We Like Ike

High Country
Palisade uncorks the Mountain Winefest
THURS, 9/16

I'll have a glass of Cabernet.
Would you like a French, a California, or a Colorado?
Ummm...a Colorado?

T.C. Boyle returns with the tale of sexologist Dr. Kinsey.

The purple crush is on at the Colorado Mountain Winefest.

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• Ike LaRue
• Mark Teague
• Alfred Kinsey
• Wine
• Food and Cooking

Definitely. After all, with wine bars cropping up all over the Denver-metro area, weekly wine tastings happening around town and award-winning wine stores sprouting, why shouldn't Colorado have its own wineries? These days, Coloradans are waking up to the reality that this agricultural haven does have wineries -- 54 at last count. And tiny Palisade, on the Western Slope, boasts a dozen of them.

To showcase its wares, the town is hosting the 13th Colorado Mountain Winefest, starting today and running through Sunday, September 19, at Riverbend Park (ten miles east of Grand Junction). More than thirty Colorado growers are participating.

Although there will be plenty of attractions during the four-day juice sluice, Saturday's 25-mile bike tour of Grand Valley wineries, which begins at 8 a.m., is a highlight; it's expected to draw 1,400 riders. A festival in the park follows around 10:30 a.m. and continues until 5:30 p.m. There, samples, entertainment and other enticements will be poured for party-goers. Grape-juice lovers can listen to Dotsero and stomp their own grapes.

Winefest tickets start at $30, but many events are free. For information, call 1-800-962-2547 or visit www.coloradowinefest.com. -- Jerri Theil