Barrel into Spring pairs wine, food with fun, creativity

Every spring, the Colorado Association for Viticulture & Enology (CAVE) organizes a wonderful event called Barrel into Spring.

The association chooses two weekends, one in April and the other in May, to feature a variety of wineries and local chefs. I think it is a fun and creative — and delicious! — way to learn more about our local foods and wines.

The event is self-guided, which means you are assigned a starting winery and given a “passport booklet” to get stamped along the way. You set the pace and can choose how long you stay at each winery.

Wine drinkers receive a special wine glass and designated drivers get a customized water bottle.

This year, I attended the May weekend and started at the lovely Sauvage Spectrum, 676 38¼ Road, in Palisade. Chill Switch Wines from Cedaredge shared the space at Sauvage Spectrum and it was fun to sample wines from both wineries.

Bear Bones Culinary provided the food pairings. I loved their stuffed sweet pepper boats with Sauvage Spectrum’s 2023 Veritage White, and Chill Switch’s Rosé of Blaufrankisch paired with a strawberry custard and candied pistachio pound cake parfait bite. Yum! I also think Sauvage Spectrum’s Sparklet Rosé is a fun summer wine that would make any occasion feel celebratory.

The next place we visited was Avant Vineyards, 3480 E Road. This stunning location is tucked away and is an idyllic space. I loved meeting the owners, Diane and Neil Guard.

This talented couple is a former ER physician (Diane) and a biochemist at the University of Colorado (Neil) turned winemakers. They paired their tasty wines with the delicious foods of chef Josh Roberts from No Coast Sushi.

I was wowed by Roberts’ vegan lox crostini paired with the terrific 2024 Alberiño or the 2023 Grenache Blanc. It was amazing to see a carrot be transformed into what truly looked and tasted like salmon! The smoked duck and tuna poke were also big hits.

After Avant, we traveled to Carboy Winery, 3572 G Road. Carboy hosted Blanchard Family Wines in its fun spot with a delightful second-story patio.

I enjoyed the 2023 Chambourcin and 2022 Chardonnay paired with some lovely bites from Café Sol and Enstrom Candies. I could have lounged longer on the patio, but I was determined to visit a few more wineries that afternoon.

The next stop was the Ordinary Fellow, 202 Peach Ave. This place has such a fun vibe and also is the frequent location of the award-winning Thai food truck called Pali-Thai. Ordinary Fellow is located right in Palisade and I sampled its 2023 Chardonnay. (I’m sure I would have liked all its other wines, too, but I tried to keep my wine tasting to just one or two sips at each place. I also had a designated driver.)

There were several other wineries on the tour, but we decided to call it a day with just one more.

The event actually is held over two days, and it would be fun to rent a place to stay overnight in Palisade instead of trying to do a lot in one day. I mainly focused on white wines during my day of exploring. Perhaps next year I will use the second day to sample the reds, too.

To close out the day, we visited Grande River Vineyard, 787 Grande River Dr. Not only does it have good wines, but over the years I’ve attended many concerts on Grande River’s spacious lawn.

For this event, Grande River paired up with chef Chad Griffiths of Wine Country Inn. The smoked cream cheese with asparagus was terrific and went well with the Sauvignon Blanc. My companion was a big fan of the roasted turkey bite with a gouda fondue.

Sitting and looking out over the beautiful Grand Valley after a day of wine tasting was a wonderful way to end the day.

I encourage you to try our valley’s wineries and visit local restaurants and explore new things. I feel lucky to live here, surrounded by nature’s bounty on so many levels.

Here’s to another great Barrel into Spring!

If you have any food and beverage-related events or information you want readers to know about, please email me at AllThingsFoodChristine@gmail.com.

These fun wine glasses come with a ticket for Barrel into Spring, a weekend tour of local wineries with food from local chefs. Designated drivers receive customized water bottles. Barrel into Spring is organized by the Colorado Association for Viticulture & Enology.

Photo by CHRISTINE GALLAGHER)

I enjoyed the wines at Sauvage Spectrum. The winery’s Sparklet wine, shown at left, is a celebratory experience.

Tasty treats from Bear Bones Culinary.

Delicious creations from No Coast Sushi’s chef Josh Roberts. They paired great with wines from Avant Vineyards.

Rotweinkuchen topped with a port glaze was created by chef Chad Griffiths from Wine Country Inn.

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The Ordinary Fellow has gorgeous bottles in addition to lovely wine.