Petit verdot can be like drinking ink. That is if you can actually find it in a bottle of local wine. It’s one of those blending grapes that garnered respect in a Bordeaux as a 5 percent grape. On its own? It’s just not that common. Colorado is no exception – and that’s too bad.
Colorado got smacked in the second Colorado v. Virginia Throwdown, a blind tasting Tuesday night at Colorado Winery Row featuring two states' often under-appreciated wines. We blind tasted through more than 30 summer wines across six categories, with Virginia taking four. This left Virginian Frank Morgan, co-organizer and author of Drinkwhatyoulike.com, beaming, and me looking for silver linings.
Tuesday, August 24, will arguably go down in history as the biggest day in the history of drinking Colorado and Virginia wines being in the same room, which can only mean one thing: The second blind tasting between the two states is set. These two under-the-radar wine-producing states don’t have a whole lot in common when it comes to the factors of terrior that can dictate the flavor of wine, but that hasn't stopped us from finding an excuse to pop open a few cases. Luckily Colorado can grow a diverse variety of wines so we were able to match up a battle of whites without too much of a stretch.
Forget what you’ve heard before, good pinot noir is possible in Colorado. It’s rare, but Alfred Eames Cellars has proved that greatness with this delicate grape that loathes high heat can come from the arid mountains of our fine state.
It’d be easy for Guy Drew’s voice to get lost. If he were to shatter a case of wine on the floor of his winery, there’s a better chance a park ranger at Mesa Verde National Park would hear an upset bellow before anyone in the Colorado wine industry, which is unofficially centered hours away in the Grand Valley near Grand Junction. Drew’s namesake winery is located in Cortez, which means he has exactly one wine makeing neighbor — Sutcliffe Vineyards — and a whole lot of empty highway between the rest of the industry in any direction.
Colorado got smacked in the second 
Tuesday, August 24, will arguably go down in history as the biggest day in the history of drinking Colorado and Virginia wines being in the same room, which can only mean one thing: The second blind tasting between the two states is set. These two under-the-radar wine-producing states don’t have a whole lot in common when it comes to the factors of terrior that can dictate the flavor of wine, but that hasn't stopped us from finding an excuse to pop open a few cases. Luckily Colorado can grow a diverse variety of wines so we were able to match up a battle of whites without too much of a stretch.
Forget what you’ve heard before, good pinot noir is possible in Colorado. It’s rare, but Alfred Eames Cellars has proved that greatness with this delicate grape that loathes high heat can come from the arid mountains of our fine state.
It’d be easy for Guy Drew’s voice to get lost. If he were to shatter a case of wine on the floor of his winery, there’s a better chance a park ranger at Mesa Verde National Park would hear an upset bellow before anyone in the Colorado wine industry, which is unofficially centered hours away in the Grand Valley near Grand Junction. 
