Count Down to Edesia

      For all you last-minute foodies and libation fans out there, you can still buy tickets to the Fourth Annual Edesia: A Palisade Culinary, Wine & Spirits Adventure on Sunday, March 30, from 1-5 pm. But you need to act now.
      It’s really pretty simple. Log on to the website www.edesiapalisade.com, click on Buy Ticket, and charge on your credit card through Pay Pal’s secure account. You don’t have to have a Pay Pal account to purchase your tickets with your credit card. Or, you can stop by Wine Country Inn in Palisade and purchase them in person.
     Cost is $75, which entitles you to food, wine, beer and spirits as well as Celebrity Chef Demos and Live music.
      As it turns out, about a half dozen tickets are available for the VIP luncheon at 11 am to 1 pm. Cost is $125, which covers the three course meal and wine pairings for the luncheon and admission to the main event afterwards.
     For those who have scheduling conflicts, donations can be made on the website by clicking on the Donate button. All profits benefit Marillac Clinic, which serves uninsured and under-insured patients in Mesa County.

     Food will be prepared by Headliner Chef Nitza Mendoza from Coral Gables, Fl; Chef/Owner Theo Otte, 626 on Rood, and Chef de Cuisine Griff Chiono, Bin 707 Foodbar, both of Grand Junction, with an assist from chefs and students from the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, Boulder.
      Wines from Mesa Park Vineyards, Talon Wine Brands and Whitewater Hill Vineyards will be paired with the food.
      Culinary Techniques will be demonstrated in the Vintner’s House Clubrooms as follows: Chef Chiono, 2 pm; Chef Mendoza, 2:45 pm; Chef Graham Mitchell, Escoffier School, 3:30 and Chef Jesper Jonsson, Randolph’s at the Warwick Hotel, Denver, 4:15 pm.
      Artists providing music throughout the event include Walt Smith & Friends, Alycia Vince Quartet, Mike Gazdak and Eric Nohe.
      Alpine Bank is presenting Edesia , while Remy Martin, the international champagne and cognac giant, is the Title Sponsor.      
     Other sponsors include The Daily Sentinel, KKCO 11 News, Magic 93.1, the Vault, 100.7, Grand Valley Magazine, Eagle River Associates, Suzi Productions, FCI Constructors Peczuh Printing, Shamrock Foods, Swire Coca Cola, Absolute Prestige Limousine Service, Country Elegance Florists, Dalby Wendland, Farmer Brother’s Coffee, Uniform Junction, the Town of Palisade, the Palisade Chamber of Commerce, ASR and Wine Country Inn.

Romantic Vineyard Escape

It’s not too late to wow your Valentine with an intimate candlelit dinner-for- two, sipping fine wine and savoring Chef Marcelo’s delicious, creative cuisine.  

 Here’s what he’s offering for February 14, 15 or 16:  Oysters Rockefeller; Green Salad; New York Strip Steak  finished with a chocolate, espresso, Cabernet reduction, and Risotto enhanced with brandy and Shiitake mushrooms. 

The Grand Finale is chef’s Valentine’s Dessert Flights.  Pair those selections with a great wine, and presto, your meal morphs into a romantic event!
Cost is $95 per couple.  Early Seating: 5 pm; Late Seating: 7:30 pm.  Reservations are required.
To complete the mood, you can stay over in our comfortable, tastefully appointed Victorian-style inn.   On Valentine’s weekend, two packages offered. 

 The Deluxe Special for $199 per night includes dinner for two, a Standard King room, Wine Country Breakfast and Afternoon Wine Reception.   Please use code SWPK when booking.

 The Sweetheart Package at $95 per night, is for double occupancy, Standard King room. Please use code SWHT when booking.

 Package upgrades (Sweet and Simple Romance and Passion in Palisade) are also available.  Check it out on our site.

We’ve made it easy for you.  So pick up the phone and give us a call!

Reservations:  888-855-8330  (Toll Free) or 970-464-5777 (Direct).

Eat, Drink, Be Merry!

