travel tuesday: sippin’ wine in palisade

If you’re starting to think we like Palisade, you are correct. This was our second mini-staycation there this year. We attended the Sip into Spring Wine Fest for the first time, and it was fabulous. The location, the wine, the weather, the food, the hotel…all fabulous!

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We checked into our room at the Wine Country Inn and knew immediately that we’d go back. It’s a beautiful property with a working vineyard onsite, plus a nice pool area with a hot tub. An afternoon glass of wine and a hot breakfast buffet are included in the price. We had a ground-floor room with a patio that overlooked the pool area. Two thumbs up for the comfy bed and pillows.

To avoid driving to and from the fest, we hired Palisade PediCab. That’s us in the backseat in the photo above. Highly recommend this option for any wine tastings and tours there! Just make sure you hold on to your hat if it’s breezy.

The venue, Orchard River View, was perfect for this. There’s a big, beautifully restored barn with a giant sparkling chandelier that makes me want to go to a wedding there. If you plan one, please invite me. There were food trucks in the parking lot on one side, and a lawn that gently slopes down to the bank of the Colorado River on the other side. That’s where the wine tents and live music were set up. You never know what kind of weather you’ll experience in late April and early May in Colorado, but we were blessed with a warm, sunny spring day.

There were 14 small wineries from all across Colorado featured: Alfred Eames Cellars, Aspen Peak Cellars, Blanchard Family Wines, Buckel Family Wine, Carboy Winery, Chill Switch Wines, Colorado Vintner’s Collective, Mesa Park Vineyards, The Ordinary Fellow, Restoration Vineyards, Sauvage Spectrum Wines, Sutcliffe Vineyards, The Storm Cellar and TWP, featuring Evolve Wines. I think we sampled at least one wine from each one between the two of us, and we purchased several bottles to bring home. We’d had some of these wines before on a daytrip to Paonia and Hotchkiss, Colorado.

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Food trucks these days are the best, aren’t they? These three—Italy on Wheels, Underdog Cheese and The Little Pink Truck—were wonderful. We tried something from each truck and it was all great, but the Lumberjack Grilled Cheese with aged cheddar cheese, maple glazed bacon, sliced Granny Smith apples, pressed between crispy, golden brown bread, from The Little Pink Truck was our favorite. My mouth is watering just thinking about that sandwich.

When it was time to leave, we jumped into another pedicab and headed back to the hotel. It was still early, so we grabbed a table in the Tapestry Lounge, enjoyed a charcuterie tray and a bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne to bring a close to the wonderful day. The breakfast buffet in the morning was also in the lounge and included lots of fruit, pastries, eggs, bacon and breakfast burritos.

I highly recommend this event, the Wine Country Inn and supporting local wineries. Maybe we’ll see you there next year! If so, I hope to be sporting a pair of those nifty sunglasses. Stay tuned for more Tales From the Empty Nest.

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