she picked the winery with the most expensive bottles as getting it. A few weeks ago, Wine Spectator posted a blog about Long Island wines being expensive relative to other wine regions. The attack on the price of regional wines seems to a common theme whenever someone is trying to rationalize why these wines aren't as popular as mass-produced wines. The one thing I don't get is how people can compare boutique wineries with industrial wine factories. Colorado wineries are not going to be able to produce hundreds of thousands of cases of $6 wine with cute animals on the label, but compared to Napa Valley and Walla Walla, Colorado produces some reasonably priced wine. I can count on one hand the number of bottles of Colorado wine that sell for over $50. Sure, across the board the quality may not be equivalent, but neither is the product when you compare Colorado to California's Central Valley or Australia's Riverina and Riverland regions. So, is Colorado wine really too expensive?

Colorado vs. Virginia with Terroirist.com (Viognier edition)

Last month, I found myself in Washington, D.C. for a work trip. On one of my free nights, I got together with David White, founder of Terroirist.com, and some members of his local tasting group for a Colorado vs. Virginia wine blind tasting. We opened 28 different bottles of wine from Colorado and Virginia, with a few ringers thrown in. We started the festivities with a flight of viogniers (12) followed by a slightly larger flight (16) of red blends. Today, I will post the results from the Viognier flight. Check back tomorrow for the red blend results.

All wines were wrapped in foil and randomly numbered. We poured two at a time, in no particular order (I've listed them here sequential for clarity). The group discussed each wine as they were tasted, but the identities were not revealed until all wines in a flight were tasted and voted on. The results revealed that while both regions have some work to do to be consider "world-class," they both produce some pretty good wine right now. The notes that follow are my own, though I do note the wines that were determined to be the best as voted on by the group. While I did take brief notes during the tasting, I somehow managed to not write down the vintages for the wines. C'est la vie!

The Key is Tasting (blind)

There are a lot about misconceptions of Colorado wine. First, and most egregious, is the quality factor. Sure, just as with any wine region, Colorado wineries produce some not-so-tasty juice. But consider Bordeaux. There are somewhere on the order of 10,000 producers just in the broad Bordeaux wine region. 10,000. That is more than all of the wineries in the United States! When most wine aficionados discuss Bordeaux, we are referring to less than 100 producers. The current evolution of the 1855 Bordeaux Classification includes 61 châteaus. A handful of right bank producers in and around the towns of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol are now as highly regarded as the classified châteaus of the Médoc. My point is, only about 1% of the wineries are Bordeaux are considered to produce high-quality wine. The rest is probably mediocre to less than mediocre (or at least by the standards of the wine tastemakers). The same concept can be applied to the wineries of California. There are more wineries in California producing plonk than meticulously crafting fine wine, and I bet you can name a few wineries in both camps. The good news is, if you know which wineries to seek out, you can find wine you like.

Colorado is no different. With over 100 wineries in the state, I'd be willing to bet (not $10,000) that the average wine consumer in the state could not name more than 5 wineries. If they were to taste wines from all 100, consumers might find wines that they consider to be at the same quality level as wines from California or even (gasp!) France. One of the best ways to get wine drinkers to try new wines is through restaurant wine lists. When I worked in the retail tier of the industry, I was surprised how often people came into the store and said they tried a wine at a restaurant and wanted to by a bottle. I was relieved when people actually new which wine it was and not just that it had a red label. Unfortunately, one of the problems with the idea of getting Colorado wine onto reputable restaurant wine lists is convincing the wine buyers!

Luckily for Colorado, there are more than a few chefs and sommeliers who are open to the idea of adding more local juice to their lists. With the help of Colorado Wino (Jacob Harkins) and Swirl Girl Denver (Kendra Anderson), we've put together the #DenverWineCru where we blind tasted Colorado Wine against the world. Our goal is to see how Colorado wines compare to wines from established wine regions.

We were joined at the first by a group of eager winos and Jensen Cummings, Executive Chef at Row 14. We tasted a lineup of five different wine styles with wines from Colorado and elsewhere around the world in each flight. When things were all said and done, everyone left impressed with Colorado's quality. Colorado didn't "win" every flight, but even when it didn't there were many more home runs than strike outs (and there were a few...).

Here are my notes of the wines that I took as we tasted without know what was in each bottle:

Colorado winery wins Jefferson Cup for third year in a row!

Two weeks ago, Doug Frost (one of only three people in the world to hold both the Master of Wine and Master Sommelier credentials) gathered a group of wine experts to taste "the best of the best among wineries from all of America’s wine regions." This year, Frost selected (wineries need to be selected and not just submit wine and an entry fee) wine from twenty-two states and award the Jefferson Cup to wines made from both Vitis vinifera and non-vinifera grapevines. For the third year in a row, a Colorado winery walked away with top honors. Congratulations to Canyon Wind Cellars for winning a 2011 Jefferson Cup and joining the ranks of Colorado's previous Cup winners: Boulder Creek Winery and Bookcliff Vineyards.

While Canyon Wind Cellars was the only winery to earn a Jefferson Cup, all of the other Colorado wineries that were invited earned an impressive array of awards. Below is the list of Colorado winners. To view the complete list of awards, please visit Doug Frost's website here.

