West Elks Wine Trail

West Elks Wine Trail

Pairing the Best of Colorado Wine with the Best of Colorado Cuisine

August 2-4, 2019

The Wineries of the West Elks Wine Country invite you to a special weekend of touring, premium wine tasting and winemakers’ dinners during the Annual West Elks Wine Trail. Set your own route for a fun and relaxing day or weekend and come home with delicious wine and memories.

The wineries are ready to introduce you to the Colorado wine and cuisine grown from this unique region.

Start your West Elks Wine Trail tour by stopping by any of the West Elk Wineries in the Paonia/Hotchkiss area to pick up your trail map for the weekend. Each winery will feature food and wine pairings, with a focus on local foods. The winemakers have selected two favorite foods to complement their wines, and will give you the recipes just for stopping by. The wine tasting rooms will offer a wide variety of activities from vineyard tours, art displays, barrel tastings, winemakers’ dinners, food pairings, mountain views and more.

We invite and encourage you to purchase wines from the winemakers. Many of the vintages from this region are only available at the wineries and are extremely limited. There are several events and dinners associated with the West Elks Wine Trail.

2019 Activites (to be announced)

2018 Activity Highlights

Friday

SkyHawk Winery: Winemaker’s Dinner. 6:30pm.

Leroux Creek Inn & Winery: Hommage à Paul Bocuse. 6:30pm.

Saturday

Alfred Eames: 5 Course West Elks Wine Trail Dinner. 6pm.

Azura Cellars: Tapas at Twilight. 7pm.

Black Bridge: Complimentary samples of wood-fired pizza, wine wagon tours, barrel tasting.

Stone Cottage Cellars: Farm to Table Winemaker’s Dinner. 6:30pm.

Delicious Orchards: BBQ and Outdoor Concert.

Sunday

Alfred Eames/Pam’s Jammin’: Morning After Brunch Smorgasbord from 10-2.

Azura Cellars: Sailing on the Pond. Informal yacht racing on the pond 11am. Loaner boats, informal instruction.

The West Elks AVA is notably home to vineyards planted at the highest elevation in the Northern Hemisphere. The intense sunlight, warm days and cool nights produce grapes that are ideally suited for creating distinctive Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Syrah, Gamay, Cayuga and Chambourcin. Additionally, local winemakers craft wines from Colorado-grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Carmina and Tempranillo. Vintners produce wines in all styles from beautifully dry, crisp whites, to robust, meaty reds, sweet and delicious port-style dessert wines and hard apple cider.

Just a stone’s throw from Grand Junction (1.5 hours) and Montrose (1 hour) a beautiful drive over Kebler Pass from Crested Butte (1.25 hours) or a foray over McClure pass from Aspen (2.25 hours), Carbondale (1.5 hours) Glenwood Springs (2 hours), and Redstone (45 minutes), the West Elks Wine Trail offers a refreshing food and wine getaway with plenty of additional diversions to leave you relaxed and yet rejuvenated to enjoy summer. Join us the first weekend in August and savor our wine and food pairings along with lovely North Fork Valley scenery.

For lodging check paoniachamber.com.