March 28, 2025 • 21 mins
THERE'S A WINE WALK COMING UP! And I've got James Blanchard from Blanchard Family Wines on the Dairy Block at 2:30 to talk about the event and what you can expect. Find out more and buy a ticket here.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From Blanchard Family Wines. He is James Blanchard. Because it's
about time again for a little stroll through the dairy
block in the coolest alley in Denver.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thank you many it is. Have you seen the weather outside?
It is almost opening day, it's festival season, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
We're gonna turn on us this weekend for a little bit,
but it'll be back. Dave Fraser said it was. It
will probably be really nice on opening day, like mid sixties,
which for me, that's glorious, right, And I always tell
people if you're coming down for that, just kind of
caddy corner from McGregor Square is the dairy block and
within the dairy block there is an alleyway. And it
(00:36):
sounds so stupid to say it's the coolest alleyway in
Denver and you should go visit it, but it's the
coolest alleyway in Denver, and you should go visit it.
What else is in there besides you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
We've got breweries, wineries and distilleries, so Deviation Distillian.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Westbound and down. They've got a tap room down.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
There, the milk market, a pocolola, seven Grand Loto bakery.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
They're doing a remodel right now.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I gonna have a little cofee shopping there as well,
little spot right there.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
It is so cool and on opening day there's always
good traffic and stuff like that. But we're not here
to talk about opening day. We're here to talk about
the next Colorado Wine Walk. Let's talk about that. What
are you guys doing now?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
We'll call it opening day for wine first festivals of
the season. April thirteenth, Colorado Winewalk. We're doing our seventh
wine walk down there in the Dairy Block alleyway.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
No, how did this? Obviously you're a winery and we've
talked to you before about how you and your brother
sort of joined forces after you both became interested in
wine separately after military careers to create Blanchard Family Wines.
How is your we've talked about you guys started in California.
Now you are really focusing like a laser on those
Colorado wines that are being made here.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
When we came here, we were at California Winery and
that's what we drink, that's what we sold, that's what
we made. But once we learned about the Colorado wine
industry and opened our eyes to what's going on here
in the state. That was really became our new mission
and that part of the purpose of the Colorado Wine
Walk is to really promote the top end the best
winery is the best wines that the state has to
offer and showcase them off to the front range.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Now, how many wineries are going to be at the
Wine Walk on April thirteenth.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
We have twelve wineries.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
We keep it small one because the dairy Block Alleyway
is a confined space, is an intimate fun environment where
we get to really engage with the guests. We also
want to keep it at the top level of Colorado wineries.
We want wineries of the year, Wines of the year,
those wineries that are really pushing the frontier quality in
our state.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
And there are some incredible wines in the wine Yogi
comes on and we talk about a lot of these wines.
Can people come down and actually buy wines in addition
to doing the Wine.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Walk, Yes, that's a big factor of this is a
purchasing event. So come down, get your ticket, drink all
the wines, talk to the winemakers. But the best way
to support your small, family owned wineries in the state
and the entire local industry is to buy those products.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And some of these products don't have distribution on the
front range. That is always a problem because Crystal travels
all over the state and brings them back and sometimes
you can't even buy them on the front range. Do
you have some of those purveyors coming?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
We do, certainly we have some of the big guys
as well that the carboys and col terraces that do
distribute that you can find in your local liquor stores
and grocery stores. But a lot of these wineries, the
New Dubois, asp and Pete, those type of things, they're small. Again,
they're all family owned and they don't distribute, and you
got to get to get to their taste room out
in Palisade, cedar Ridge, Montrose, you know, out off the
beaten path, or come to the wine Walk.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
And I know that most of them have wine clubs.
Now you guys have a wine club, don't you?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Well, what is that? Tell me what the wine club
is and how those work.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Wine clubs are great because if you find a producer
you really love and you want to keep trying the like,
keep drinking their products. But again, you can't travel there
as frequently they're not in the grocery stores. Joining the
club is a great way to get those wines at
discounted prices. Different clubs could be monthly, quarterly, semi annually,
just kind of depends on how their structured ours is quarterly,
so you can always find a level that works for
(03:43):
you and get those wines delivered orship to you or
pick them up at your local wineries.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Do people have the time to stand and talk to
the winemakers or the wine makers, the actual ones pouring.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yes, and that's important to us a lot of the
big festivals. It's great to go to a festival with
four or five six thousand people at it, but when
you got one hundred people in line, yeah, you don't
really get to talk fust So we've looked at our
numbers and we try to keep the guest to winery
ratio at a pretty reasonable number, about thirty five to
one or so, so you can get in those lines,
you're not waiting thirty minutes to try the wines, and
(04:10):
you get to talk to the winemakers, the owners and
those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So the tickets are fifty bucks, and I only say
that because the VIP tickets I looked at were sold
out from where gone is of today yees. Yeah, so
and we try to get James in early enough that
there are still tickets left. But this will sell out.
