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Put Some Altitude in Your Glass
28: Meet Up with Carboy Winery
Oct 24, 2019
28: Meet Up with Carboy Winery
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0:00
So last month we hosted a meetup for the Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology. That's CAVE for short. And you can check them out at winecolorado.org.
0:12
So a whole lot of winemakers and wine people who belong to the organization stopped by the winery. We all get together, drink wine, and, uh, see what's going on with each other.
0:22
So, uh, I got to sit down with a few of the wineries and talk to them about what's going on in their world of wine. First up was Carboy Winery.
0:31
They're located in Littleton, and at the time we talked to them, they were a couple of weeks away from opening their Denver location at the old Governor's Park at 7th and Logan, which is actually open now.
0:42
So I hope you enjoy this. [static] All right, welcome everybody to Denver Wine Radio, Paul Bonacquist, Cha Cha Chavez. Hello. And we're drinking wine. That's what we're doing. Well- That's what we do best...
0:54
usually when our guests bring wine, we drink wine. [laughs] But- Oh, no... but today [laughs] no, I've- [laughs] I, I called him right out on it. [laughs] Sorry, fellas.
1:01
Hey, I've got Ty, Kevin, and Jason from Carboy Winery, uh, in Littleton, and, uh, and then soon to be Denver very soon, right? Very soon. Yeah. Very soon. Welcome, welcome to Denver Wine Radio, guys. Cheers.
1:13
Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. Yeah, you're, yeah, you're welcome.
1:15
So, uh, all right, so give us a little, uh, rundown, you know, when, when you launched, uh, Carboy Winery, and tell us what you do down there. Awesome. Uh, so we, uh, started Carboy Winery in 2016.
1:29
Um, we ironically started off our business model much in the same way that Cooper's Hawks model, um, was built, which was, um, sourcing a lot of our, our juice from out of state.
1:40
Um, Tyzak and I pretty much right away were on the same page about wanting to, you know, make our stamp in the Colorado wine industry, and we quickly made a commitment to working with growers in Grand Valley.
1:52
And, I don't know, Colorado wine is, is really the centerpiece of our, our organization now.
1:57
And three years into it, our production in, of Colorado wine has gone from 15 tons to 58 tons, and now on up to 140 ton harvest coming this year. So we're- Wow...
2:08
we're very, very excited about what we're doing and- That's a lot of wine... um, and, yeah. That's fantastic. Yeah. That's really good to hear. I love hearing that, so. Yeah. How did you guys come together?
2:17
How did you meet? Did you know each other, or how did you, how did the story begin? So the, the owner and proprietor, uh, Craig Jones, uh, walked into a, a winery I was working at in San Francisco.
2:29
This would've been 2015. Uh, I'm cleaning a piece of equipment and he taps me on my leg. I'm, um, uh, you know, in a press, so to speak, and, uh, and, "Hey, can we chat?" I'm like, "Hey, I'm kind of busy, buddy."
2:41
[laughs] But we ended up ha- having a long conversation about Colorado wine. He had a project that he was, uh, interested in starting, and, uh, we, we kept in touch, and, and the rest is, is history.
2:51
I eventually moved out here in 2016, uh, August, 2016. So- Okay... it's been, uh, three years as of this month. Wow, nice. Yeah. So you're, all right, okay, so who's the winemaker? That would be me. That, you're... Okay.
3:03
Yeah. Right on. And you got, you're located in Littleton, right? Correct. Okay, so, and that facility, was that, um, I don't know, I, I don't know, was it- From the ground, it was built from the ground up...
3:16
built from the ground up? Okay. Um, essentially the, um, the restaurant attached to it is the sophomore effort, uh, it's Angelo's Taverna. There's, there's one located here in Denver proper on 6th and Washington. Yeah.
3:28
But the, uh, the, the new one was built in Littleton in 2016, and they decided to, uh, attach a winery to it, so. Perfect. Uh, I, I was recruited- [laughs] Good... so to speak. Yep. Nice.
3:38
Okay, and so now you've taken over the Governor's Park, uh, location down at 7th and Logan. Yep. Am I saying that? Yeah, 7th and Logan. 7th and Logan, right. Yeah.
3:48
And, uh- So it's gonna be a restaurant, tasting room, uh, concept. Uh, and, uh, Jason will be, will be running, running that wine program there. Oh, wonderful. Yeah.
3:58
So, uh, yeah, can you, what's, uh, give us a little secret about, uh, anything you can tell us about, about the new location? Just... [laughs] Yeah, we're, well, we're hoping to open in the next couple weeks here. Okay.
4:08
And, um, you know, we're gonna be aging most of our, m- most of our California wine is gonna get aged there on site, you know? Oh, nice.
4:16
Anything that we're pressing, you know, from, from fruit in California with our, with our, uh, associate winemaker out there is gonna get aged in Denver. Okay.
4:25
And then, um, growing into it in the coming year, that's gonna become our, our home for sparkling wine. So- Wow, nice...
