I’m embracing a Colorado wine encore, cultivating grapevines, and crafting wine.
I’m sharing my wine encore journey from city life winemaking to country vineyard grower, hoping to inspire those with similar dreams or offer a vicarious escape for others.
I am now on Substack
I’m using Substack as a medium to write a book about my wine encore journey. To receive chapters as they are published, follow this link to sign up for a free subscription.
Marshall's Wine Encore is Multi-Faceted
Marshall’s Wine Encore is geared toward wine-growing, winemaking, and the world of wine.
While the content is written for casual wine enthusiasts, it dives deep into details on multiple subjects.
For example, the site’s Vineyard and Winemaker pages detail growing wine grapes and winemaking. After the topic summaries and highlights, there is a series of curated topic blocks by subject matter experts who make it happen.
If you’d like to learn “with a side of humor” from my personal experiences, immerse yourself in my blogs, which cover rural valley living, planting and maintaining a vineyard, and my musings on current events in the world of wine.
You can also keep up-to-date on the Colorado wine scene, and news.
I've Enjoyed this Journey—So Can You!
Storytelling – A Secret Ingredient
“Storytelling is an important element in technical writing because it helps establish context, engage the reader, and make more complex information more accessible and memorable.” This sentence is the introduction from a prompt I provided ChatGPT about the importance of storytelling.
Abundant Grape Harvest
It’s been a great season for my vineyard, resulting in an abundant grape harvest. Vineyard threats were tamed and minimized. The weather was consistently hot, but not excessively so. We experienced extreme drought conditions the first half of the year, which lessoned in August, September, and October. So what’s not to love?
Wine Myths – Fact or Fiction?
What are common wine myths – are they fact or fiction? Common myth examples include: all red wine ages gracefully; cheap wine uses screw caps, and red wine should always be served with red meat, and white wine with white meat. You might unintentionally get caught up in this dynamic. Don’t let wine myths control your thinking, it’s time for you to take control!
When Does Wildfire Smoke Taint Grapes and Wine?
How much wildfire smoke does it take to taint grapes and the resulting wine? Locally, this subject became more topical in early July, when several wildfires in western Colorado and eastern Utah, including in our vicinity at the Black Canyon broke out.
A Midsummers Night Dream – Moisture
My apologies to the bard. The North Fork Valley is badly in need of moisture. The 2025 grape growing season in the North Fork Valley is trending hot and dry. Understandably, the “dry” part of that equation might be difficult for eastern flatland lubbers to grasp, especially with the wet start to the season along Colorado’s Front Range.
Recommending a New Approach to Retail Wine
Meininger’s International posted a thought-provoking article recommending a new approach to retail wine. Based on a German Wine Producers report, they suggest that retailers can better position themselves with their customers by organizing wine by color and sweetness rather than country or type. I’ll take it one step further.
Why Colorado’s Dramatic Vineyards Can Produce Great Wines (Forbes)
Wine lovers are inherently intrigued by terroir, for great wine regions are defined not only by their talented winemakers, but also by the landscapes that come to represent style and personality. What then of Colorado’s high desert plains?
Time to Explore Colorado’s Vibrant Vineyards and Wine Scene (Newsbreak)
Colorado’s wine industry has steadily blossomed into a small but vibrant industry with over 150 wineries. Though relatively young compared to its European and Californian counterparts, Colorado showcases a diversity of high-quality wines. Every glass of Colorado wine offers more
Fourth Time’s a Charm: Colorado Winery Nabs Best of Show (The Gazette)
After four years of knocking on the door of Colorado’s Governor’s Cup Collection, Palisade’s Sauvage Spectrum Estate Winery & Vineyard nabbed the Best of Show. The winery had made the “top wines” group in the Governor’s Cup Collection in 2021,
Mile High Upgrades- New Releases From Cool Colorado Vineyards (The WineKnowLog©)
I’m finally home for a few days, and a chance to catch up and review some of the best new releases from a few of my favorite Colorado wineries. Many of you will find these notes ‘academic’, in as much
How a Devastating Grape Pest is Reshaping Vineyards Across Colorado’s Western Slope (The Conversation)
Grape phylloxera, is an aphidlike insect that attacks grapevines with devastating effects. In Colorado, where wine is a US$3.9 billion industry, phylloxera poses a significant threat. In 2015, several vineyards on Colorado’s Western Slope observed that groups of their vines
Could Fallen Mountain Be the Next World-Famous Winery? (Thirst Colorado)
Alex Castillo-Llamas is always on the move. He grew up as a migrant farm laborer, then helped open his family’s prestigious California winery. Now he is bringing that experience and work ethic to the hills above Hotchkiss, where he operates