Most wineries don’t have an exorcism or an accountant in their history. The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey in Cañon City has both.

As the story goes, a monk from the historic Holy Cross Abbey performed an exorcism on an allegedly haunted winery in Palisade in 2000.

That sparked an idea: Why not make wine at the monastery? The monks, who numbered about 20 at the time, recruited a winemaker and opened the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey in 2002.

Their numbers further dwindled, and the church ultimately moved them to other facilities as it looked for a buyer for the winery. They found Larry Oddo. 

An accountant by trade, Oddo bought the winery in 2005. “I was looking for something different than what I was doing,” he said. “I’m a foodie, I love beverages.  . . . It just aligned pretty well.”

At the time, Oddo was commuting from New Jersey to New York and back again for more than three hours a day in all. “My commute went to 15, 20 minutes,” he laughed.

The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey now uses 18 varietals of grapes in its portfolio, including award-winning merlots and rieslings. Much of the fruit is sourced from the Western Slope of Colorado.

Read more…