Why Visit The "Napa Valley" Of The Colorado Rockies (The Travel)
Rebecca Crowe
January 13, 2025
If you love wine, you’ve heard of the Napa Valley in California. Known as the home of US wine, the Napa Valley area is the perfect destination for a scenic, wine-tasting-filled trip.
Whether you want to explore quaint towns surrounded by vineyards, such as St. Helena, an underrated town known as “Napa Valley’s Main Street”, or grab a friend or loved one for a delicious picnic at any of the Napa Valley’s beautiful boutique wineries, there are plenty of things to do in Napa Valley to please any oenophile.
However, there’s no getting around it; Napa is popular. Due to its amazing reputation, it’s a busy wine region to visit, as is the neighboring Sonoma County. If you don’t fancy fighting the crowds of Northern California’s Wine Country, you’ll be pleased to hear that the Colorado Rockies has a “Napa Valley” all of its own. The best part? It has a fraction of the crowds.
Palisade is Colorado's Answer To The Napa Valley
Located just outside of Grand Junction lies the small town of Palisade, one of the most inviting towns in Colorado. Known as an agricultural heartland in the middle of the Rockies, you can expect stunning scenery, super-high-quality wine, and crops around every corner.
Along with several award-winning vineyards and wineries, Palisade is known for peach harvests, orchards, and lavender fields. So, not only is this a great dupe for the Napa Valley, but if you time it right with the lavender harvest, you can find a great alternative to Provence, France, without ever leaving the country.
Sometimes, you can also find hops being grown in the area. So, as a result, you have the boozy trifecta of wine, cider, and beer all having roots in this amazing small town. If you’re a foodie or love going to boozy tastings, Palisade, CO, is the perfect place for you to visit. All of this, and hardly any crowds, compared to Napa.