A few weeks ago a group of us made our way to Peach Street Distillery in Palisade to enjoy Gin and Tonics, Gin Rickys, Bloody Marys, and the warm afternoon sun. As we reached the point of painlessness, Bennet Price wandered in for an end-of-shift drink. Bennet is the owner and winemaker of DeBeque Canyon Winery and he is a walking, talking history book of Colorado winemaking.

After introductions a friendly chat on winemaking ensued and Bennet generously offered to host an impromptu wine tasting at his production facility. This was no great inconvenience for any of us as it is located next door to the distillery. (The winery tasting room is across the river just east of town.) Bennet's output consists largely of red varietals and blends and several varieties of port. Incidentally, the brandy used to fortify the port is made right back at the distillery. What a happy land.

You might think, and I was expecting, Bennet to pull the corks from a selection of wine bottles. No! He grabbed his wine thief and began extracting still maturing wine from oak barrels. We started with Pinot Noir from Colorado's highest vineyard (over 7000 ft.) and soon moved on to Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Granache, and more. We tried wines intended for blending and like varietals of differing vintages.

Soon, we all began to comprehend the complexities of wine production. Bennet has been involved in wine making in Colorado more or less from the start. He helped design and plant many of the vineyards that now produce Colorado's best wine, not just for DeBeque but for many of the wineries in the Grand Valley. He continues to experiment and develop the best varietals and blends for our geography and climate. Some 30-plus years on from the beginning of winemaking in Colorado, his passion for the craft remains keen and intact.

We finished with a couple of port wines that can rival those made in Portugal. Typical of Bennet's winemaking style they were rich, full-bodied, velvety-smooth, and packed with ripe fruit flavors. Buzzed and blissed out, we thanked Bennet for his generosity and headed out into the setting sun.