Hello from Colorado

[Mike Blicke]

Hi everyone. I've been lurking here for awhile, and love the wealth of experience and information.

I just moved to Evergreen Colorado from the Bay Area. If anyone knows of a place to source fresh juice come harvest time either on the Western Slope of Colorado or around Denver, please let me know.

 

[ibglowin]

Welcome to WMT!

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Everyone here was a greenhorn at one point. I worked with a club in Denver for a number of years that got fresh grapes out of the Lodi AVA. The vineyard was sold off a few years ago and the club had to find other grape sources. Those sources are now all in CO and spread out all over the state so the grapes are now coming in over a period of weeks and possibly month(s) due to the differences in climate all over CO where the grapes are grown. That doesn't work very well for me anymore since when things were coming out of Lodi they could pick in a week or two and send a refer truck out to Denver all in one shot. I live in Northern NM and would drive up to Denver spend the night, pick up my grapes early the next morning and then drive back home the same day and crush things that evening (still nice and cold no less). I can PM you a name and contact info if you wish.

Welcome aboard.

 

[Mike Blicke]

Thanks for the welcome. I've been doing some research and found at least 1 Vineyard in the Palisade's, CO area that will sell grapes to a home winemaker. I'd definitely appreciate the contact if you can point me in the right direction.

 

[ibglowin]

The nice thing about the club is they rent out a large space on the back end of a strip mall in Lakewood year round. They have all the equipment needed for a medium sized winery. They crush 12 -15,000lbs of grapes each year. Many varieties. You pay for the amount of wine you want to purchase in gallons and then go help with crush, press, pump overs, clean up, etc and then at the end they have a big BBQ and you bring your carboys and take home finished wine to be bulk aged and bottled by you when you are ready. It would be an excellent way to learn the ropes with out making mistakes. Since I lived out of State I never got to participate in the Club Wine making which would have been fun. Since these guys buy in large bulk quantities I am sure they are getting a much better price than you would buying only small amounts. I will PM you the info.