History
One of Colorado's oldest premium wineries, Cottonwood
Cellars, is an old world style family owned winery with a vineyard, Cottonwood Vineyards.
The Owners are Keith (the Winemaker) and Diana (Marketing) Read.
The winery began operation in 1994. The first grape vines (5 acres)
were planted in 1995 and has increased yearly to the current 22.5
acres. A new building (below) was added in 1998 for barrel aging,
case good storage, and the tasting room. In 2013, one additional tasting room was added with two more planned for this year.
Production
The winery produces 3000 to 4000 (as of 2003) cases of wine from
seven Viniferous variates:
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Merlot
Pinot Noir
Lemberger
Chardonnay
Gewurztraminer
The
red wines are aged in French and American oak barrels. The
Chardonnay is fermented sur-lees in American oak barrels. These
wines are barrel aged 1-2 years and then bottle aged at least one
more year before release. The longer they age the better they taste.
The off-dry (residual sugar) white wines are fermented in poly tanks under controlled cool temperatures slowly over several weeks. They are released annually in the spring.
Grapes are purchased from time to time from Palisade, CO, to augment production
or to add a varietal such as Syrah