Anemoi Wines
Medal of Excellence, 2009 Boreas

Bookcliff Vineyards
Medal of Excellence, 2009 Cabernet Franc Reserve
Medal of Excellence, 2010 Petite Sirah
Medal of Merit, 2010 Syrah Reserve

Boulder Creek Vineyards
Medal of Excellence, NV Consensus
Medal of Merit, 2008 Merlot
Medal of Merit, 2009 Syrah

Canyon Wind Cellars
Jefferson Cup Winner, 2009 Petit Verdot
Medal of Excellence, 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
Medal of Merit, 2009 47-Ten Red

Reeder Mesa Vineyards
Medal of Excellence, 2009 Petit Verdot
Medal of Merit, 2009 Land's End Red
Medal of Merit, 2009 CabSyrah
Medal of Merit, 2009 Petite Sirah

The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey
Jefferson Cup Nominee, 2009 Merlot
Medal of Excellence, 2009 Cabernet Franc Reserve
Medal of Excellence, 2009 Cabernet Franc
Medal of Excellence, 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
Medal of Merit, 2008 Syrah
Medal of Merit, 2009 Merlot Reserve
Medal of Merit, 2009 Revelation

Meet the Winemaker: Jackie Thompson (Boulder Creek)

Jackie Thompson

Most Colorado wineries are small family operations and Boulder Creek Winery is no exception. Mike, Jackie and Will Thompson are the husband, wife and son team that is quickly rising to the top of the Colorado wine hierarchy. Only opened for 8 years, they have been consistently putting out award-winning wines, including Colorado's first ever Jefferson Cup for their 2006 VIP Reserve. They also offer a unique series of blending seminars in which their wine club members actually are responsible for choosing the cépage of Boulder Creek's top red blend. Jackie is the enologist and principal winemaker for Boulder Creek and she joins us this week in our Meet the Winemaker series.

Colorado Fall Harvest Dinner at Delizios: recap

This past Monday, I helped moderate a wine dinner at Delizios Cafe and Wine Bar that featured Colorado wines and fresh Colorado ingredients. The owner of Delizios, Bob Mickus, is a home winemaker and wanted to pay homage to the hard working farmers (and yes grape growers are farmers) of the state. I worked with Bob to select a pair of Front Range wineries and a pair of western slope wineries to complement a specially prepared locally themed menu. The 13 diners who attended were enthusiastic and eager to taste Colorado.

The first course paired Boulder Creek Winery's 2010 Dry Rosé with assorted Colorado cheeses and fresh fruit. The wine paired beautifully with both the cheeses and the fruits. I especially enjoyed the Haystack Chile Jack (goat cheese), with roasted mild green chilies. This wine was the crowd favorite as even after all four
courses guests were still asking me about it.

Next up was the black sheep of the night. Both the mixed green salad with roasted Colorado corn and red peppers and the Jack Rabbit Hill 2008 M & N were good on their own, but the raspberry vinaigrette clashed with the unique blend of pinot noir and pinot meunier. A handful of guests enjoyed the wine, but most said that they weren't a fan of the pairing.

The main course of brandied peach pork chops was served with the Garfield Estates Vineyard and Winery 2009 Cabernet Franc. I was afraid that the wine might over power the dish, but the smooth and supple new release paired well and was a hit with all diners. While no official poll was taken, I'd say that the cab franc was the second favorite of the night just behind the rosé and closely followed by the last wine. After seeing how well this young wine showed, I can't wait to break into my 2005 Garfield cab franc soon!

Finally, we finished the evening with Infinite Monkey Theorem's Black Muscat along with peach cobbler topped with Di Crema gelato from Boulder Ice Cream. Though this was the only wine I did not taste of for some reason, the guests were impressed with it. A few diners that said they often did not enjoy sweet wines, found the IMT muscat to be balanced and complemented the cobbler perfectly. Overall, the night was a success and I think the guests left with a new appreciation for Colorado wines. I am looking forward to hosting more wine dinners at Delizios and even exploring wine regions other than Colorado. I hope to see you at one of these events in the future.

Colorado Fall Harvest Dinner at Delizios

So many restaurants proclaim to cater to locavores. But far too often local wines are nowhere to be found on the wine list. Even worse, is when restaurants create Colorado-themed dinners only to pair wines from California or France with the local fare. Here in Denver, we are starting to see a few establishments getting it right by pairing local wine with fresh local ingredients. Jacob Harkins, founder of Coloradowino.com, has put together a few Colorado Wine dinners at Sputino in the Highlands neighborhood of Denver. The bounty of winemaker dinners in Grand Junction and Palisade this past weekend was at an apex with the 20th annual Colorado Mountain Winefest drawing visitors from around the country. Other than a few of these events sporadically popping up around the state, local wines rarely get top billing at themed dinners. Next week, I am throwing my hat into the wine dinner ring by moderating the "Colorado Fall Harvest" night of Delizios' Regional Wine Dinner Series. I invite you to join me by indulging in some of Colorado's finest wines and tastiest cuisine Monday, September 26th at Delizios in historic downtown Littleton. The evening will include informal wine education and discussion of Colorado's wine industry.

Colorado Fall Harvest

Monday, September 26th
Monday,

6:30pm

Delizios Café and Wine Bar
2299 W Main St., Littleton



$45 pp (plus tax and gratuity)

Seating is limited, so please call to RSVP (720-897-6550)

The menu for the evening will consist of:

1st Course:
Boulder Creek Winery 2010 Dry Rose
Paired with assorted Colorado cheeses and fruits

2nd Course:
Jack Rabbit Hill 2008 M+N (Meunier & Pinot Noir)
Paired with a mixed greens salad garnished with roasted Colorado corn and red peppers

3rd Course:
Canyon Wind Cellars 2009 Cabernet Franc
Paired with brandied-peach pork chops accompanied by fresh asparagus and roasted rosemary
potatoes

4th Course:
Infinite Monkey Theorem Sparkling Black Muscat
Paired with peach cobbler topped with Di Crema gelato from Boulder Ice Cream