On Christmas Eve, Mom is off duty in the kitchen and deserves a well-earned treat.   Santa suggests an early dinner at Wine Country Inn.   Serving from 5 to 8 pm on December 24 and 25, the Inn is offering a Prime Rib special that includes a glass of wine for only $27.99.   Regular menu items are also available.    

Wine Country Inn Featured In Awesome Travel Video

Here's a great travel video, made by CaptainHowdy on his iPhone 4. Nice shots of the Wine Country Inn, Palisade, Colorado, and the greater Grand Valley area.

Wine Enthusiast Names Wine Country Inn A Top 7 Vineyard Property

Wine Country Inn of Palisade, CO, has been named one of seven premier vineyard properties in the United States by Wine Enthusiast Magazine in its June issue.

Entitled, "Sleeping With the Grapes," the feature by Lisa Rogak , includes California properties the Vintner’s Inn in Santa Rosa (Sonoma), La Residence in Napa, Just Inn in Paso Robles, and Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn and Spa Resort in Los Olivos. Messinna Hof Winery’s The Villa in Bryan, TX, and the 1894 Inn at Barboursville Vineyards in Charlottesville, VA. are also included. Wine Country Inn, the state’s first wine themed hotel, is the only Colorado property named. Two international properties, one in Spain, the other in Italy, were also cited.

“We are pleased to be included in such good company,” emphasizes Jerome Strack, General Manager.

“Historically, we feel related because our owners Richard and Jean Tally visited Vintner’s Inn, Just Inn and Fess Parker’s Inn more than a decade ago and incorporated some of their features in our new hotel. The operators of those properties were extremely helpful when the Tallys were gathering information back then.”

Rogak leads her article with an observation that “An increasing number of wineries are offering accommodations for overnight guests. Here are some of the best places to dine well, relax in comfort and contemplate the vines.”

She gives a thumbnail description of each of the properties. This is what she wrote about the Wine Country Inn:

“The Victorian-style Wine Country Inn is situated in the foothills of the Western Slope of Colorado, smack in the middle of 20 acres of vineyards. The inn’s 80 rooms are within walking distance of two wineries and a short drive or bike ride away from two dozen more. Other activities feature lolling on wraparound porches with rocking chairs and wicker furniture and an afternoon wine tasting. For more privacy or for an extended family reunion book the Vintner’s Guest House, with rooms and suites that can be arranged in a variety of configurations, sleeping up to 24 persons.”

Affliated with Luxe Hotels International, Wine Country inn is located at 777 Grande River Drive, at I-70 Exit 42. Guests can contact the hotel at 888-855-8330 , 970-464-5777 or www.ColoradoWineCountryInn.com. The Inn will celebrate its second anniversary on August 1, 2010.

Whole Foods Bears Fruit With Palisade Peach Display Contest

Last year, the Colorado Division of Whole Foods approached Palisade's Tourism Advisory Board with a contest idea. Whole Foods was interested in doing a sweepstakes on the Front Range to promote Palisade.

The promotion would feature Palisade as an area:

The Contest would be in all Whole Foods Store locations on the Front Range.The contest would take place while Palisade Peaches were in the stores.

Each store would come up with its own display, and that the store with the best display promoting Palisade would get to send its marketing team to Palisade for a weekend, and get to stay at the Wine Country Inn.

The contest has born some fruit not just for Palisade in the form of publicity, but for Whole Foods, as well. Since July 31, the Front Range stores have sold over $250,000 of local Colorado peaches!

So congrats to all the Whole Foods produce departments who are finalists in the display contest. Here are their displays:



The Cherry Creek store.



The Colfax store.



The brand new Southglenn store.

Customers were also allowed to enter the sweepstakes, with winner being drawn September 1 for a weekend getaway to Palisade.

Palisade Peaches Take Flight Aboard Air Force One

Charles Broshus snapped this nifty picture for the Grand Junction Free Press of an unidentified White House staffer carting two flats of Palisade Peaches aboard Air Force One. This peachy bit of national exposure happened on the tarmac at Walker Air Field, where AF1 was parked during President Obama and the First Family's August 15, 2009 visit to the Grand Valley.