They sell out every.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Time it will.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
It's been fantastic, you know, those first few years we
put on the festival. We're always nervous if people are
going to like our product. But we have a waiting
list of wineries to get in. We have a waiting
list of people to get in. Our seminar, our wine
and chocolate pairing Seminar in the Middle is already sold out,
and our VIP tickets for a morning and afternoon are
sold out.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I was doing the chocolate pairing because I love that the.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Chocolate therapist in little to providing the chocolate. Say, Juliet's fantastic,
we love They're working with her for years. But I
will be the one actually leading the seminar.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Oh very nice, because I've done her wine tasting that
she does in the shop there at the Chocolate Therapist.
She's the best advocate for chocolate that I've ever met
my entire life, and just dynamite woman to boot. So
what do you get with that fifty dollars ticket because
that's all that's left.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, it is all the general mission tickets. We have
two sessions. One will be at eleven am to two
pm and then a second session from three to six.
We split it up that way give our wineries a
break as well. Is that way we can get more
people in. You'll get your glass, get to wander around
the alleyway, try all the different wines from the twelve wineries.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
They'll be live music throughout the day.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
We'll have Shirt Kitchen doing some amazing catering as well,
so I have a lot of great food options and
then of course you're purchasing options as well.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
So there's no dinner this year. Someone of the text
line asks no dinner It was that just too much.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Well, I'm glad they're asking, which means they remembered from
last year. Yes, every year it is a little bit
different and we have to look at the bandwidth of
myself and my staff additionally, and what we can pull off.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And the wine dinner is fantastic. We love doing it.
Last couple of years, it's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, so we chose this year to go no dinner,
but use the wine and chocolate seminar.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Instead, and I trust me. First of all, you want
you want the chocolate therapist chocolate, and that's the chocolate
that I drive from my home all the way across
to Littleton just to buy Julie's chocolate because it's my favorite.
I want to ask about the wines you brought in,
because you brought two of Blanchard family wines in for
the spring. So you said this is like the kickoff
(06:12):
for the wine season as well. Explain that a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
It is.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I think we're one of the first wine festivals of
the season. As we get into you know, May, June, July, August,
that's one of most of the festivals are. We run
our festival in April and September. We want to kind
of bracket the main festival season. You know, we love
doing those festivals in July when it's one hundred degrees
out and you're in the middle of the field somewhere
and you're you're drinking red wine and it's so hot.
But for us, you know, the April and September a
(06:38):
great dates for us. You can bracket that hot weather.
And so this being the first one of the season,
we've got some sweet rose We've got our Reasling's Chardonay's,
will be a lot of those brighter fresh roses and
whites to kind of kick off the.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Season because rose is the wine of summer.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Well, it's rose all day, any day, all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You've been reading T shirts at Target, haven't you, Jane?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
As the weather's it's the season for it.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Well, and you know one thing I would say, and
somebody just texted in love the Dairy Block. We've stayed
at the Maven there. It's awesome. This is one of
those little kind of self contained places in Denver, and
I love telling people to go down there after before
a baseball game because it's so close. But you're still,
you know, in an area that you don't necessarily have
to deal with urban outdoorsmen or other such inconveniences.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I agree, and I we're well aware that there's a
lot of you know, bad publicity, a bad feeling about
downtown as the sixteenth Street mall is reopening and we'll
see what that does for Loto. But as you mentioned,
it's an alleyway and that sounds negative, but it's not fantastic.
And the great thing about the Dairy Block is once
you're inside the four walls of that environment.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
There, it feels like you're in another world.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It feels like you're transported to some European city where
all the businesses open the alleyway, there's music, there's art.
We have twenty four hour security out there. It's very safe.
We have parking garage on site, so you never even
have to leave the dairy block from parking through your
experience all the way out.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
It's a great say.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You have so many different options within the dairy block
where you can eat. You can get a little bite,
you could have a real meal. You could just have
a glass of wine and some popcorn because James has
popcorn that pairs very well with the wines at Blantert
Family Wines. Is one of the things that I love
about it. James, what has changed for Blanchard Family Wines
in terms of your vision since you started this? And
I want to ask you this as a businessman, right,
(08:24):
I want to ask you, like, what you thought this
was going to be, what it has turned out to be,
and what you want it to be now? Has that changed?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
That's a good question. I haven't been asked that one,
I think.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Ever, we're still we still make California wine out in
the Heelsburg, California. It's no mom My brother Mark still
Bruns at operation, so that still is in our mind
of California and the quality that comes along with that.
But our Colorado focus and exposing the Front Range, particularly
to the wines of Colorado is really important to us.
So not only through the Colorado Wine Walk, which we
do both in the Dairy Block we did in Fort
(08:55):
Collins last year until we close out location hopefully take
it to Grand Junction next year as well, but we're
also doing a Colorado Wine Walk at home and a
Colorado Wine Walk on tour. We're going to start doing
tours out to the Western Slope.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
So many people that come down to the Dairy Block,
whether it be for the festival or just come down
to our taste room and say, oh, I know you
have a wine country, but I've never been there. It's
too far away. I don't know where to go. I
don't know how to make that trip. Well, we're going
to create a little tour company to help take people
out to the Western Slope and show them the best
wineries and do wine dinners and tastings and all these activities,
So we're really expanding that aspect of the business of
exposing Colorado to Colorado wine through experience.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Wine tourism is huge. It is massive in California. I
would venture a guess that without the wine tourism that
has been developed over the many years in California, a
lot of small wineries there would never make it. They
would never make it if there weren't bus loads of
bridesmaids coming and doing wine tastings and buying a case
whatever they just tasted. I think it's incredibly undervalued in Colorado.
