Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Palisade
Famous for growing Colorado's best peaches, this small town owes its luck to a warm, dry
microclimate that later turned out to also be ideal for vineyards. Bordeaux-style grapes do
well here, though you will find a bit of everything on offer. Relatively new on the scene,
Palisade vineyards cannot compare to those in Napa Valley, but they do offer a fun outing
into this blue-sky farmland. Palisade also offers good mountain biking that's not yet
widely known with the newly developed Palisade Rim Trail.
Utes were the first inhabitants of the Grand Valley, followed by white settlers around
1881. It didn't become a popular area for agriculture until the Bureau of Reclamation built
irrigation canals to divert water from the Colorado River in the early 1900s Today it's a
pleasant small town with a farm feel and entrepeneurs focused on developing the ac-
coutrements of a wine-country culture.
TOURING WINE COUNTRY
Colorado's tiny wine region boasts the surreal backdrop of the wide Colorado River, red-rock canyons and big
blue skies. Here hot summers and volcanic soil produce wines that are as bold as the surroundings. It's nothing
like France, or Northern California. Grand Valley's plucky producers are mostly small-scale family farms along
dirt roads, but that's part of the attraction.
According to locals, Palisade is the smallest town in the USA with an all-of-the-above approach to producing
booze: a winery, meadery, distillery and brewery all within the city borders. Exploring area wineries and orchards
makes for a fun weekend trip, though you can enjoy more peace if you go midweek. All offer free tastings, some
have extensive tours available with reservations for a small fee.
Across from the town plaza, Rapid Creek Cycles ( 970-464-9266; http://www.rapidcreekcycles.com ; 237
S Main St; per day from $36; 9am-6pm Mon-Sat, 10am-4pm Sun) offers bikes apt for touring the vineyards.
It also has John Hodge's handy area map. To vineyard hop in air-conditioned comfort, contact American Spirit
Shuttle (
970-523-7662; www.americanspiritshuttle.net ;
noon-4pm Sat), with scheduled four-stop tours
of the Grande Valley AVA wineries.
The Palisade Tourism Board and Chamber of Commerce have useful maps you can download from their web-
sites. You can also find useful information at www.coloradowine.com .
Sights & Activities
Suncrest Orchard, Alpacas and
Fiber Mill
FARM
 
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