4:31
we'll be doing some Charmat method and some méthode traditionnelle, um, a little bit, and, and that will be Colorado fruit in that. So- Oh, very good... very excited about that. That'll be our bubble house, so to speak.
4:43
Right on, Paulie. [laughs] Lots of good stuff, though. We got, we got three bars in that facility. One's a full-scale restaurant, very loosely Mediterranean themed.
4:52
And then, uh, like Tyzak was saying, we'll have a, uh, like a traditional tasting room walk in and do your tasting and, you know, buy bottles of wine to go and so on and so forth.
5:01
And then we have the Carboy Winery, um, uh, kinda cafe much like we have down in Littleton, where, you know, we have meat and cheese boards, vegetarian boards, small plates- Nice...
5:10
and, uh, wine on draft at all those locations from, from Carboy. So going into that, uh, that location, that Governor's Park location, um, I mean, is, was there any intimidation with that?
5:21
Like, I mean, after they closed and say, "Wow, we're taking over a- Mm-hmm... historic, classic location." [laughs] Yeah, a very well known- [laughs]... Denver. Quite, quite, quite a, quite a bit.
5:34
You know, it's like, it was one of those things where so many people had fond memories of spending time in that, in that building- Yep. Absolutely... in that location. And, um- From what they recollect...
5:43
from what they re- recollect. [laughs] And I think it was just one of those things where the people had such nostalgia, but they didn't necessarily go there to support the business as much.
5:50
So, um, sadly towards the- Towards the end, yeah... sadly they did go, you know- Well, we-...
5:55
they did, they did go away, and there were a lot of people that were really worried that it was gonna turn into something, you know, some kinda chain from out of town was gonna come in. Yeah.
6:02
So when the folks from Angelo's, which is, you know, a dearly loved institution in the neighborhood, uh, announced they were taking it over, I think everybody was pretty happy, hope- hopefully. Yeah.
6:12
[laughs] Yeah, hopefully. Hopefully, yeah. But no, I, I, I agree. I think that... Well, I don't know. Let's just say that the, uh, the customer base, we've got older. I, we, we... I used to go there- Mm-hmm...
6:23
20 years, 20 years ago. All the time. Before kids. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that was our- That was my place... basically once a week. I didn't, and I didn't even live on that side of town. We live over here- Yeah...
6:31
on the north side. But, uh, a bunch of us would go almost every Wednesday, I think it was- Mm-hmm... just to go. Yeah. And, and, um- It was a big record rep place to, to...
6:41
back in the day in radio when record reps used to, you know, they used to come into town and get you to play their music and support their artist or whatever. And that was the place to go. Was it really? Oh, God, yes.
6:52
[laughs] Yes. You got- Fond memories. Fond memories... wow, yeah. Very fond memories. [laughs] Absolutely, yeah. Well, we're gonna make y- No, it was-... we're gonna make your place the new place to go. Absolutely.
7:01
Yeah, it was an institution. There, there... Yeah. It, it was, uh, it was a lot of history that, that, uh, on those walls. Yeah.
7:08
So I guess my, my point was that, you know, I got older, and I got kids, and I didn't drive to that side of town. So sorry, Govs. [laughs] Couldn't do it anymore. Yeah.
7:17
Well, if you would've brought wine tonight, what would you have brought us to drink? I mean, what's, so what's your, what- Like, what's your favorite?
7:23
I mean, so what do you like as a wine maker, what do you, what do you like working with? We, we, we experimented with some, uh, cold hearty varieties. Our, our first foray into, um... Our pilot year was only 2017.
7:35
We, we, we- Okay... missed out. Construction was a little bit behind- Yeah... schedule, as per usual, in the 2016, uh, during the 2016 harvest. So we, we, um, were able to finally
7:45
get some grapes in, uh, 2017 to figure out which growers we, we wanted to work with. Yeah. But, um, I would've brought you probably the Petit Perle. It was a, a cold hearty variety, uh, that, that Kaibab- Yeah...
7:55
Sauvage plants up there in Palisade. Uh, that's a unique- Yeah... variety and, and, uh, very expressive. That's one I haven't tried yet. Yeah. Uh, uh, we would've brought that next time. Okay. [laughs] Next time.
8:07
This was our first, uh- No, that's okay... foray in the Cave meet up. Now we have to host. Yeah, now we have to host. Yeah. Now.
8:12
So, uh, that, uh, I think our Cab Franc is, is, is drinking quite well as well, the, the 2017 as well. Uh, we're about to release our '18 vintage, actually.
8:21
We, we, we kinda construct them to be released a little earlier, be consumed on the earlier side. Less extracted, more, more fruit forward. So you- Higher acidity...
8:28
and, and you were, uh, so wine- you were wine making in California. Yep. And, um, so what is your...
8:35
So coming now and working with Colorado fruit, um, would, has there been any challenges for you or the comparing the- Uh, the logistics is, is a bit of a challenge. Yeah.
