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For one night, the best wines made in Colorado were all in one room. Wine enthusiasts flocked to the occasion.
The 2023 Colorado Uncorked event on Friday gave the public the chance to sample all 12 of the wines selected to be part of the 2023 Governor’s Cup Collection and find out which would be dubbed the best of them all.
The Governor’s Cup is an annual competition that selects the top wines made in Colorado, which are then used to represent the industry throughout the next year. Nearly 50 wineries entered the 2023 competition, submitting more than 280 wines.
Colorado Wine Industry Development Board Executive Director Kyle Schlachter looked at the crowd of dozens of VIP attendees getting a first sip of the wines on Friday, while outside the line for general admission stretched around the block.
“Every year this event has grown so the demand is, I will just say amazing,” he said. “People want to try Colorado wine.”
The industry is still trying to raise awareness about what it has to offer, he said. There are two common misconceptions about Colorado-grown wine, he said. The first is that all Colorado wine is sweet. The second is that Colorado wine is expensive, he said.
It’s difficult to find a bottle of locally produced wine above $40, he said, which is less than prices found in other boutique wine regions. In addition to offering top notch quality, Colorado is beginning to grow new varieties of wine that have not been traditionally produced here, he said.
The 2023 collection is the most diverse collection yet, he said, ranging from classics to unique mead and fruit wine.
Alfred Eames Cellars took the title of Best of Show with a 2019 Carmena. The Paonia-based cellar produces a broad spectrum of red wines made using an “old world” manner, said Devin Petersen, who oversees the operation with his father, Eames, and serves as the lead viticulturist.
“I am so happy that it is coming around with my father still involved in it,” he said of earning the Best of Show trophy.
Also among this year’s honorees was Erik Mohr, who co-owns the Estes Park-based Snowy Peaks Winery with his wife, Candice. The winery has two wines featured in the 2023 cup collection – a 2022 Muscat Blanc and a 2019 Eleve.
Th Eleve, a red wine that earned a double gold medal, does not have as much oak as most do, and boasts some spice that gives it an edge, Mohr said. The Blanc is a popular sweet wine, and pairs well with spicy food because it tames the heat. Mohr called being part of the 2023 Governor’s Cup “nice, and surprising.”
“I’ve been making the red wine, the Eleve, for I think 18 years,” he said. “It’s kind of my pride.”
Phil Patton, owner of Peachfork in Palisade, represented fruit wine’s offerings in the 2023 collection. Peachfork’s 2022 Pear Apple wine, another double gold medal winner, was not just on display at the event. Patton brought along samples of the apples and peaches it is made from.
Patton, a retired engineer who launched a second career running 50 acres of orchard and 20 acres of vineyards, sells the fruit he grows to regular consumers. Whatever is left over at the end of the year is turned into wine, and award-winning wine at that.
“It’s crisp. It’s semi-sweet,” he said. “That’s my little claim to fame, is mine is not as sweet.”
Colorado’s Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg said the Governor’s Cup builds awareness for “this growing sector of Colorado’s economy.”
“It helps tell the story of just how diverse we are as an agricultural state,” she said.
When people drink Colorado wine, they are drinking a wine produced with the traits unique to Colorado, she said. The soil, Rocky Mountain water, the dry climate, the sunlight and the altitude.
“Wine just embodies that connection, from soil to glass,” she said.
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