Insatiable NV Brut, Famatina Valley, Argentina
What a value! This torrontes based bubbly is fragrant and fresh with aromas of spring blossoms. Lemon and lime zest greet the palate, complementing the festive carbonation. Notes of white peaches, golden apples, and ginger root fill the mid-palate and finish with a hint of yeastiness. Its quality surpasses its price.
91 points -- tasted 12/5/2007 -BF   $10
Wilburs Total Beverage in Fort Collins, Colorado's Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs, Keg Liquors, Evergreen Discount Liquor, Reserve List, Divino Wine and Spirits, The Incredible Liquor Store, Santa Fe Wine and Spirits, Spanky's Liquor World, Clear Creek Liquors, Okkasions, Ridge Liquors,

and Bonnie Brae Liquor Mart, carry this wine. Are you a retailer who carries this wine? Email us and we'll add you to the 'where to find it' listing.
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Insatiable NV Extra Dry, Famatina Valley, Argentina
A lovely blend of chardonnay and pinot blanc. It offers aromas of stone fruit and minerally-spring rain nuances as the carbonation escapes from the glass. Once in the mouth, flavors of peaches and cream dominate. The finish hints of honey and more peaches. The touch of residual sugar is slight, yet makes it a perfect pair to spicy food, salty food, and sushi.
89 points -- tasted 12/22/2007 -BF   $10
Wilburs Total Beverage in Fort Collins, Bonnie Brae Liquor Mart, Crossroads Wine & Spirits in Grand Junction,

Smoky Hill Village Liquors, Bacchus Wine and Spirits, Bear Creek Crossing Wine & Spirits, Cherry Knolls Wine and Spirits, Grapevine Wine & Spirits, Riverwalk Wine, Arbor Liquros,

Colorado's Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs, and KaCee's Wine & Spirits carry this wine.
Are you a retailer who carries this wine? Email us and we'll add you to the 'where to find it' listing.
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Yalumba Museum Tawny, Barossa, Australia
Amber color with aromas of French perfume and fresh picked tobacco. Full bodied flavors of pecan pie, with a shortening crust, caramel, tamarind, lemon and orange zest, butterscotch, and cinnamon. The finish tastes of tangerine, toffee, and sassafras.
93 points -- tasted 1/25/2008 -BF  $18

Wilburs Total Beverage in Fort Collins, Crossroads Wine & Spirits in Grand Junction, Wine Mine in Telluride, and Colorado's Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs carry this wine. Are you a retailer who carries this wine? Email us and we'll add you to the 'where to find it' listing.
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Chessman 2005 Old Vine Paso Robles Zinfandel, Calfornia
Bright and lively, yet brooding with flavor. Flavors of vanilla, blueberry, and red raspberries create a rich, dense canvas, while flavors of pencil lead, rose petals, and brambles offer a flirty compliment. The acidity creates a crescendo, sweeping the layers away on the finish. It is intensely flavorful and full bodied.
92 points -- tasted 12/15/2007 -BF   $15
Bonnie Brae Liquor Mart,

Arbor Liquors, Casablanca Wine & Spirits, Dillon Ridge Liquors, Eagle Ranch Wine & Spirits, Pine Lane Discount Liquors, Aspen Liquor, Norwood Liquors, Horizon Liquors, Bear Creek Liquors, Plaza Liquors, Powderhorn Liquor,

and Marczyk Fine Wines Are you a retailer that carries this wine? Email us and we'll add you to the 'where to find it' listing.
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Chessman 2005 Alexander Valley Reserve Merlot, California
A wine you think about a day or two after you've had it. An aroma almost as captivating as the wine itself with scents of cookie dough, milk chocolate, and cinnamon. The palate is dense with notes of chocolate cupcake, caramel, blueberry, red raspberries, vanilla, clove, and a touch of gun metal. Chessman creates a sultry tannin grip that might scare some merlots drinkers, while making cab drinkers exhilarate. This wine evolves over a few days once open.
95 points -- tasted 12/18/2007 -BF   $15
Wilburs Total Beverage in Fort Collins,

Minturn Mile Liquors, Plaza Liquors, Discount Liquor in Durango, Foothills Liquor, Frisco Liquors, Fruit of the Vine Wine and Spirits, Broadmore Wine and Spirits, Old Country Liquor, Rocky Mountain Liquor Warehouse, Sir Fredrick's Liquors, and

Colorado's Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs carry this wine.

