Wine & Dine

California isn't the only state that produces delicious wine, you know. Then again, maybe you don't. "There are over sixty wineries in the state of Colorado, and I think a lot of people are unaware of that," says Chris Lighthall Hellvig, co-owner of Denver-based Colorado Wine Country Tours. "We've had people on our tours from Hawaii, from New Orleans — and they've all bought wine because they were impressed enough with it that they wanted to bring it home."

Front Range tours (the company also takes overnight trips to the Western Slope) are chartered-bus/catered-lunch day trips that typically visit three wineries, where groups of fifteen to thirty meet winery owners, tour the barrel rooms and get a crash course in the wine-making process. Wine tasting abounds, which makes for a "very talkative group," Hellvig adds.

Front Range tours are $79 per person and are currently scheduled for today and June 16, to correspond with Mother's Day and Father's Day, respectively. Get more information or sign up for a tour at www.coloradowinecountrytours.com or by calling 303-777-9463.
Sat., May 12; Sat., June 16