You can view more of the Obama's pass through Grand Junction and Palisade here.

Wine Country Inn Gifts Restored Photo Images To Museum

The owners of Wine Country Inn, a new 80-room boutique hotel in Palisade. believe that looking to the future should be firmly rooted in appreciating the past. That’s why the Tally family is donating electronically restored images of historic local photographs to the Museum of Western Colorado.

Valued at an estimated $20,000 by Cobb & Assoc., who handled the restoration of photos loaned by the Grand Junction museum, the restored 1900-era Palisade pictures were enlarged, framed and hung throughout the hotel. The electronic media files will be presented to museum curators at a celebration from 10 to 11 am, Thursday, July 23, in the Lobby of the hotel. The public is invited. Following the presentation, guests can view the photos in public areas as well as guest rooms. Lemonade and cookies will be served in the Tasting Room.

“We can thank our neighbor Bill Floryancic, whose passion for documenting the history of Palisade launched this project. He approached us before we even broke ground about the importance of honoring the past,” explains owner Richard Tally.

“He was right and the interest in the Victorian period photos of Palisade has created much interest and good will from our guests and local residents alike."

“We also want to thank Michael Menard and the Museum of Western Colorado for his cooperation and help,” said Tally. He also praised Jeff Ham, the Cobb graphic artist who painstakingly restored the photos, for his dedication and “labor of love” on the project.

“It was a pleasure working with the Wine Country Inn to restore and produce copies of the Museum’s early Palisade Photographs for display at the Inn,” comments Curator Menard. “The Museum of Western Colorado is very appreciative to have such supporters as Jean and Richard Tally to assist the Museum in preserving and promoting the history of the Grand Valley.”

The results are a testament to the possibilities of creating a legacy for future generations when the private and public sectors work together, Tally adds.

Palisade's Lodging Tax Funds New Tourist Initiatives

Palisade's new lodging tax is being used to help create new and exciting things for tourists to do while visiting the town.

At a recent regular meeting of the Palisade Town Board of Trustees the Board voted to provide seven local businesses with tourism marketing funds to promote special events in Palisade to encourage increased tourist visitation.

Using funds generated from the voter approved Lodging Occupation Tax, the Board of Trustees, through its Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), solicited applications for private tourism marketing projects. Nine proposals were received. Due to funding constraints, the TAB could only recommend funding seven of the nine projects.

The recommendations centered on funding projects demonstrating numerous positive characteristics including broad community benefit, partnership between multiple organizations, events targeting the shoulder seasons of winter and spring, the degree of project uniqueness and innovation, and sustainability.

Mayor Dave Walker said, “We are excited that the business community has responded to this opportunity to partner with the Town.” We are confident that these marketing dollars will show a return on investment in the form of increased tourism to Palisade.”

Projects receiving funding include Palisade Spring Antiques Fair, Agri-business Identification Flags and Banners, Palisade Octoberfest, Vineyard Harvest Boot Camp, Palisade “Feast in the Fields”, Palisade Area Trails/Maps Promotion, and Palisade Wine Country Float Trips. The funds were provided on a matching, reimbursable basis. All projects must be completed by December 31 of this year.

Harley the Motorcycle Fish Swims into View

The Town of Palisade is pleased to announce the dedication and unveiling of “Harley”, a sculpture by Palisade’s own Lyle Nichols. The ceremony will be held on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. at the New Town Center Plaza.

Palisade Mayor Dave Walker said, “the Sculpture is an incredible addition to our Town Center Plaza”. He thanks all of the donors for their generous donations.

“Harley” is a fish sculpture with scales composed of Harley Davidson mufflers. This brilliant piece of art will soon become a focal point of not only the plaza but the entire downtown area of Palisade. The project came to fruition through the enthusiasm and vision of Jane Wood, proprietor of the Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade.

The Town Center Plaza is located at the corner of Third and Main Streets in Downtown Palisade. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.