Meet the Winemaker: Marcel and Julie Flukiger (Aspen Peak Cellars)

Julie and Marcel Flukiger

Most people in Colorado have never heard of this micro-winery, bistro and bed and breakfast nestled in the foothills west of Denver. You might have seen Aspen Peak Cellars mentioned in the news this past summer. Unfortunately, it was because their 135-yr old barn burned down due to a lightning strike. However, Marcel and Julie Flukiger have not let this catastrophe deter them from doing what they love. In fact, they have a new tasting facility opening in a few weeks!

Originally from Switzerland, Marcel met Julie almost twenty years ago while they both worked at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver as chefs. Fast forward to 2009, and Aspen Peak Cellars at the Clifton House was born. Thank you, Marcel and Julie for being a part of our "Meet the Winemaker" interview series!

Ben's Bubbly: Taittinger Brut La Francaise

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a great holiday break and is ready for an even better 2012. What an eventful week it was for us. My family drove out from Wisconsin with two terriers, we had four different Christmases to attend and Ben took his first steps! Ben had fun hanging out with his grandma, grandpa, aunt and uncle and they seemed to enjoy him, too. :) He had been cruising around on furniture for a few weeks, but hadn't taken off the training wheels. He actually startled himself when he realized he wasn't hanging on to anything and tried to get to mommy by taking a few steps as he fell. He has only done it a few times, but occasionally I'll turn around to see him just standing on his own for a few moments before he sits (or falls) down. He is getting braver by purposefully letting go of our hands or the furniture, but we predict it will only be a matter of time before he realizes that he has the upper hand in our relationship.

One thing that didn't freak him out this past week was the dogs. He quite enjoyed them and usually screeched whenever a dog came into sight. He really enjoyed it when (on two separate occasions) a dog would so helpfully clean the crusty (and not so crusty) boogers off his face. We'll see how long it takes until his cute adorable face is able to convince mommy that he wants a dog.

In a pretty big first for our little family, New Year's Eve was the first time that mommy and daddy both spent away from the little guy. I've been away for work a few times and mom escaped to Vegas a few months ago (man, that seems like ages ago). Grandma (the local one) stayed over at our place while we went out to dinner and then to our new place (oh, yeah, we also bought a new house a few weeks ago, but have been doing some remodeling before we move). We sipped on a bottle of Taittinger and were asleep by 12:05. We did, however, get seven blissful hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Taittinger "La Française" Brut

A big name in the the world of Champagne, best known for their Comtes de Champagne blanc de blancs, the La Française (also known as Brut Réserve) is the basic entry-level non-vintage blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier for Taittinger. Normally around $45-50, I picked this up on sale for under $30 a few weeks ago. It never ceases to amaze me how much these mass produced Champagne cost just because the word "Champagne" is on the label, especially when there are plenty of quality sparkling wines on shelves for under $30. Sure, top Champagne are worth their weight in gold, but not the basic stuff and this bottle did nothing to change my mind. Don't get me wrong, it is a nice bottle of wine and worth its sale price, but not the regular price. Lots on the nose here, especially baked pear and toast. It kind of tricks you into thinking it is going to be smooth and complex, but then smacks you on the other cheek with loads of acidic and slightly bitter yellow grapefruit. There might have been a little bit of lemon pastry in there too, but it was hard to tell (it was NYE after all) with the in your face grapefruit. I do give Taittinger credit for the abundant acidity, which too many sparkling wines shy away from, but I was expecting a bit more complexity and length. 12% abv Purchased $27. Good

Ben's Bubbly: The Jumping Grape

Well, with my family in town and four different Christmases to attend I am finally getting around to this week's (well, last week's wine) bubbly write-up. Ben enjoyed having the grandparents, aunts and uncles around all week, but that is for next week's post! If Ben knew that I was posting almost a week late, he would probably throw a mini temper tantrum. That, after all, is his new thing of the week. He is quite fascinated by the TV remote control, but when we try to take the thing away from him he throws the biggest hissy fit. He screams and glares at you. We've tried coaxing him with other remote controls, but the TV remote is the only one he wants. This makes watching TV a bit difficult when he keeps his little fingers pressed down on the channel up button. The only way to get it away from him is to really stoke his interest in something else. We are hoping that this little temper control problem is only just a phase, but we shall see...

The Jumping Grape, Sparkling Red Wine, Padthaway, South Australia

Most sparkling wine is white, although some is pink. A few Australian wineries are trying to make a new trend with sparkling red wines (yes, I know Italy produces some sweet red bubbly). Unfortunately, I am not a fan. This blend of 80% shiraz and 20% cabernet sauvignon would be a very nice still wine, but it was not to be. The base wine for this bubbly was aged five years in oak, and you could taste every year. Lush red raspberries are accented by sweet vanilla and a hint of cracked black pepper on both the nose and the palate. I like Aussie shiraz and I like sparkling wine, but I do not like the outcome when they combine forces. I am hopeful that next week's (New Year's Eve's) bubbly will more than make up for this disappointing bottle. 12.5% abv Purchased $16. Average

Meet the Winemaker: Brian Stevens (Talon Wine Brands)

Brian Stevens

As you may or may not know, one Colorado winery has some serious California connections. In 1976, W. Reed Foster helped found the icon Ravenswood winery. A few decades later, his son Glenn worked as a winemaker at several small wineries in Colorado. In 2008, after owning and operating a retail store in Fruita, CO, Glenn bought three small wineries of his own. As the Talon Wine Brands grew, Glenn brought on a second winemaker. Brian Stevens was an elementary school teacher and home brewer, but is now the winemaker for one of the state's largest wineries.

Meet the Winemaker: Steve Flynn (Vino Salida)

Steve Flynn

Like many of Colorado's winemakers, Steve Flynn started as an amateur home winemaker. In 2009, Steve decided to start Vino Salida in Salida, CO. One of the unique characteristics is the winery's location. Most of the state's wineries are located in the Grand Valley AVA, the West Elks AVA or along the Front Range between Fort Collins and Colorado Springs. Salida is a old mountain railroad town and at almost 6,000 residents is Chaffee County's most populous city. Even at such a small size, Salida was already home to another winery, Mountain Spirit Winery. It is not the center of the wine industry or a large metropolis bustling with consumers eager to drink wine, but Steve has decided to make Salida home for his young winery.

Ben's Bubbly: Domaine le Capitaine Vouvray Methode Traditionelle Brut

Ben just keeps getting cuter each week. One of his new things is sharing. He loves offering his Cheerios or water bottle to us as we feed him. He gets super excited when we gladly accept his goodies. One of his new food goodies is tofu. We dice up the tofu into pea-sized cubes and dust them with crumbled Cheerios to make them easier to grab. While he enjoys eating the tofu, he also loves throwing it and smashing it on his high chair tray. He is really enjoying feeding himself and often ends up with the spoon in one hand and food from ear to ear and hair to chin.

Domaine le Capitaine Vouvray, Methode Traditionelle Brut

Yes, France makes sparkling wine outside of the Champagne region. This sparkling Vouvray is made from 100% chenin blanc (as is all Vouvray, still or sparkling). This wine is a lovely golden color and has fine bubbles. The nose is a bit richer than Champagne with notes of honey, baked pear, and orange blossom. The flavors are equally unique. The minerality and acidity combine to yield a pleasant saltiness, along with flavors of rye bread and orange marmalade. This is not going to be confused with top-notch bubbly, but at a fraction of the price it is a tasty alternative.12.5% abv Purchased $16 Good

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: