Viticulture in Colorado

Colorado
Official name:	State of Colorado
Appellation type:	State
Year of establishment:	1876
Country:	United States
Sub-regions:	Grand Valley AVA , West Elks AVA
Recognized cultivation area:	269,838 km² (104,185 sq mi )
Planted acreage:	3.03 km² (750 acres )
Grape varieties:	Cabernet Franc , Cabernet Sauvignon , Chambourcin , Chardonel , Chardonnay , Gewürztraminer , Lemberger , Maréchal Foch , Merlot , Muscat Canelli , Orange Muscat , Petit Verdot , Pinot Gris , Pinot Noir , Riesling , Sangiovese , Sauvignon Blanc , Sémillon , Seyval Blanc , Syrah , Viognier , Zinfandel
Number of wineries:	60

Viticulture in Colorado refers to viticulture in the American state of Colorado . Under US law, every state and county is by definition a protected designation of origin and does not need to be recognized as such by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives .

location

Colorado is traversed in the central and western part of the state by the mountain ranges of the Southern Rocky Mountains , of which the San Juan Mountains in the southwest, the Sawatch Range in the center and the two eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Front - and Sangre de Cristo Range , belong to the most important mountains. The Colorado vineyards are located at altitudes of 1200 to 1950 m and are among the highest in the world. In Colorado there are warm, sometimes hot summers and cold, snowy winters. In particular, the temperature differences between day and night are sometimes extreme and extend the vegetation cycle of the vines. In summer it can get very cold at night despite high daytime temperatures. The precipitation (approx. 400–500 mm annually) is distributed over the whole year, while the summer is somewhat more humid.

See also

• Viticulture in the United States

literature

• André Dominé (Ed.): Wine . Tandem Verlag, Königswinter 2007, ISBN 978-3-8331-4344-1 .
• Bruce Cass, Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Companion to the Wine of North America . Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2000, ISBN 0-19-860114-X .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Appellation America (2007). "Colorado: Appellation Description" . Last page view on October 22, 2008