8:44
[laughs] I'm, I'm accustomed to the vineyards being, uh- Yeah... I was doing urban wine making in, in San Francisco, so the vineyards were 60 to 90 miles a- a- away on average.
8:54
Uh, they're, they're a bit further here- Yeah. [laughs]... from Denver. [laughs] So, uh, sampling the grapes, that, that is, that's a challenge. And- Sure...
9:01
and now that we're, uh, increasing our, uh, portfolio to include many more varieties and, and expanding, uh, vineyard sites, um, it's gonna be, yeah, this year's gonna be a, a challenge in, and, in- Okay...
9:13
getting those vineyards sampled in a timely manner and trying to decide a proper pick date. But- We'll never have the problem of having enough time. [laughs] It's true. And so now you're, you know, Colorado fruit.
9:24
How is it? Uh, do you like it? I mean, you like working with it? I, I, I- Are you blown away or? I enjoy it.
9:29
I, I have to admit that it was the first time that I had, uh, worked with, uh, native, native f- rooted, uh, vines. Mm-hmm. I'm accustomed to, uh, you know, California had the... [laughs] Everything's own root stock.
9:42
So it was a, a unique, uh, introduction that, that first- Yeah... season, 2017, which was just last year. So again, this is only, [laughs] only my, uh, third season coming up, uh- Okay...
9:54
working with the grapes here, so trying to figure it out still. Yeah. But there, there are a few varieties- Well, I heard-... that seem to be- 140 tons- Working... you're gonna, you're gonna figure it out, right?
10:02
[laughs] Yeah. Forced to figure it out. Yeah. [laughs] Forced to figure it out. Right. Certainly. Uh, we probably also would've brought you a, a white blend. We did, we did a, a... It's called the Blanco Blend.
10:12
Uh, it's a, a blend of Viognier, uh, Semillon, and Albariño all- Nice... from Palisade. Uh,
10:19
mo- the, the, the bulk of it being grown by Kaibab, and then we, we got some Semillon that unfortunately was, was ripped out after, after we harvested [laughs] that, uh, Reiner had grown, uh, at, um, Grande River.
10:31
Oh, Grande. Yeah. Yeah. Reiner. Semillon was great. Yeah. Yeah. Semillon was great. I, I kinda wanted to bottle it on its own, but, uh, we, we, we, we tucked it into a blend. It, it did nicely in, in, uh, that trio.
10:42
That's good. Yeah. Good deal. Well, good. I'm glad you're... That's exciting.
10:46
I'm glad you're, you're working with Colorado fruit, and, um, really excited to see your new place and, um, and your, and, uh, I've only been one time to the Littleton location, but beautiful. In fact, there was a...
10:58
This was, it w- we went there on a Monday afternoon just to, uh... This was a couple years ago, and there was actually a wedding, uh- Oh, yeah. [laughs] Or they- Certainly, yeah... they were, yeah, they were out.
11:10
I, I just thought it was crazy. I thought, "Wow." On a Monday? It was a Monday evening, and there was- [laughs] I remember that one. [laughs] There were, yeah, they were taking pictures, and it was beautiful.
11:19
And yeah, just- Oh... I was like, "Wow, wonderful place." So- Yeah. We, we recently expanded our, uh, production space as well, so to accommodate the, the, uh, intake this season.
11:29
So we have an additional 5,000 square feet of, of wiggle room. It's, it was a challenge to- Wow... 'cause we bring in a lot of stuff from California, uh, as well to, to bulk out the, um... We do a lot of wine on tap.
11:40
Sure. So we have some, some items in from California and, and, uh- Like, from Napa or, like- It's, it's, uh, it's-... everywhere California or? Honestly, it's, it's a, quite a, a, a range. Okay. Yeah.
11:52
So Napa, Sonoma- Yeah. Okay... Mendocino. Okay. Um, yeah. All, all over. I like that song. Santa Barbara as well. 1968. Uh, Sierra Foothills. We, we got some- Sir Douglas Quintet.
12:02
[laughs] You guys are very, too mu- too young to remember that, right? A touch. Van Morrison, remember that song? A touch. 1968. [laughs] I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to go to the basement for that one, John.
12:11
Sir Douglas Quintet. You gotta go to the basement for that one. [laughs] So anyway. All right. Right on. Well, thanks for, thanks for coming by, fellas. I, uh, I really appreciate it. Thank you for having us.
12:19
And congratulations on your new locations and stuff. Thank you. That's, that's awesome. Please come visit. Oh, definitely. We will. Can't wait for- And we'll bring you wine next time. I promise. I, I know you will. Yeah.
12:28
And, uh, and of course you have a growler program- Yeah... which I love, 'cause yeah, wine on tap is- Right... just the way to go. Way to go. Do you have a website and stuff like that? Certainly, yeah. Go ahead.
12:37
Uh, www-.carboywinery.com. [laughs] There you go. [laughs] Beautiful. All right. All right, fellas. Thank you. Thank you.
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