(09:56):
And as someone who loves to travel, and I do
when I go place other places, I do these kind
of tours. Right I'm getting on somebody else's bus. I've
talked to friends about this very thing, about the opportunity
that exists there to tap into a culture that's already established,
but just bring that culture to Colorado. And I think
it would be huge for Palisades and the Western Slope
(10:18):
and areas that could use more, you know, economic development.
And this is a great idea. So when do you
think you're going to launch that.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
We're hoping to do our first one near the end
of May. So I'll let you know so you can
get you get you on the bus tour and gets
you out to Palisa with you.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Generally speaking, I don't do bus tours anymore because you know,
people know me and I'm just kidding. I'm totally kidding. No,
I think that's fantastic. Good for you. So, James Blanchard
is my guest from Blanchard Family Wine. So the Colorado
Winewalk is coming up on April thirteenth. Two sessions, one
at eleven am, one at two pm, and then we
also have the three pm to six pm, so they're
(10:53):
about three hours.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Correct, eleven o'clock and three o'clock the two start times.
Tickets are at coloradowinewalk dot com.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Okay, Colorado Wine, one more question for you, and I
asked you this. You're talking about expanding into doing things
that are almost non they're wine adjacent, but not wine
directly related. What other opportunities do you see in Colorado
that you're not tapping into because you're focused on your
mission when it comes to being wine adjacent.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
This is something that probably isn't well, this isn't public yet,
so I don't know what we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
What we can't talk about.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
But the centennial celebration is coming up for here in
Colorado and the state is really helping to push the
agricultural industry in our states. So we are creating a wine.
The Colorado Association of Avitic Culture and Analogy is creating
a wine to represent the state for the centennial celebration
and then to move on forward. So we've been spending
a lot of time as an organization determining the varietals,
(11:45):
the blends, how we want to judge this. But we're
going to create again a wine that's going to represent
the state both for the centennial celebration as into the future.
So there's a lot of fun things the way we
can kind of promote our industry.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
He just gave me a vision of a bunch of
wine nerds, like sitting around with wine glasses in their hands,
yelling at each other about varietals. I don't know why.
I mean, I'm sure it's more more civilized than that.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
It's not. It's taking us almost a year just come
up with a name of the product.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Well, let me throw one more out at you. I mean,
we've got that going for us, but it just my
last question just went right out of my head. But
that's okay, James, when you got into this, and I'm
asking this because I'm trying to pick the brains of
people who are in interesting businesses, right, and you're in
an interesting business. So when you look at the landscape
(12:29):
now and you see a lot of people, and we
were kind of talking about this off the air, we
have a lot of people who are kind of doing
these little strip mall wineries where they're buying grapes and
they're making wine. Some of it's very very bad, some
of it's good. You know, how do you feel about
that part? Are we going to reach peak wine making
like we reached peak craft brewing? Because I do believe
(12:50):
we have passed peak craft brewing in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yes, and I think not only in brewing, but in
distilling and wine making as well. Across the board, for
better or worse, alcohol sales are down.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Across this country.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I blame the youth.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Well it is why I'm not blaming the youth, but
it is the youth.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
They are more health conscious, they are more focused on
sober activities, and they're drinking less. So from our perspective,
you counter that by creating better.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Products and better experiences.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
If you are going to drink less, less frequently, less volume,
then you should be drinking better quality and having better
experiences when you are drinking.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
So as opposed to going binge drinking at the bar.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
On a Saturday night, come to a wine education class
or a wine and food pairing in class, or again
beer education, spirit education, learn more about your products, educate
yourself on what you're drinking, and again, more better experiences
and better quality as opposed to more volume.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, I do think that there's a positive there.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
It's like, okay, are you going to go out and
do your shots of school vodka or are you going
to go out and have a lovely cocktail, Which just
backs up what I've been saying since I was in
my twenties. Life's too short for cheap alcohol, right. It
really is having a really nice cocktail with your dinner.
It can be a great experience. Having a great class
of wine with your dinner can be a great experience.
And I hope the young people understand that it's not
(14:04):
drinking to get black out drunk. It's to enhance whatever
other experience you're having as well.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Agree, but I would twist that a little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
As opposed to saying life too short for drinking cheap alcohol,
just say bad alcohol. Okay, we're all aware of the
economy today. We can't always drink expensive alcohol, but you
can have good product that doesn't have to break the bank.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
So it is life's too short for bad alcohol.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Well, I'll tell you a little story, a little bit
about myself and my husband. When we got married, we
were doing it on the cheap. We were just like,
we're gonna spend as little money as possible. And I
walked into a mass wine store, just a giant wine store,
and a man walked up to me and he said,
can I help you find wine from any particular region.
I said, I would like to have wine from the
five to ten dollar region, and I'm going to have
(14:45):
to buy a lot of it for my wedding, so
I need a red and a white. Hook me up.
