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<br />PAUSADE - Let's lift a glass
<br />of Colorado grape to the state's
<br />prospering wine industry.
<br />Four of Colorado's five winer-
<br />ies are located near the lush
<br />banks of the
<br />Colorado Riv-
<br />er at Palisade,
<br />making the
<br />town of 1,500
<br />east of Grand
<br />Junction the
<br />state's wine
<br />capital as well
<br />as peach capi-
<br />tal.
<br />The annual
<br />Peach Festi-
<br />val still will be celebrated Aug.
<br />17, but the industry has experi-
<br />enceda bitter year. Growers split
<br />over revocation of an assessment
<br />to promote Colorado peaches,
<br />and late cold destroyed this sum-.
<br />mer's crop.
<br />In addition, three occurrences
<br />of peach mosaic, a disease that
<br />requires, the infected tree to be
<br />destroyed, have been reported in
<br />nearby orchards. Although three
<br />instances does not present a ma-
<br />jor threat among the 300,000.
<br />trees, growers are on alert.
<br />Clearly, the sparkle is in the
<br />wine, with 300 acres of vineyards
<br />where orchards once thrived.
<br />"I think Palisade is in a kind of
<br />struggle for its identity," said
<br />Stephen Smith, owner with his
<br />wife, Sharon, of Grande River
<br />Vineyards, the newest and small-
<br />est of the four wineries. "But
<br />Palisade always wi)! be the fruit-
<br />growing center of Colorado."
<br />A century ago, pioneers plant.
<br />
<br />
<br />.\it,'"
<br />. ti~rji. Denver
<br />4 Tl/'.
<br />,({ ....
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<br />Colorado
<br />Journal
<br />
<br />k
<br />
<br />giving peach capital a fuzzy identity
<br />
<br />
<br />DeaR Krakel/Rocky Mountain News
<br />In what was once a. peach orchard, Leonard Styer cuts downed trees for firewood. Grapes for
<br />winemaking will be replanted In the orchard In Palisade, east of Grand Junction.
<br />
<br />ed grapes along the Colorado until the winery now known as Before the. re-emergence of
<br />River, with one area on the east Colorado Cellars relocated from winemaking, Palisade was identi-
<br />bank across from town even Golden in 1981. fled with peaches as surely as
<br />called. Vineland. But the temper. "Palisade was the best thing Rocky Ford meant melons.
<br />ance movement took deep root in that ever happened to us," said However, the acreage in
<br />the young state, eager for reo Ann Sewald, winemaker, with peaches has been slowly drop-
<br />spectability in eastern eyes, and her husband, Jim, at Colorado ping, at least since the early
<br />Colorado went dry in 1916 - Cellars. "With the soil, the water, 1960s, when a severe early
<br />four years before Prohibition., the sunshine, the future for Cola- . c, ,.frceeze- killed thousands of trees
<br />Farmers ripped 'outtheir rado wine is fantastic, Wiq.e is, tlWTb~fore;they had entered donnan-.
<br />grape~ and the industry dried up, beverage oft~f\lJ~er ';1 :;' ii j ~",~t~ase9 density of planting,
<br />
<br />different varieties and ne\\
<br />nology has kept productie
<br />although cold destroyed th
<br />in two of the last three year
<br />
<br />In the same period,
<br />growers voted out state an
<br />. eral marketing orders - ,
<br />tiallyan assessment that fa
<br />approved 50 years ago te
<br />mote and regulate the qua
<br />Colorado fruit. .
<br />
<br />"There is a segment ,
<br />peach ipdustry that vehet
<br />objects to any kind of gover
<br />intrusion into their busi
<br />said Harold Larsen, a fruitl
<br />ogist at the Colorado Stat
<br />versity experiment station.
<br />
<br />CSU Extension agent
<br />Swift said he "heard a
<br />growers say they wanted
<br />. able to sell whatever they
<br />grow, regardless of size or
<br />ty."
<br />Many large growers fl
<br />retaining the assessment,
<br />smaller growers succeeded
<br />scinding it in the anti-tax Sl
<br />the times.
<br />
<br />"Neighbor turned 31
<br />neighbor in an awful way,
<br />Helen Mestas, manager ,
<br />Colorado Peach Admllrl~
<br />Committee, which she now
<br />uidating. "It has hurt the c(
<br />nity as a whole."
<br />
<br />But Peach Festival is a
<br />, celebration, with luscious]
<br />es a tradition at the Lion:
<br />pancake breakfast.
<br />
<br />"Even in years we freez
<br />they'll comb the orchard
<br />peaches," Mestas said..
<br />can't have Peach Festival w
<br />peaches." .
<br />
<br />'1' ",.. ';_,
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