Laurel Glen 2005 Red, Lodi, California
A blend of zinfandel, carignan, and petite sirah. Full bodied, its vibrant violet color coats the glass with long legs. Aromas of berries, roses, and spice create a foreshadowing of the jammy flavors to come. Black raspberry liqueur, white pepper, creme de cassis, clove, and vanilla are complemented by mouthwatering acidity. High octane and not coy, this is a fruity wine, with ultra ripe flavors. It gets better and better as it is open, showing off its quality grapes.
92 points -- tasted 1/20/2008 -BF   $12
Bonnie Brae Liquor Mart, Crossroads Wine & Spirits in Grand Junction, and Colorado's Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs carry this wine.
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Zamba 2006 Chardonnay, Famatina, Argentina
Stainless steel fermented chardonnay has been winning many fans in the American market. Zamba chardonnay is a fine example of how refreshing unwooded whites can be. Reminiscent of the original unoaked chardonnays of Chablis. Vibrant, young and refreshing, it offers notes of lime zest, green apple, allspice, with a touch of pear. Zip of minerality flirts with the mid-palate, while the finish offers a zing of honey. It has a lush mouthfeel, while its fruit flavors are clean and focused. Exceptional for the money.
91 points -- tasted 12/18/2007 -BF   $8
Wilburs Total Beverage in Fort Collins and Colorado's Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs carry this wine. Are you a retailer who carries this wine? Email us and we'll add you to the 'where to find it' listing.
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Selection and quality teeters on lawmakers
They say, 'you don't always know what you've got until it's gone.' I consider myself lucky. I recognized how incredible it was to be a wine and micro-brew drinker in Colorado as soon as I got here. It's because I moved here from Pennsylvania.
      Pennsylvania's liquor industry is run by the state. Every store carries the same items. They offer the same wine and liquor from Pittsburgh to Scranton, from Erie to Philly. The lack of selection is fine for those who drink the same thing time after time. If you're out to find a new wine experience each time you shop, the walls of Pennsylvania's liquor stores close in on you quickly. They're an uninteresting example of what Nielsen ratings can do. Considerably more wine is purchased in Pennsylvania than in Colorado, yet the number of products available there is a sliver of what our state enjoys.
      Colorado is a very special place for wine drinkers. If you work in the retail liquor or restaurant industry, any day of the week, you may sit side by side with a winemaker from far away. They come from Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, Japan, Napa Valley, Chile and any other region that produces wine.
      Each one is overjoyed to be here, because they don't have to meet with a board of directors to sell their wine in Colorado. Chauffeured from store to store, they pour samples for liquor store buyers and their staff. Some of it is right out of the barrel, all the way from Tuscany or Perth. Sometimes these visiting wine emissaries attend trade tasting events where liquor store and restaurant employees come to them. A market place atmosphere where the wine is tasted and discussed between the producer and those who will sell it to the public.
      This is why our inventory is so amazing. The source comes to us. They share their products with us and their passion and history. Most wine stores have very knowledgeable employees. Something I have never found on my visits back to Pennsylvania.
      SB08-149 intends on overturning the law prohibiting Sunday full strength beer, wine, and liquor sales. The liquor industry is not very concerned about changing this law.
      SB08-149 would also allow one owner to have more than one liquor store. The law is written now that each entity can own only one liquor store. By some estimates, over two-thousand new liquor licenses will be issued if this restriction is lifted, mostly to membership warehouses, department and grocery stores.
      This is where SB08-149 starts to cause some objections. The number of alcohol purchases will not double just because the state doubles the amount of off premise liquor licenses. Beer and spirits have very slim margins at the retail level. Most liquor stores only add 5-15% margin to their beer and liquor prices. Wine margins are a little more liberal, anywhere from 20-40% markup. Regardless of their floor space, these numbers reveal how delicate the balance between profit and bankruptcy is for many liquor stores.
      Retailers will close down if SB08-149 passes. Each store failure will be a little slice of our diversity disappearing. Already importers, suppliers and distributors in Colorado are contemplating what items they will be cutting from their warehouses once the attrition begins. Many in the supply chain are worried that they will succumb to the same fate.
      The big grocery store and membership warehouses are not going to support this type of diversity in their stores. It is more cost effective to buy the inventory for all the stores at one time at the corporate office, usually off the latest top-of-mind-awareness rating. It would take too much of the already slim profit margins to maintain buyers and unique inventories in each store. Generally, they will only be doing business with those who can provide products in the hundreds of thousands of units.
      Under the current system even the largest liquor stores do business with the smallest suppliers. Many of the importers, brokers, and distributors operating here are based in Colorado. It is a very home grown business. These folks fly to California, Spain, and beyond to taste the wine while its in the barrel. They represent small production wineries and little winemaking hamlets, many producing only a few thousand or even a few hundred cases of wine. It isn't about bulk, its about quality. There are hundreds of passionate buyers operating in Colorado, looking to bring you the best products, from all over the world. Colorado has nurtured this free enterprise system and the consumer has been enjoying a tasty windfall because of it.
      For those who argue that prices will be more competitive, the current prices are what the market will bear. The large chain stores might execute a price war against all their established competition early on, so it might look like things are cheaper, but eventually the prices will land right back where they are now, if not higher. No supermarket is going to ignore that fundamental of economics.
      Many stores have built their reputations on knowing their products intimately and having a sweeping variety for their savvy customers. It is an important facet of competition that has been overlooked. You might argue that this type of variety won't change once those two-thousand licenses are issued. I point out that no one would go to the trouble of challenging this law unless they knew it would be a benefit. Those purchases must come from somewhere. We aren't gaining a million more residents next year to take up the slack.
      Colorado's liquor laws might be antiquated, but some unintended results of those laws have made this a really special place to drink wine and other libations. Retailers, importers, suppliers, distributors, and producers all anxiously wait to hear what Colorado legislators will decide. For many of them, the decision to pass SB08-149 will be a devastating blow that will eventually force them out of business. Once these laws are changed, it won't be long before buying power will overwhelm distinction and a Pennsylvania-cookie cutter inventory will be commonplace, where there was once tremendous selection, quality, and a unique market system.

Each week we'll include a few wine (or beer or spirits) terms. To read more terms go to the vocabulary page. This page will grow as we add more terms.

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