He did a wine tasting for us of bottles that
started from three ninety nine. The most expensive one was
eight ninety nine, so that was a high dollar and
we actually found two inexpensive wines that our wine snop
friends were like, great wine. Of course, we didn't show
them the bottle, right, we just burn the wine. So
(15:06):
to your point, they definitely have.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Some options, a lot of great wines at different price points.
I think the key is to find out what those
ingredients are that we don't want added colors and flavors
and all these chemicals that some of the mass produced
wineries add. You know, stay local, stay small, stay craft.
Are you guys organic? Somebody just asked on the text lines.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Great question.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
All the vineyards and Sonoma and most of all the
vineyards in Colorado are grown organically, so they are farmed
organic once you hit the winery. It's really hard to
stay organic without adding soul fights or any preservative. So
we as a production company are not organic, but as
a grower of co brins we purchase are organic.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
It's also do you know if the if the growing
operations are certified organic, because that process is a freaking nightmare.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
It is, and some of them are, particularly in California.
For all the vineyards out there, it's about ninety nine
percent certified organic and Sonoma right now, and Colorado is
well on its way.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
It takes years to get like a certification that you
are in organic form. It's it's a very very long process.
James do you want to stick around and play our
dumb game of the day.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
I always lose this game, but let's do it.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
That's okay because I expect everyone to lose except me,
and even then I still lose. On occasion. Grant has
become a rod because a rod turned into a pumpkin.
So Grant, what wait a minute, we try this, and
now it's time for my most exciting segment all the
radio of it's kind? Is it Grant in the world
(16:32):
of that day?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
All right?
Speaker 1 (16:35):
What is our dad joke of the day?
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Dad joke of the day. If you don't like it,
play a rod? I asked my wife if I'm the
only one she has ever been with. She said yes,
all the others were nines and tens.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Okay, that's funny. I heard that one before. All right,
what is our word of today, please, Grant. Word of
the day today?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
It is escape.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It's a noun escape, I n scape n sc a.
So if escape is to break out of something, I'm
gonna say escape is to break into.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Something good guess, but not quite. But it does involve
the inner of something. Okay, James, you want to take
a shot.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I like your gate, your guests, but to.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
How about to to fall inside your own mind? Oh?
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Oh, to go in the deep things philosophical here, No,
it is the unique essence or inner nature of a thing.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Oh okay, the escape of.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Your mind you can escape to.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
You were closer technically, all right. Who is the Lay's
brand of potato chips named for? I mean it's got
to be whoever like Larry Larry Lay's Bob laise I
have no idea. Well, yeah, company founder Herman W. La
snack empire by selling chips out of the back of
(17:55):
his car in the early nineteen thirty Get Herman exactly.
I mean, I remember himself and his brother Harold. Yeah, hey, everybody,
I got chips in the back of my copy. So
it all got started right there. How do you feel
about the Laze potato chips? What's your potato chip of choice?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Middle chip of choice? Pringles?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I like a kettle cooked. I like the kettle chips
from Costco Big Bag. They are so good.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
We'll buy a you know, since you guys are talking wine,
you'll buy a really nice bottle of wine and we'll
pair it with Lay's original potato chips.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
You know what, perfectly all right? What's our Jeopardy category.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Please, well, speaking of building empires, the company's animal mascot,
I will describe the mascot. You tell me which company
good or you know something related to that?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Introduced in nineteen sixty one, Charlie was this type of fish?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
What is chicken of the sea?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
And correct? Let me finish the question.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Shoot fish, who bizarrely wanted to end up as product for.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Starkist sang it? What is tune of James? Yes, you
got the Yeah, James, say your name? And then what
is he? Just jump?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
So that's good, it's your first time.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
We get to the point that next one.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Wearing flip flops and sunglasses, This drum pounding mascot began
going and going and going in nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Nine, Manny, what is Chester Cheeto?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Incorrect? Dang it.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Anything?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
James, Oh many, You're so stupid. You are so stupid.
I can't even believe I just did that. No, I
know what it is. It's the energizer bunny.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Correct but incorrect. You still wrong.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
At nineteen ninety seven New York Times headline about a
mascot change, read, Joe, this a giant and tobacco marketing man.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
What is the jolly green giant in correct?
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Joe, This a giant.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Tobacco marketing is dead at age twenty Thames, what is
Joe the cammell?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
James. That's two for James, and I'm minus three. I'm
birthlazing a trail and James, the sad part is I'm
not even letting you win. I'm just bad at this today.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Next to one last name of the tennis player, Oh,
scene here, can't do that. The crocodile logo on his
coat would become a fashion icon Mandy.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
What's izod Incorrect? James? What is lacasse Correct?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It's the same company saying it, James, you won.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
If you can get to four minus four?
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, company's logo.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Two bovines run directly at each other, perhaps energized by
the product they represent.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
James. What is red Bull?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right?
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Four to minus four? This is the worst butt kicking
of my entire lifetime in this game. I've worked with
you for a lot of year. It's an eight point swing.
I already crumpled it up, James, because I never want
to see.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
It kicked out.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
But last time I was here, so I'm glad he's
not here.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
You're you're doing great anyway, James lanch Or Blancher Family Wines,
Get your wife and walk tickets before they sell out.
