A Barrel Full of Memories

     When embarking on a new wine tour, dinner, or festival, the focus is on the wine. What wines will I drink? Will I find my new favorite wine? What new lesson will I learn about this ever-evolving wine world? This focus is all fine and dandy, but what about the people we are experiencing these delicious events with? What about the memories that will be made? These were the thoughts that struck me after this past weekend.

    For as long as I can remember, my mom has taken me shopping for my birthday. We hit the mall and usually emerge with bags stuffed full of shoes and books. Over the past few years, though, we have started switching things up and attending events instead. This year was one of those exceptions, as we chose to delay my celebration by a couple of months and attend the Palisade, Colorado Barrel into Spring event.

    The Palisade area is home to more than 30 Colorado wineries. Grape growing here stretches back before Prohibition, and with the 1970s came the first commercial grapes, with wineries following soon after in the 1980s. In the spring, this delightful area offers their Barrel into Spring event, held over two different weekends. During this time, attendees have the opportunity to go to the seven participating wineries and sample wines both out of the barrel and out of the bottle, with each of these samples being paired with a tasty treat created either by the winery’s onsite kitchen or a local restaurant.  

    Wanting to thoroughly enjoy each winery we went to, without drying out our palates or feeling rushed, we selected five we wanted to attend over the weekend; three on Saturday when we were feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and two on Sunday for a more relaxed vibe. After research and discussion, our choices included Whitewater Hill Vineyards, Carlson Vineyards, and Carboy Winery on Saturday, and TWP Winery and Farmhouse with Evolve Wines, and Maison La Belle Vie Winery on Sunday.

    Though I found at least one wine I loved at each stop, three of these places really stood out for me. TWP/Evolve was without a doubt my favorite place. Not only was every wine I tried phenomenal and dripping with care and quality, the owners of both TWP and Evolve were the nicest people I have ever met, the food was classy and delicious without being weird or pretentious, the courtyard had beautiful views to go along with its relaxing atmosphere, swinging in swings made from barrels was a new and exciting experience, and they had peacocks. Yes, peacocks. Having told myself I needed to keep my bottle purchases at one to three at each place, I had a tough time narrowing down my selection from the five available for us to try. I ended up with Evolve’s 2017 SMV, a broody delight plush with fruit, vanilla and licorice, and their 2020 Cabernet Franc, which was a classically delicious Colorado Cab Franc. TWP’s White Wine, which was a blessedly full-bodied Chardonnay blend full of butter and tropical fruit, was my third bottle. My mom also treated me to a shirt here, as I am a fan of shirts from wineries I love, and I of course had to buy one of their logoed journals. One can never have too many wine journals. It was truly difficult to leave this place, and I do believe we would have camped out there all afternoon with a couple of bottles of wine if we did not have one more winery on our agenda. This place is a hidden Palisade gem, and I can’t wait to experience it again.

    The other two that really stood out for me were Carlson Vineyards and Whitewater Hill Vineyards. The hospitality at Carlson was amazing, and the wines went right along with that hospitality. I went home with three bottles from here as well, with their High Desert Wine Lab Exodus taking the cake for me. A Blaufränkisch, it was herbal and black cherry yumminess in all the right ways, and I loved that we got to try both the Blaufränkisch aging in the barrel and the current release, as it painted a perfect picture of how the wine transforms throughout the aging process. Along with the Exodus, I also took home their Full Curl Red 2020, and the High Desert Wine Lab White Light Riesling. I also loved the rosé they were serving, as it was not only delicious but the pinkest wine I have ever seen. We are talking serious pink. I will admit that one of the main reasons I had selected this winery was because they have a T-Rex Red, and as I am obsessed with dinosaurs and live in my wineosaur hoodie, I just had to have this wine. Sadly, it was not available as they are waiting for labels, but the owner let me have a taste of it (did I mention their amazing hospitality?), and let me tell you, it was as delicious as the label is fun. I will be ordering myself a bottle or two the minute it is available, and I see myself back at this winery someday soon.

    Whitewater Hill was another winery that won me over, not just because of their tasty wines, but how wonderfully we were treated there. As part of the event, we not only got to try their barrel and bottle selections that included some of their library wines, but any other wines we were interested in, including those reserved for club members. And, one of the best parts was the winemaker taking the time to chat with all of us, making for a truly special start to our Barrel into Spring fun. As this winery is conveniently along the road we take heading towards my parent’s house, I kept my take-home wine selections to two, as I will easily be able to stop each time I visit my family. My selections included their Primitivo that was completely Italian in nature and had a black cat label that made me think of Halloween, and their Pit Bull Kisses Red Blend that was smooth and tasty with a label that just called to me since my husband and I have a Pit Bull/Boxer mix. Though there were many wines that I thoroughly enjoyed here, the other really notable one was their Rkatsiteli. A refreshing and unique white, my personal description in my wine notes included “Sprite on crack with grapefruit,” and with summer just around the corner, I am certainly kicking myself for not getting a bottle. But, like I said, it’s right along my way…

    Obviously, I loved the wine and wineries from this experience. I mean, you just read those three uber long paragraphs about it, but the jewel of the weekend for me was the people I was with and the experiences we had together. As I reflect back on this past weekend, I think about the early mornings at my parent’s house with my mom, my best friend and I sipping coffee and just chatting in her cozy dining room. I think about the crisp morning walks my best friend and I would take each day, getting some exercise in while catching up on life and getting excited about the fun day ahead of us. I think about two of my closest friends standing with me at a tasting bar, trying wines, laughing and just getting some quality time together. I think about one of my sister-in-laws, dared by the other and her husband, to take over the stamping station at one of the wineries that was dropping the ball on their duties, while my oldest friend snuck up on the unmanned food table to hijack an extra chocolaty treat, while the rest of us tried our hardest to stifle our laughter. I think about my oldest friend dragging me from wine bottle to wine bottle asking me how to pronounce it, and me trying my hardest to not completely mess up the pronunciation. And, I really think about Sunday, when it was just my best friend, my mom and dad, and how wonderful it felt to lounge on patios with them on a warm spring day, vines and views of the mesas making for idyllic settings, sipping wine and simply soaking up the wonderfulness of life.

    For me, these moments and memories were even greater treasures than all of the lovely wines I brought home. I firmly believe that wine is one of the greatest memory triggers, and over time as I open each bottle, these memories will greet me like a warm hug from my dad on that sunny spring day.