Necessary Roughness

	Carlson Vineyards A small winery, Carlson makes wine from not just grapes but pears, cherries, peaches, and other fruits. Sometimes the fruits come from other orchards on the mesa. They ferment their wines in large plastic casks filled with American Oak beads.
	Plum Creek Winery In the heart of Palisade, Plum Creek is much larger than Carlson. Tours are by appointment during the early afternoon.

I headed east out of Grand Junction towards Palisade, home of the Eastern Orchard Mesa, where there are more than 10 wineries and even more orchards. People in the area brag that their wines are good because of the extreme daily temperature difference, about 35 degrees on average.

I first found Carlson Vineyards, small but friendly. The door was locked but the sign said to ring the doorbell during open hours. The tour consisted of going into the other room and viewing about 15 large vertical vats. They were in the crushing stage for making cherry wine, though I didn’t see any cherries crushed. I was shown the crusher, which was small, about the size of a 55-gallon drum turned sideways. I tasted their Merlot, Peach, and Cherry wines. The peach wine (no grapes, just fermented peach) was actually quite nice.

Thanking them for their time, I headed my way over to Plum Creek Winery, where I tasted a 2002 Merlot, a 1999 Reserve Merlot, and a Reisling, a white wine which was yummy. I could tell a big difference between the $10 Merlot and the $19 Reserve. The steward said they used a combination of French, American, and Hungarian Oaks, and then they blended. The Reserve I thought was worth keeping.

“Can you ship?”
“Depends on the state.”
“Ohio.”
“No.”
“Texas?”
“No. We have some state laws against that.”

So there’s my blocking penalty.