Thanks for coming in today, James.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Thank you for
From Blanchard Family Wines. He is James Blanchard. Because it's
about time again for a little stroll through the dairy
block in the coolest alley in Denver.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thank you many it is. Have you seen the weather outside?
It is almost opening day, it's festival season, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
We're gonna turn on us this weekend for a little bit,
but it'll be back. Dave Fraser said it was. It
will probably be really nice on opening day, like mid sixties,
which for me, that's glorious, right, And I always tell
people if you're coming down for that, just kind of
caddy corner from McGregor Square is the dairy block and
within the dairy block there is an alleyway. And it
(00:36):
sounds so stupid to say it's the coolest alleyway in
Denver and you should go visit it, but it's the
coolest alleyway in Denver, and you should go visit it.
What else is in there besides you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
We've got breweries, wineries and distilleries, so Deviation Distillian.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Westbound and down. They've got a tap room down.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
There, the milk market, a pocolola, seven Grand Loto bakery.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
They're doing a remodel right now.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I gonna have a little cofee shopping there as well,
little spot right there.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
It is so cool and on opening day there's always
good traffic and stuff like that. But we're not here
to talk about opening day. We're here to talk about
the next Colorado Wine Walk. Let's talk about that. What
are you guys doing now?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
We'll call it opening day for wine first festivals of
the season. April thirteenth, Colorado Winewalk. We're doing our seventh
wine walk down there in the Dairy Block alleyway.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
No, how did this? Obviously you're a winery and we've
talked to you before about how you and your brother
sort of joined forces after you both became interested in
wine separately after military careers to create Blanchard Family Wines.
How is your we've talked about you guys started in California.
Now you are really focusing like a laser on those
Colorado wines that are being made here.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
When we came here, we were at California Winery and
that's what we drink, that's what we sold, that's what
we made. But once we learned about the Colorado wine
industry and opened our eyes to what's going on here
in the state. That was really became our new mission
and that part of the purpose of the Colorado Wine
Walk is to really promote the top end the best
winery is the best wines that the state has to
offer and showcase them off to the front range.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Now, how many wineries are going to be at the
Wine Walk on April thirteenth.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
We have twelve wineries.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
We keep it small one because the dairy Block Alleyway
is a confined space, is an intimate fun environment where
we get to really engage with the guests. We also
want to keep it at the top level of Colorado wineries.
We want wineries of the year, Wines of the year,
those wineries that are really pushing the frontier quality in
our state.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
And there are some incredible wines in the wine Yogi
comes on and we talk about a lot of these wines.
Can people come down and actually buy wines in addition
to doing the Wine.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Walk, Yes, that's a big factor of this is a
purchasing event. So come down, get your ticket, drink all
the wines, talk to the winemakers. But the best way
to support your small, family owned wineries in the state
and the entire local industry is to buy those products.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And some of these products don't have distribution on the
front range. That is always a problem because Crystal travels
all over the state and brings them back and sometimes
you can't even buy them on the front range. Do
you have some of those purveyors coming?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
We do, certainly we have some of the big guys
as well that the carboys and col terraces that do
distribute that you can find in your local liquor stores
and grocery stores. But a lot of these wineries, the
New Dubois, asp and Pete, those type of things, they're small. Again,
they're all family owned and they don't distribute, and you
got to get to get to their taste room out
in Palisade, cedar Ridge, Montrose, you know, out off the
beaten path, or come to the wine Walk.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
And I know that most of them have wine clubs.
Now you guys have a wine club, don't you?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Well, what is that? Tell me what the wine club
is and how those work.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Wine clubs are great because if you find a producer
you really love and you want to keep trying the like,
keep drinking their products. But again, you can't travel there
as frequently they're not in the grocery stores. Joining the
club is a great way to get those wines at
discounted prices. Different clubs could be monthly, quarterly, semi annually,
just kind of depends on how their structured ours is quarterly,
so you can always find a level that works for
(03:43):
you and get those wines delivered orship to you or
pick them up at your local wineries.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Do people have the time to stand and talk to
the winemakers or the wine makers, the actual ones pouring.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yes, and that's important to us a lot of the
big festivals. It's great to go to a festival with
four or five six thousand people at it, but when
you got one hundred people in line, yeah, you don't
really get to talk fust So we've looked at our
numbers and we try to keep the guest to winery
ratio at a pretty reasonable number, about thirty five to
one or so, so you can get in those lines,
you're not waiting thirty minutes to try the wines, and
(04:10):
you get to talk to the winemakers, the owners and
those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So the tickets are fifty bucks, and I only say
that because the VIP tickets I looked at were sold
out from where gone is of today yees. Yeah, so
and we try to get James in early enough that
there are still tickets left. But this will sell out.
They sell out every.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Time it will.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
It's been fantastic, you know, those first few years we
put on the festival. We're always nervous if people are
going to like our product. But we have a waiting
list of wineries to get in. We have a waiting
list of people to get in. Our seminar, our wine
and chocolate pairing Seminar in the Middle is already sold out,
and our VIP tickets for a morning and afternoon are
sold out.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I was doing the chocolate pairing because I love that the.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Chocolate therapist in little to providing the chocolate. Say, Juliet's fantastic,
we love They're working with her for years. But I
will be the one actually leading the seminar.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Oh very nice, because I've done her wine tasting that
she does in the shop there at the Chocolate Therapist.
