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Wine Tasting 101Colorado Wines: What We’re MakingChef Wayne – Videos and RecipesDid You Know? -- Wine Country
  
  WINEMAKER SPOTLIGHT: PARKER CARLSON OF CARLSON VINEYARDS By Amiee White Beazley
On a brilliant fall day in October, Grand Valley winemaker Parker Carlson is eagerly awaiting the season's last shipment of grapes. "These are the last fresh grapes of the year," says Carlson, who has been making his own wines at Carlson Vineyards with his wife Mary for more than two decades. The Riesling grapes he is so excited to receive will soon be crushed and added to grapes grown on his own vineyard, to make his award-winning Laughing Cat Riesling. His 2003 Riesling was awarded the World Riesling Cup at the 28th International Eastern Wine Competition, and won "Best Favorite Locally Made Wine" in the 2008 Best of the West competition.
In addition to his Riesling, Carlson makes another dozen wine varieties, using all locally grown grapes: Gewurztraminer (both dry and sweet), merlot, shiraz, chardonnay, lemburger (his biggest selling dry red), fruit wines, including cherry, peach and plum, a sweet dessert wine, and perhaps one or two "experimental" wines that he sells only on the premises. As Colorado wines continue to increase in complexity and popularity, Parker welcomes the expansion of an industry that he has helped nurture from its infancy. "The growth is really healthy," he says. "There are lots of new wineries here now, and more than 80 wineries in the state." About 80 percent of the grapes that make all Colorado wines come from the Grand Valley, says Carlson, and winemaking techniques are improving. "The quality is constantly getting better. Wineries are bringing in trained professional winemakers who have experience and are willing to try new things. The future here is really bright."
Visitors can meet Parker Carlson at his winery's tasting room, an old fruit-packing shed, on East Orchard Mesa in Palisade. Like many wineries in the Grand Junction area, Carlson's tasting room is open year round, except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day and "if the Broncos are in the Super Bowl." "We like to have fun," says Carlson. "We try not to be snobby about the whole thing. We try to draw people out and find out what they know, or want to know, about wine and put them at ease." So what's Parker's wine of choice? His own Tyrannosaurus Red (or T-Red) – a dry red wine crafted from a little-known grape called the Lemberger. The official description on the bottle includes these words: Good with pasta dishes, red meat and hearty cheeses. Serve at cool room temperature. Share with good friends. For more information on Carlson Vineyards, go to www.carlsonvineyards.com. For more information on the full range of Grand Junction area wineries and vineyards, click here. |
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