denver…an unusual suspect for good wine, right? surprisingly it’s actually a GREAT city for vino!
here is a great article profiling a few of snooth’s favorite shops around town.
part of the reason that denver (and colorado in general) is a great place for wine has to do with a little fact i learned at r&d wine shop during my exploration this weekend. here it goes: something like this, at least. all stores that sell any variety of wine have to go through distributors to get actual bottles in their stores. so even the wine shop owners that i met this weekend don’t do ALL the picking themselves. they may go to a vineyard and fall in love with the wine. according to liquor laws, however, they cannot directly contract with that vineyard to bring the wine to their shop. they have to go through a distributor in colorado. not all distributors have all wines, obviously, so sometimes it can be challenging to bring new wines, especially unique ones that you love, into your store. however, colorado has around 40 wine distributors, giving wine shops and other places selling wines quite a few options with which to stock the shelves. its a win-win for both the owners and wine-o’s alike. and to give you a comparison, texas only has TWO wine distributors, giving the texans a whole lot less to choose from. we’ve got it pretty great here in denver. i’m excited to do some more searching and some more tasting. join me, anyone?
willing to do some searching to find that perfect bottle? check out these great shops and their tasting times!
Marckyk’s Fine Wines – free wine & pared cheese tastings: fridays from 5:00-8:00 p.m.
Mondo Vino – free wine and pared cheese tastings: fridays and saturdays from 2:00-7:00pm.
The Empty Bottle – free wine tastings: fridays and saturdays 5:00-7:00pm
Little Raven Vineyards – free wine tastings: wednesdays 4:00-7:00pm and saturdays 2:00-7:00pm
Wines off Wynkoop – free wine tasting: fridays 1:00-6:00pm.
Divino – free wine, beer and liqueur tastings: saturdays 2:00-6:00pm
Vineyard wine shop – free wine tastings: friday and saturdays 2:00-5:30pm
salud, and happy exploring!
the brilliance behind the barrel. 
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