She's the best advocate for chocolate that I've ever met
my entire life, and just dynamite woman to boot. So
what do you get with that fifty dollars ticket because
that's all that's left.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, it is all the general mission tickets. We have
two sessions. One will be at eleven am to two
pm and then a second session from three to six.
We split it up that way give our wineries a
break as well. Is that way we can get more
people in. You'll get your glass, get to wander around
the alleyway, try all the different wines from the twelve wineries.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
They'll be live music throughout the day.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
We'll have Shirt Kitchen doing some amazing catering as well,
so I have a lot of great food options and
then of course you're purchasing options as well.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
So there's no dinner this year. Someone of the text
line asks no dinner It was that just too much.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Well, I'm glad they're asking, which means they remembered from
last year. Yes, every year it is a little bit
different and we have to look at the bandwidth of
myself and my staff additionally, and what we can pull off.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And the wine dinner is fantastic. We love doing it.
Last couple of years, it's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, so we chose this year to go no dinner,
but use the wine and chocolate seminar.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Instead, and I trust me. First of all, you want
you want the chocolate therapist chocolate, and that's the chocolate
that I drive from my home all the way across
to Littleton just to buy Julie's chocolate because it's my favorite.
I want to ask about the wines you brought in,
because you brought two of Blanchard family wines in for
the spring. So you said this is like the kickoff
(06:12):
for the wine season as well. Explain that a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
It is.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I think we're one of the first wine festivals of
the season. As we get into you know, May, June, July, August,
that's one of most of the festivals are. We run
our festival in April and September. We want to kind
of bracket the main festival season. You know, we love
doing those festivals in July when it's one hundred degrees
out and you're in the middle of the field somewhere
and you're you're drinking red wine and it's so hot.
But for us, you know, the April and September a
(06:38):
great dates for us. You can bracket that hot weather.
And so this being the first one of the season,
we've got some sweet rose We've got our Reasling's Chardonay's,
will be a lot of those brighter fresh roses and
whites to kind of kick off the.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Season because rose is the wine of summer.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Well, it's rose all day, any day, all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You've been reading T shirts at Target, haven't you, Jane?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
As the weather's it's the season for it.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Well, and you know one thing I would say, and
somebody just texted in love the Dairy Block. We've stayed
at the Maven there. It's awesome. This is one of
those little kind of self contained places in Denver, and
I love telling people to go down there after before
a baseball game because it's so close. But you're still,
you know, in an area that you don't necessarily have
to deal with urban outdoorsmen or other such inconveniences.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I agree, and I we're well aware that there's a
lot of you know, bad publicity, a bad feeling about
downtown as the sixteenth Street mall is reopening and we'll
see what that does for Loto. But as you mentioned,
it's an alleyway and that sounds negative, but it's not fantastic.
And the great thing about the Dairy Block is once
you're inside the four walls of that environment.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
There, it feels like you're in another world.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It feels like you're transported to some European city where
all the businesses open the alleyway, there's music, there's art.
We have twenty four hour security out there. It's very safe.
We have parking garage on site, so you never even
have to leave the dairy block from parking through your
experience all the way out.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
It's a great say.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You have so many different options within the dairy block
where you can eat. You can get a little bite,
you could have a real meal. You could just have
a glass of wine and some popcorn because James has
popcorn that pairs very well with the wines at Blantert
Family Wines. Is one of the things that I love
about it. James, what has changed for Blanchard Family Wines
in terms of your vision since you started this? And
I want to ask you this as a businessman, right,
(08:24):
I want to ask you, like, what you thought this
was going to be, what it has turned out to be,
and what you want it to be now? Has that changed?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
That's a good question. I haven't been asked that one,
I think.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Ever, we're still we still make California wine out in
the Heelsburg, California. It's no mom My brother Mark still
Bruns at operation, so that still is in our mind
of California and the quality that comes along with that.
But our Colorado focus and exposing the Front Range, particularly
to the wines of Colorado is really important to us.
So not only through the Colorado Wine Walk, which we
do both in the Dairy Block we did in Fort
(08:55):
Collins last year until we close out location hopefully take
it to Grand Junction next year as well, but we're
also doing a Colorado Wine Walk at home and a
Colorado Wine Walk on tour. We're going to start doing
tours out to the Western Slope.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
So many people that come down to the Dairy Block,
whether it be for the festival or just come down
to our taste room and say, oh, I know you
have a wine country, but I've never been there. It's
too far away. I don't know where to go. I
don't know how to make that trip. Well, we're going
to create a little tour company to help take people
out to the Western Slope and show them the best
wineries and do wine dinners and tastings and all these activities,
So we're really expanding that aspect of the business of
exposing Colorado to Colorado wine through experience.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Wine tourism is huge. It is massive in California. I
would venture a guess that without the wine tourism that
has been developed over the many years in California, a
lot of small wineries there would never make it. They
would never make it if there weren't bus loads of
bridesmaids coming and doing wine tastings and buying a case
whatever they just tasted. I think it's incredibly undervalued in Colorado.
