In my experience, the most effective and entertaining way to learn about wine is to go straight to the source. This weekend 400 people will travel around eight Grand Valley wineries for the "Barrel Into Spring" event. What makes this a unique experience is that the participating wineries will be opening up their oak barrels and sharing tastes of wine that has not yet been bottled. In addition, each winery will offer food and wine pairings and discounts on wine purchases.

Tasters may learn various things through this exercise, such as the differing effects of French and American oak on wine, how wine matures, and of course, what wine tastes like before it is bottled.
I have been involved in preparing food for the Barrel Tasting for several years, and for me one of the biggest surprises is how many people return for this event every year. There loyal patronage says a lot about the quality of this event and the quality of the wine being made in the Grand Valley.

Participating wineries include:

• Canyon Wind Cellars
  
• Carlson Vineyards
• DeBeque Canyon Winery
• Garfield Estates Vineyard and Winery
• Grande River Vineyards
• Graystone Winery
• Plum Creek Cellars
• Two Rivers Winery

Tickets are sold out for this weekend, but you can keep an eye out for next year at http://www.grandvalleywine.com/.

If you can't drink wine from a barrel this weekend you could still join the residents of Fruita who will remember and celebrate their most famous resident Mike the Headless Chicken. Yes, Mike really was a headless chicken who lived for some time without the benefit of his head. A survivor of the farmer's axe, Mike became famous rather than fricasee, and he is now immortalized with an annual festival. There will be live music, lawn mower races, a car show, and, yes, chicken. For more information go to www.miketheheadlesschicken.org.