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Wine Tours
by tammy on June 25, 2006
It's been many years since I've visited Colorado, but while surfing through their web site, they offered up some beautiful photographs of the area. The mountains! Wow! I miss them so much - one of the problems with living in a semi-tropical climate down south.
Along with beautiful scenery, you'll get a virtual tour of their new expanded tasting room, and then of course, there are all the wines they now offer on line. I really liked the looks of this Pinot Noir, and yes, I'm a sucker for a pretty label.
LovelandFYI reports on this winery's success:
Business is pretty good for Patrick and Geri McGibney and their Valley of the Wind Winery.
So good, in fact, the McGibneys stretched outside the winery's first production and tasting room, and Loveland.
After opening in April 2004, Winery of the Wind launched a new tasting room in Estes Park in April of last year, and this past May expanded the Loveland tasting room into an adjacent suite - it is now in both 411 and 413 N. Railroad Ave. - in the downtown Loveland Train Depot. The expansion about doubled the size of the Loveland complex.
"With the growth we needed to expand the winery," Geri said. "We do a lot of different brands, but we don't do a lot of each one."
The expansion in Loveland also means the previous tasting room is now dedicated solely to wine making. But, even with the growth, Patrick's desire is to still focus on making good wine than worry about mass production.
"It's a real juggling act right now trying to get things together and not expand what I can't afford, but still keep up with demand," Patrick said. "You got to watch out that you don't sacrifice the quality of the wine."
Permalink: Valley of the Wind Winery
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Vote for Valley of the Wind Winery:
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Rating: 8.22 out of 9 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
Rick
(10/07/06 1:14am)
Poor customer service, ordered item, gave credit card #, never were billed, never received, called to ask about item, hung up on, called back, left messasges, to put it simple, ignored,sorry to do this but my wife and I have a biz and take our clients very,very serious, next trip to estes park wont include this wine merchant.
Response from:
vin-cache
(11/09/06 3:23pm)
Very foxy label.
Response from:
Ed
(06/28/07 9:14am)
I didn't know Colorado wines could be so good! This little wine shop in Estes is the best kept secret in Colorado. Too bad they don't ship. The service was great, and the winemaker was there too to answer questions. The view of the Rockies from the outdoor deck was spectacular and the tasting room is right on the roaring Big Thompson River. Best tasting room in Colorado.
Response from:
Bill
(07/02/07 11:24pm)
This last week end I had the pleasure of visting Valley of the Wind tasting room in Estes. Its setting was beautiful, built right on the edge of the little Thompsen river and wedged against the rock cliffs giving a beautiful view of the Continental divide that borders Estes. I tried various wines and expressed my like or dislike for a particular bottle and Pat & Geri using their excellent wine insight guided me to the bottle of wine that fit me perfectly.
It was extremely enjoyable to see the cotton from the trees drifting with the flow of the river and the beautiful mountain back drop with a beautiful glass of wine in your hand. I have visted a lot of tasting rooms in California wine country-I would have to say the beauty and care Geri and Pat take in presenting and finding a wine to your taste is a comparable experience to many of those experienced in the California wine country. I highly recommend it.
It was extremely enjoyable to see the cotton from the trees drifting with the flow of the river and the beautiful mountain back drop with a beautiful glass of wine in your hand. I have visted a lot of tasting rooms in California wine country-I would have to say the beauty and care Geri and Pat take in presenting and finding a wine to your taste is a comparable experience to many of those experienced in the California wine country. I highly recommend it.
Response from:
Ethan
(08/15/08 5:41pm)
What a complete joke. This has to rank as one of the worst wine experiences of my life. My wife and I visited this tasting room for the second time in the summer of 08 while in town for a funeral. Our first visit in 06 left us with a bad impression as we were treated questionably by the staff - however we do believe in second chances so we returned.
