Newsmakers Jan. 10-23: Front Range wineries outpacing Grand Valley

Wineries in the Front Range for the first time produced more wine than those in Western Colorado’s Grand Valley during fiscal 2013, according to the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board.

The Front Range produced 583,000 liters of wine in 2013, outpacing Grand Valley production of 551,000 liters of wine last year. That’s a big jump from a decade ago, when Front Range wine production totaled just 118,000 liters, or one third of Grand Valley production of 339,000 liters.

The Grand Valley still produced 80 percent of the state’s grapes last year, but more wineries are locating closer to the state’s most populated region, said Doug Caskey, executive director of the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, a division of the state Department of Agriculture that promotes the Colorado wine industry.

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More than half of the state’s 108 wineries now are located on the Front Range, Caskey said. Some of the Grand Valley vineyards have opened locations everywhere from Centennial to Boulder.

Wine drinkers in Colorado are now imbibing 3.1 gallons per capita annually, 24 percent more than the national average of 2.5 gallons.

The state’s wineries account for 5 percent of market share in Colorado, according to a recent study done by Colorado State University for the wine industry board. The economic contribution of the state’s wind industry, meanwhile, tripled to $144 million from $42 million in 2005 when a similar study was done. About two thirds of the total economic impact came from tourism.

How good is Colorado wine? The state’s wineries have won awards in the Jefferson Cup Invitational, a 14-year-old contest in Kansas City, Mo., that honors the best wines nationwide.

UPDATE

A late spring freeze and harsh winter temperatures led to a crop loss of 30 percent to 60 percent in the Grand Valley this year, Caskey said. Merlot was particularly hard hit, though preliminary reports indicate that the grapes the state harvested were of high quality.

The crop loss means that many of the Grand Valley wineries have kept the grapes they normally sell to Front Range wineries, which in turn, have had to look outside Colorado for their grapes.

“Wineries on the Front Range, unless they own a vineyard somewhere, they were scrambling for grapes,” he said. “It’s going to squeeze the smaller, newer wineries that don’t have wineries of their own or don’t have longstanding contracts with somebody.”