Guy Drew Vineyards

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The International Wine Guild Wine School

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Colorado Wino

Tasting Room Hours
Noon to 5pm everyday

Winery and Vineyards

We found this beautiful property southwest of Cortez after searching for several years while maintaining our corporate careers in Denver. Beginning in 1998, we transformed a homestead hay farm in McElmo Canyon that we purchased in October 1997 into vineyards and built our straw bale winery and home. Our mission here is to make distinctive premium wines from our vineyards and offer a memorable experience for visitors to our winery in this enchanting corner of Colorado.

(If you would like to view more photos of our Vineyard, please visit this link.)

McElmo Canyon is the southwest arm of Montezuma Valley on the Colorado Plateau west of the Rocky Mountains and was an ancient Anasazi trade route and historical fruit-growing region in Colorado. McElmo Creek runs through this narrow 21-mile long valley from Montezuma Valley on the east to the San Juan River in Utah on the west. The Ute Mountain Ute Reservation and legendary volcanic Sleeping Ute Mountain rises to nearly 10,000’ south of our farm, Canyon of the Ancients National Monument begins below the rim rock on the north and Mesa Verde provides spectacular vistas to the east.

We sited the vineyards and buildings carefully on our 155-acre farm to preserve the high desert piñon and juniper landscape and riparian wildlife areas along McElmo Creek and avoid numerous Anasazi ruins. Conscientious land stewardship, thoughtful growing practices and thrifty use of natural resources allow us to maintain the continuity of agricultural endeavor in this fragile place.

Our Winery
We completed our 2,500 square foot pueblo-style straw bale winery in early 1999, which had space for tanks, barrel room, lab and all our crush activities. In 1999, we made wine for our own use from Cabernet Franc grapes purchased from Palisade growers. The winery was licensed in 2000 and because our own vines were not mature, we purchased grapes for our 2000 and 2001 Crooked Creek vintages. Beginning in 2002, our Crooked Creek wines were made almost exclusively from our McElmo Canyon vineyards. We outgrew this facility and have added a 1,400 square foot covered crush pad and tank storage space behind the winery, and a 3,500 square foot climate-controlled barrel storage building. We purchased a bottling line in early 2003 to accommodate our increasing production and give us the ability to sterile bottle, a process essential for wines that have not gone through malolactic fermentation or have residual sugar. The bottling line runs at a speed of about twenty-four bottles per minute and has the capability to use both cork and screwcaps. When we use cork, we use a cork that goes through a process to remove the chemical (TCA 2-4-6) that causes the spoilage known as cork taint. Since we started using the Diam™ cork and screwcaps, we have not experienced any cork taint in our wines. We are encouraged by increasing proficiency and expertise in the cellar on the quality of our wines with each vintage.

Driving Directions
From Cortez - Drive South on HWY 160/491 a mile or so to the first traffic light and turn right on Road G. The winery is 4.2 miles West on the North side of the road.

From New Mexico or Arizona - Drive North on HWY 160/491. From the Ute Mountain Casino, drive seven miles North to the traffic light and turn left on Road G. The winery is 4.2 miles West on the North side of the road.