(09:56):
And as someone who loves to travel, and I do
when I go place other places, I do these kind
of tours. Right I'm getting on somebody else's bus. I've
talked to friends about this very thing, about the opportunity
that exists there to tap into a culture that's already established,
but just bring that culture to Colorado. And I think
it would be huge for Palisades and the Western Slope
(10:18):
and areas that could use more, you know, economic development.
And this is a great idea. So when do you
think you're going to launch that.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
We're hoping to do our first one near the end
of May. So I'll let you know so you can
get you get you on the bus tour and gets
you out to Palisa with you.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Generally speaking, I don't do bus tours anymore because you know,
people know me and I'm just kidding. I'm totally kidding. No,
I think that's fantastic. Good for you. So, James Blanchard
is my guest from Blanchard Family Wine. So the Colorado
Winewalk is coming up on April thirteenth. Two sessions, one
at eleven am, one at two pm, and then we
also have the three pm to six pm, so they're
(10:53):
about three hours.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Correct, eleven o'clock and three o'clock the two start times.
Tickets are at coloradowinewalk dot com.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Okay, Colorado Wine, one more question for you, and I
asked you this. You're talking about expanding into doing things
that are almost non they're wine adjacent, but not wine
directly related. What other opportunities do you see in Colorado
that you're not tapping into because you're focused on your
mission when it comes to being wine adjacent.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
This is something that probably isn't well, this isn't public yet,
so I don't know what we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
What we can't talk about.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
But the centennial celebration is coming up for here in
Colorado and the state is really helping to push the
agricultural industry in our states. So we are creating a wine.
The Colorado Association of Avitic Culture and Analogy is creating
a wine to represent the state for the centennial celebration
and then to move on forward. So we've been spending
a lot of time as an organization determining the varietals,
(11:45):
the blends, how we want to judge this. But we're
going to create again a wine that's going to represent
the state both for the centennial celebration as into the future.
So there's a lot of fun things the way we
can kind of promote our industry.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
He just gave me a vision of a bunch of
wine nerds, like sitting around with wine glasses in their hands,
yelling at each other about varietals. I don't know why.
I mean, I'm sure it's more more civilized than that.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
It's not. It's taking us almost a year just come
up with a name of the product.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Well, let me throw one more out at you. I mean,
we've got that going for us, but it just my
last question just went right out of my head. But
that's okay, James, when you got into this, and I'm
asking this because I'm trying to pick the brains of
people who are in interesting businesses, right, and you're in
an interesting business. So when you look at the landscape
(12:29):
now and you see a lot of people, and we
were kind of talking about this off the air, we
have a lot of people who are kind of doing
these little strip mall wineries where they're buying grapes and
they're making wine. Some of it's very very bad, some
of it's good. You know, how do you feel about
that part? Are we going to reach peak wine making
like we reached peak craft brewing? Because I do believe
(12:50):
we have passed peak craft brewing in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yes, and I think not only in brewing, but in
distilling and wine making as well. Across the board, for
better or worse, alcohol sales are down.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Across this country.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I blame the youth.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Well it is why I'm not blaming the youth, but
it is the youth.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
They are more health conscious, they are more focused on
sober activities, and they're drinking less. So from our perspective,
you counter that by creating better.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Products and better experiences.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
If you are going to drink less, less frequently, less volume,
then you should be drinking better quality and having better
experiences when you are drinking.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
So as opposed to going binge drinking at the bar.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
On a Saturday night, come to a wine education class
or a wine and food pairing in class, or again
beer education, spirit education, learn more about your products, educate
yourself on what you're drinking, and again, more better experiences
and better quality as opposed to more volume.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, I do think that there's a positive there.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
It's like, okay, are you going to go out and
do your shots of school vodka or are you going
to go out and have a lovely cocktail, Which just
backs up what I've been saying since I was in
my twenties. Life's too short for cheap alcohol, right. It
really is having a really nice cocktail with your dinner.
It can be a great experience. Having a great class
of wine with your dinner can be a great experience.
And I hope the young people understand that it's not
(14:04):
drinking to get black out drunk. It's to enhance whatever
other experience you're having as well.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Agree, but I would twist that a little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
As opposed to saying life too short for drinking cheap alcohol,
just say bad alcohol. Okay, we're all aware of the
economy today. We can't always drink expensive alcohol, but you
can have good product that doesn't have to break the bank.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
So it is life's too short for bad alcohol.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Well, I'll tell you a little story, a little bit
about myself and my husband. When we got married, we
were doing it on the cheap. We were just like,
we're gonna spend as little money as possible. And I
walked into a mass wine store, just a giant wine store,
and a man walked up to me and he said,
can I help you find wine from any particular region.
I said, I would like to have wine from the
five to ten dollar region, and I'm going to have
(14:45):
to buy a lot of it for my wedding, so
I need a red and a white. Hook me up.
