Autumn Harvests and Colorado Wine: A Blogger's Perspective

It's always interesting to hear an outsider's opinion of yourself. Here's one blogger who waxed quite eloquently about Palisade, the area wines and the harvests coming in off Orchard Mesa. In his (or her?) blog, "Outer Limits," Andi writes:

"It’s early September and the fruit and vegetable harvests are coming in from the surrounding farms. This is big ranching and big farming country, where the long growing seasons make this part of Colorado well-known for things like peaches, corn, tomatoes, and apples. As a testament to that, I have three flats of peaches stacked in the back seat of my car, a bag of Big Jim chiles for roasting, a bag of pears, and three bottles of Colorado wine, made from grapes grown in the soils of this part of the state. I’ve just left a wine-tasting venue in Palisade, a town about 11 miles east of Grand Junction."

"Palisade–named because of the stark, tower-like buttes of Mancos shale that surround it–is tucked along the Colorado River and it’s world famous for its peaches. Here you’ll find quiet streets lined with Queen Anne style houses and a downtown that’s about three blocks long. It might remind you of the Iowa town your grandma grew up in, back when people walked everywhere and knew everybody and you stayed out of trouble because holy crap, everybody kept an eye on the kids and would tell your mama if you were doing anything questionable. That’s the kind of vibe that still exists in Palisade, though its myriad fruit stands and vineyards–the Confre wine cellars tasting room is right off the interstate–demonstrate that it’s a small town that recognizes the need to put one foot in the future while keeping the other firmly in the past."

"This is an area of Colorado that demonstrates extremes in its topography. A mixture of canyonlands, desert buttes, and high mesas, the drive along I-70 takes you through eroding sandstone and shale obelisks and hoodoos–formations that might be comfortable in a cave or on a pockmarked lunar landscape. Agriculture clings stubbornly to the floodplains long irrigated by the Colorado River, continuing to produce world-class fruits and vegetables, in small family operations that somehow continue to survive and maybe even thrive in this mixture of harsh and hospitable landscape."

Nicely put, Andi. We appreciate the input.

You can read Andi postings and Outer Limits blog here.