It seems it acceptable for the folks at this tasting room to get defensive about their product. After my wife tried her first wine and didn't like it she said "it's not my thing" and nothing more. The manager (I assume she's the owner?) then came over and proceeded to lecture us on their tasting etiquette - complete with a little plastic placard of their so called tasting requirements - complete with a requirement that you "Not make faces" if you don't like the wine. The manager then proceeded to make snide passive agressive comments to other patrons about how it was "So nice to meet someone who appreciated the subtleties of good white wines." Unlike us barbarians who don't like to drink vinegar and fruit juice.
I've done wine tastings all over and never in my life have I encountered something so utterly ridiculous. I could maybe understand if this was a top tier place, but frankly it's not. The wines lack depth, and are at times just plain abrasive. Just because it's in quaint Colorado doesn't make it good. In understand they probably get a lot of louts in here too - but guess what? You own a business that is open to the public, get used to it. Stifling your customer opinions is an awesome way to build goodwill among your target market.
I love supporting efforts outside the mainstream, and in all fairness some of their offerings are not bad at all. I wish I could be supportive of an smaller operation like this but treating customers so poorly automatically ruins the experience. I could get past the dirty cramped facilities and the ridiculously high pricing if I was treated a little better.
If I treated my customers the way we were treated I would get fired in a hot minute. I can go to the Safeway down the street and get a much better bottle for much cheaper and save myself the aggravating attitude.
It seems it acceptable for the folks at this tasting room to get defensive about their product. After my wife tried her first wine and didn't like it she said "it's not my thing" and nothing more. The manager (I assume she's the owner?) then came over and proceeded to lecture us on their tasting etiquette - complete with a little plastic placard of their so called tasting requirements - complete with a requirement that you "Not make faces" if you don't like the wine. The manager then proceeded to make snide passive agressive comments to other patrons about how it was "So nice to meet someone who appreciated the subtleties of good white wines." Unlike us barbarians who don't like to drink vinegar and fruit juice.
I've done wine tastings all over and never in my life have I encountered something so utterly ridiculous. I could maybe understand if this was a top tier place, but frankly it's not. The wines lack depth, and are at times just plain abrasive. Just because it's in quaint Colorado doesn't make it good. In understand they probably get a lot of louts in here too - but guess what? You own a business that is open to the public, get used to it. Stifling your customer opinions is an awesome way to build goodwill among your target market.
I love supporting efforts outside the mainstream, and in all fairness some of their offerings are not bad at all. I wish I could be supportive of an smaller operation like this but treating customers so poorly automatically ruins the experience. I could get past the dirty cramped facilities and the ridiculously high pricing if I was treated a little better.
If I treated my customers the way we were treated I would get fired in a hot minute. I can go to the Safeway down the street and get a much better bottle for much cheaper and save myself the aggravating attitude.
Response from:
David
(09/05/08 2:38am)
Truly pathetic person. If you dont like something, then STFU.
Response from:
Peggy
(06/13/09 11:28am)
While visiting my daughter and her family in Denver from out of state, we decided to visit Estes Park for a day. We saw the winery and decided to have a wine tasting. We laid our money on the counter for 2 tastings. We then decided to purchase cheese to have with our tasting, and put additional money with the tasting money. The lady brought us the cheese and picked up one of the $10.00 bills.
At the end of our tasting, they asked for money for both the cheese and the tasting. We knew that one had already had been paid for, but they insisted it had not been. We wound up getting ripped off $10.00. The wine is good, but watch your pockets if you visit these people-they are dishonest. Really put a disappointing end to an otherwise pleasant visit to your state.
At the end of our tasting, they asked for money for both the cheese and the tasting. We knew that one had already had been paid for, but they insisted it had not been. We wound up getting ripped off $10.00. The wine is good, but watch your pockets if you visit these people-they are dishonest. Really put a disappointing end to an otherwise pleasant visit to your state.
Response from:
Parker
(12/07/09 11:56pm)
We really had a great time! The service was great and the staff friendly and funny. Their wines are unpretentious, young and fruity. Nice to go to a winery that doesn't pretend their wines are for snobs only. Wine snobs will be offended here, but real people will have fun! Isn't that what wine is for?
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