It’s the final stretch of the growing season here in the Grand Valley.  Verasion, the turning point in the season when red grapes start to turn color, has just finished here on our ½ acre in Palisade.  It’s time for winemakers and growers alike begin to prepare for CRUSH!  Clean up the equipment, bottle up the last wines of the summer, and get out the refractometer.  A refractometer is a hand held device that shows how sweet the grape juice is.  It helps us to decide when to pick the grapes.  Each winemaker will have a slightly different opinion about how this decision is made, and you can believe that there are a lot of different variables that are considered.

Enclosed are your Wine Club bottles.  This month’s wines for the Vintner’s Choice Colorado Wine Club are:

2002 Meritage Red, Grande River Vineyards

This older Bordeaux blend is aging gracefully.  It’s got a beautiful clean, fruity nose, good color, considering its age, and a fair amount of mid-palate body.  There’s an interesting and a somewhat pronounced flinty quality you’ll find.  Try this with a fine aged cheese, like potatoe gouda, or manchego.  Great stuff!

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Spero Winery

Deep dark color and rich, earthy, woodsy nose introduces this wine as a big one.  The label reveals a 15.5% alcohol level, which explains the rich fruity flavors in the mouth.  The tannins are very smooth and mild, so our guess is that this wine will not age particularly well, but it’s a nice wine from a small producer on the Front Range of Colorado (Denver).  The bottle is very tall and elegant, so if you don’t have a tall space to store it, we recommend drinking it!

As always, enjoy the wines in good health!

Sincerely,

Glenn & Natalie Foster