So back in September Brooke and I did the annual Colorado Winefest in Grand Junction Colorado.  We spent a long weekend at a bed and breakfast in Grand Junction.  We stayed at the Castle Creek Bed and Breakfast.  They were fantastic.  I would highly recommend them if you’re going but make sure you book well in advance.  We were very lucky, we booked May 29th and someone just cancelled.  The whole town books up very fast as this is a large draw.  I’d say most the front range is there it seems.

We got there Friday night and went to dinner at the Rockslide Brewery downtown.  A note to those who may be tempted to buy the happy hour sampler platter; Do not order anything else!  It was huge and I was insistent on getting a burger despite my sensible wife’s objections.  Boy do I wish I’d listen to her more!  I was tasked with my burger as well as my fair share of the platter.  This thing was the size of a Volkswagen and I was done after that.  The beer wasn’t bad but I’ve had better.  We’ll get to better beer later in the weekend.

On Saturday we went to the Colorado National Monument park just west of Grand Junction.  It was a gorgeous drive that I can only describe as Sedona, AZ meets the Grand Canyon on a smaller scale.  It was gorgeous and a perfect day.  The drive was our way of killing time before the actual wine tasting.  It was an amazing drive and I’d recommend it to anyone coming across the 70 who has two hours or so.  Well worth it and very enjoyable without having to get out and hike around although you can do that too.

After the monument we went to winefest, the driver for our trip.  We got there and parked at a school where school busses shuttled people back and forth to the winefest.  The busses came often and we were at the winefest part in no time.  The number of people there is astounding.  They come from all around for this weekend.  Well everywhere except Utah it seemed.  The event is a massive collection of booths handing out samples of wine.  You get a glass with admission and you walk the booths sampling wine.

As for the wine it was seemingly good that day.  Granted we’d sampled something like 40 wines so I’m sure it impacted our ability to judge but they seemed good.  If I could recommend one thing to people it would be to make notes of the wines you liked and go back for a winery tour the next day.  Then you can sample it again in a less frenzied location and decide if you like it.  I personally have found of the three bottles we’ve had since we’ve been back I hated them all.  We had a Mondavi out at dinner one night after we’d had only CO wines for the last few bottles and it was like heaven compared to CO wine.  So far our purchased bottles have left a lot to be desired.

For dinner it was Il Bistro downtown.  Make reservations early as they say these places fill up.  I’ll be honest, I was surprised at how few people were downtown this weekend.  People made it sound like it would be a mad house.  It was very relaxed with a relatively few people downtown.  Il Bistro was very good.  I would recommend it however they are not cheap.  I think the food is good but the price was excessive.

The last day was spent touring wineries and a trip to Powderhorn mountain just east of Grand Junction.  It was a quick drive with some amazing fall colors.  We took the lifts to the top and back down which took about an hour and provided us with some amazing views of the area.  The leaves on the Aspen trees were exploding with color.  The lift was a lot colder than Grand Junction and my shorts and T-Shrit were not getting the job done.  Once we got back to Grand Junction we started a tour of the wineries in the area.  Brooke had a few she wanted to see but we sort of went where the moment took us.  The last stop was Two Rivers.  Two Rivers is a gorgeous winery with some of the best wine we tried in Colorado as well as a very nice looking bed and breakfast.  Unfortunately we didn’t buy any wine there to bring home but we did have a glass.  I think if we went again we’d stay there.

All in it was a lot of fun.  I’m not sure the wine is all that great but it was a lot of fun and I’d highly recommend it to people looking for a great weekend.  I think we’d do it again but I’m not sure how much wine we’d buy.  One thing we did learn is we have healthy love of Port wine which neither of us knew.  It’s very good.

The pictures are available here.