He did a wine tasting for us of bottles that
started from three ninety nine. The most expensive one was
eight ninety nine, so that was a high dollar and
we actually found two inexpensive wines that our wine snop
friends were like, great wine. Of course, we didn't show
them the bottle, right, we just burn the wine. So
(15:06):
to your point, they definitely have.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Some options, a lot of great wines at different price points.
I think the key is to find out what those
ingredients are that we don't want added colors and flavors
and all these chemicals that some of the mass produced
wineries add. You know, stay local, stay small, stay craft.
Are you guys organic? Somebody just asked on the text lines.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Great question.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
All the vineyards and Sonoma and most of all the
vineyards in Colorado are grown organically, so they are farmed
organic once you hit the winery. It's really hard to
stay organic without adding soul fights or any preservative. So
we as a production company are not organic, but as
a grower of co brins we purchase are organic.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
It's also do you know if the if the growing
operations are certified organic, because that process is a freaking nightmare.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
It is, and some of them are, particularly in California.
For all the vineyards out there, it's about ninety nine
percent certified organic and Sonoma right now, and Colorado is
well on its way.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
It takes years to get like a certification that you
are in organic form. It's it's a very very long process.
James do you want to stick around and play our
dumb game of the day.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
I always lose this game, but let's do it.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
That's okay because I expect everyone to lose except me,
and even then I still lose. On occasion. Grant has
become a rod because a rod turned into a pumpkin.
So Grant, what wait a minute, we try this, and
now it's time for my most exciting segment all the
radio of it's kind? Is it Grant in the world
(16:32):
of that day?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
All right?
Speaker 1 (16:35):
What is our dad joke of the day?
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Dad joke of the day. If you don't like it,
play a rod? I asked my wife if I'm the
only one she has ever been with. She said yes,
all the others were nines and tens.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Okay, that's funny. I heard that one before. All right,
what is our word of today, please, Grant. Word of
the day today?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
It is escape.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It's a noun escape, I n scape n sc a.
So if escape is to break out of something, I'm
gonna say escape is to break into.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Something good guess, but not quite. But it does involve
the inner of something. Okay, James, you want to take
a shot.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I like your gate, your guests, but to.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
How about to to fall inside your own mind? Oh?
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Oh, to go in the deep things philosophical here, No,
it is the unique essence or inner nature of a thing.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Oh okay, the escape of.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Your mind you can escape to.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
You were closer technically, all right. Who is the Lay's
brand of potato chips named for? I mean it's got
to be whoever like Larry Larry Lay's Bob laise I
have no idea. Well, yeah, company founder Herman W. La
snack empire by selling chips out of the back of
(17:55):
his car in the early nineteen thirty Get Herman exactly.
I mean, I remember himself and his brother Harold. Yeah, hey, everybody,
I got chips in the back of my copy. So
it all got started right there. How do you feel
about the Laze potato chips? What's your potato chip of choice?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Middle chip of choice? Pringles?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I like a kettle cooked. I like the kettle chips
from Costco Big Bag. They are so good.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
We'll buy a you know, since you guys are talking wine,
you'll buy a really nice bottle of wine and we'll
pair it with Lay's original potato chips.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
You know what, perfectly all right? What's our Jeopardy category.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Please, well, speaking of building empires, the company's animal mascot,
I will describe the mascot. You tell me which company
good or you know something related to that?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Introduced in nineteen sixty one, Charlie was this type of fish?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
What is chicken of the sea?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
And correct? Let me finish the question.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Shoot fish, who bizarrely wanted to end up as product for.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Starkist sang it? What is tune of James? Yes, you
got the Yeah, James, say your name? And then what
is he? Just jump?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
So that's good, it's your first time.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
We get to the point that next one.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Wearing flip flops and sunglasses, This drum pounding mascot began
going and going and going in nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Nine, Manny, what is Chester Cheeto?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Incorrect? Dang it.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Anything?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
James, Oh many, You're so stupid. You are so stupid.
I can't even believe I just did that. No, I
know what it is. It's the energizer bunny.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Correct but incorrect. You still wrong.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
At nineteen ninety seven New York Times headline about a
mascot change, read, Joe, this a giant and tobacco marketing man.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
What is the jolly green giant in correct?
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Joe, This a giant.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Tobacco marketing is dead at age twenty Thames, what is
Joe the cammell?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
James. That's two for James, and I'm minus three. I'm
birthlazing a trail and James, the sad part is I'm
not even letting you win. I'm just bad at this today.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Next to one last name of the tennis player, Oh,
scene here, can't do that. The crocodile logo on his
coat would become a fashion icon Mandy.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
What's izod Incorrect? James? What is lacasse Correct?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It's the same company saying it, James, you won.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
If you can get to four minus four?
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, company's logo.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Two bovines run directly at each other, perhaps energized by
the product they represent.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
James. What is red Bull?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right?
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Four to minus four? This is the worst butt kicking
of my entire lifetime in this game. I've worked with
you for a lot of year. It's an eight point swing.
I already crumpled it up, James, because I never want
to see.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
It kicked out.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
But last time I was here, so I'm glad he's
not here.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
You're you're doing great anyway, James lanch Or Blancher Family Wines,
Get your wife and walk tickets before they sell out.
Thanks for coming in today, James.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Thank you for
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