Guy Drew Vineyards

Guy Drew Vineyards was founded in 1998 by Guy and Ruth Drew, who left corporate careers in Denver to turn a hay farm in McElmo Canyon, southwest of Cortez, into a winery. They built a 2,500-square-foot pueblo-style straw bale winery in 1999, were licensed to produce wine in Colorado by 2000, and later added a covered crush pad, tank storage, and a barrel and case-storage building. In 2003 they installed a bottling line capable of sterile bottling. The 155-acre property sits in a high-desert landscape of piñon and juniper near McElmo Creek, surrounded by archaeological sites, Sleeping Ute Mountain, and Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. The Drews site their vineyards to preserve ruins, riparian wildlife, and native vegetation, and they intend to farm organically. Their estate vines include Baco Noir, Norton/Cynthiana, and Marquette, replanted after cold winters damaged earlier varieties, and they source additional Colorado fruit from sites in McElmo Canyon, Lebanon, Yellow Jacket, the South Valley of Cortez, Ignacio, Palisade, and Cedaredge. Visitors can taste at the McElmo Canyon winery and at a seasonal tasting room in Cortez.

Written by Ava from public sources. Not written or reviewed by the winery.