When Carboy Winery opened in 2016 in Littleton, there were not really any plans for expansion.
“We just wanted to have a fun wine project,” CEO Kevin Webber explained. “We saw how craft brewing was growing, and the wine industry wasn’t doing as much, so we wanted to become a wine merchant of sorts by being approachable, serving it on tap and working with a lot of people.”
Clearly, this idea took off as they opened four tasting rooms, with the Palisade location ranked 6 out of 10 in USA Today’s “Best Wine Tasting Room” list. Found at 4,742 feet above sea level, this gorgeous vineyard and winery is surrounded by the Book Cliff Mountains with an outside patio with a prime view of Mount Garfield. “The goal with Palisade was to embrace what was great about that location. Having that desert location with a rooftop patio helps to focus on why people are in Colorado – to be outside and to provide a place to hang out other than a brewery.”
Besides the stunning location, Palisade also lends itself well to wine-making – specifically sparkling wine – because of the minerals in the soil. The facility has five state-of-the-art Charmat tanks, which are utilized in the Italian way of making Prosecco. This helps them make about 40,000 cases of wine yearly, some of which is served on tap – taking inspiration from the Italian wineries that refilled five or 10-gallon carboys for their guests while also committing to sustainability by cutting down on packaging. With this kind of production, Carboy compares to a medium-sized California winery, proving a real market for Colorado wine.
READ: Carboy Winery Is Putting Colorado Wines on the Map
Making wine in this state, however, is no easy feat. With grapes being difficult to grow in general and growing seasons in Colorado being short due to erratic weather changes and early freeze events, you have to, as Webber puts it, “be a little crazy to be in the wine industry.”
The product is worth it, as the CEO and head winemaker are similarly minded in not intervening much with the natural flavors and making accessible, luxurious, and grounded wine. “The fact that a Colorado winery is even in the conversation says that the wine industry is getting noticed,” Webber stated. “It’s more innovative now with the demographic shift, as we have to figure out how to appeal to younger wine drinkers – so we prioritize making our wine approachable with fun new flavor profiles. So it’s really cool to have that national recognition as we continue coming up with fresh ideas.”
Carboy Winery has four locations in Denver, Littleton, Breckenridge and Palisade. The Palisade location is at 3572 G Rd, Palisade, and is open Sunday – Thursday from 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. and on Friday – Saturday from 12 p.m. – 7 p.m.
All photography courtesy of Carboy Winery.