Colorado Wine Industry Development Board

What is the Colorado Wine Restaurant Recognition Program?

The Fourth Annual Colorado Wine Restaurant Recognition Program is designed to recognize and honor those Colorado restaurants that have demonstrated support for the Colorado wine industry by actively promoting Colorado wines on their wine lists. By providing this platform to promote restaurants that support Colorado wines, the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board hopes to encourage more Colorado restaurants to feature Colorado-produced wine on their wine lists. In addition, the Colorado Wine Restaurant Recognition Program will encourage wine enthusiasts to seek out Colorado wines when they dine out.

Why promote Colorado wine in restaurants?

Acceptance of Colorado wines by Colorado restaurants is a critical step in the development of the state's wine industry. By pouring Colorado wines, restaurants offer wine enthusiasts a great way to become exposed to the wide variety of wines being produced in the state. In addition, inclusion of wines on wine lists offers an implicit "third-party" endorsement of that winery's - and that region's - wines. Experience shows that when restaurants embrace a state's wine industry, consumers soon follow.

Additionally, consumers are now demanding local products, seeking out unique culinary experiences from regional foods and wines. Restaurants already featuring Colorado food products can further enhance their offerings by also serving Colorado wines.

How can restaurants participate?

Restaurants interested in participating should visit www.coloradowine.com/restaurant/index.html for more information and to submit an enrollment form. In addition, restaurants can enroll in the program by sending an e-mail to restaurants@coloradowine.com. Interested restaurants should indicate their willingness to participate and include contact information for the restaurant's general manager or wine buyer in their e-mail.

Participating restaurants will be required to have included Colorado wines on their wine list at some time during the twelve month period ending December 31, 2008. Participating restaurants will need to send a copy of their wine list and sales history, verifying the presence and extent of their support for Colorado wines. Awards will be presented at a special reception on Monday, February 2, 2009.

At least two honorees will be recognized in the following categories:

Best Colorado wine list, by the bottle or by the glass
Best promotion pairing Colorado wine and Colorado food

Honored restaurants will receive a commemorative award, as well as a cash prize of up to $1,000, depending on the number of honorees selected, for each award. In addition, every participating restaurant will receive a certificate of appreciation from the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board signifying their support of the Colorado wine industry.

How good are Colorado wines and why should they be in your restaurant?

In a blind tasting sponsored by the The Rocky Mountain News reported on May 29, 2007, Colorado wines beat out California wines in the same price category. "'I am humbled and surprised,' said one judge, Paige Bodine, longtime sommelier at the Flagstaff House Restaurant in Boulder. 'I expected there to be some gaps. And there weren't.' Judge Max Ariza, a native of France who is an instructor in wine and spirits and service at Johnson & Wales Univeristy, put it this way: 'Colorado is where it's at.'"

As a result Colorado wines have been poured by the glass at The Flagstaff House, and at more than 200 other restaurants across the state.

In his year end retrospective of highlights of his past year of traveling and tasting (December 21, 2006), USA Today food and wine writer Jerry Shriver said, "I was totally surprised to find such high-quality wines and inviting vineyards and tasting rooms in western Colorado. Grape-growing areas around Grand Junction have made amazing progress and are worth checking out...."

The New York Times (December 5, 2008) said "Colorado [is] a rising star in the wine-making universe." Plus New York wine and food writer Eugenia Bone said, "There's seriously good wine among Colorado's red rocks," in the July 2008 edition of Sunset Magazine.

And if the press won't convince you, many of your fellow restaurants featured Colorado wines during the Denver Independent Network of Restaurants' Harvest Week in September of 2008, including: Black Pearl, Dixons, Elways, Highlands Garden Cafe, Parallel 17, Izakaya, Rioja, Steubens, Strings, The Fort, Vesta Dipping Grill, Table 6 and many more.