Tag Archives: Colorado wines

Wine & Potato Chip Pairing

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Wine industry conference features oddball pairing event open to the public

CAVE-logoRegular old potato chips like Lay’s or, heaven help us, Pringles (those unpleasant reconstructed chip-shaped items in a tube) won’t do for attendees at the third annual VinCO conference in Grand Junction. VinCO is a program of the Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology (CAVE), a trade association of Colorado growers and wineries. They are working hard to make quality wines, and their conference merits quality snacks to go with them.

Just one event, the imaginative Gourmet Chip and Wine Pairing mixer, is open to the public. It features gourmet house-made chips created by four leading Grand Valley restaurants (626 on Rood, Bin 707, Il Bistro Italiano and Le Rouge). Think baked yellow beet chips with smoked paprika and fleur de sel or
russet potato chips with fennel and Champagne vinegar. Wineries will pour an artisanal selection of Colorado wines.

With so many haute cuisine events on the culinary calendar, it tickles me that creative, house-made chips are the one and only featured food. Chris and Mary Britt, DJs at Grand Junction’s Magic 93.1 DJs, will emcee the event, and attendees will vote on their favorite pairings.

The good news is that entry to the Gourmet Chip and Wine Pairing is only $15. The bad news that it takes place at the  SpringHill Suites in downtown Grand Junction at SpringHill Suites, a city that I wish were closer to home. The event is on Wednesday, January 16 (smack in the middle of the January 15 to 17 conference) . Tickets are available online, or FoMoInfo, call 970-464-0111.

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Castle Rock Wine Festival This Weekend

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Summer is mid-season in the wine world. The grapes are theoretically growing without vintner intervention to protect them from frost, pruning or heavey hands-on cultivation. It’a not yet harvest and crush time, so wine festivals abound. If you live or are visiting the greater Denver.area and are seeking some diversion, this might just be the ent for you.

Castle Rock Wine Fest

The ninth annual Castle Rock Wine Fest is a one-day wonder on Saturday, June 21, when more than two dozen Colorado wineries — most small, family-owned — set up tasting tables in The Grange.  Taking place from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m., it includes wine seminars and demonstrations, artisans/lifestyle vendors, entertainment and participating vendors offering delicious cuisine.  Bottles and cases of wines from from participating wineries are available for purchase. In addition to proximity to Front Tange cities, arrendance at the festival is very reasonable. — just $37, and if you purchase today, it’s just $27. Designated drivers pay $17, and kids are admitted free.  FoMoInfo: Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce,  420 Jerry Street, Castle Rock, 303-688-4597.

 

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2nd Annual Colorado Urban Winefest Moves into Town

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Winery Row’s Bonacquisiti hosted preview of Colorado Wine Week highlight

The Colorado Winefest debuted last June as a three-day offspring of the long-running Colorado Mountain Winefest in Palisade. It’s back for 2012 with a new name and a new venue. Click here for my report on last year’s inaugural.

This fine festival moving. Last year, it was infused personality into the sterility of Stapleton-Northfield, whose main positive attribute is abundant free parking (it is, after all, an outdoor shopping mall). This year, it is going to Denver’s sculpture park between Speer Boulevard and the Denver Performing Arts Center. To reflect its new location, it also has a new name: Colorado Urban Winefest. A preview tasting yesterday evening at Winery Row on Pecos just south of I-70 provided the trade and media a small glimpse of the makeover. I’m glad I was able to attend, because I will be out of the country during Colorado Wine Week itself.

Colorado Winery Row's logo. .

Bonacquisti Winery hosted the tasting, which featured 42 Front Range and Western Slope wineries. Like the winefest itself, the preview featured a palate-training component. The preview version was pretty simple — half-a-dozen glasses in which such materials as citrus fruits and cedar chips were placed for sniffing, and two wines to practice on. A real “wine wheel” will be at the festival. For the preview, the organizers also brought in a food truck, because food trucks will assemble at the winefest too.

The "training table" held aromatics that can be detected in wines and a couple of wines to train people how to identify them without looking at the label.

Colorado Wine Week (May 30 to June 9), which is well over a week, features wine-oriented events including free in-store tastings ( May 30 to June 9) and a glass of Colorado wine paired with special dishes at participating restaurants scattered throughout the metro area  (June 3 to 9). The festival includes a number of new events, including athe Colorado Wine Cocktail Celebration (June 4), East Meets West (pairing of Front Range wineries and Grand Valley vineyards), Colorado Wine Farmers Market (June 6), Colorado Governor’s Cup (wine tasting of the American Wine Society regional competition winners at the Governor’s Residence, June 7) and a Cruiser Ride through downtown Denver from a starting point to be announced to the Winefest.

Click here for ticket information or to purchase online.

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