If you have never been to Gilroy, California, you at least know when you’re close. At certain times of the year, the scent of garlic hangs in the air like a chemical cloud. It’s inescapable. But for lovers of this pungent vegetable—yes, it’s a vegetable—it’s pure nirvana.
Gilroy bills itself as ‘the garlic capital of the world.’ There, you can buy everything from garlic cheese and salad dressing to garlic wine. Yes. If it can be turned into a food or drink, you can find it in Gilroy.
But southern Colorado—more specifically, Pueblo— has its own famous crop. Pueblo chile, locals rave, is the best chile in the country. And now, there’s a brand-new wine that not only carries the town’s name but is imbued with the town’s favorite fruit. Pueblo Chile wine has hit the market!
“We got the idea after a trip to New Mexico,” said Robert Vanatta, part of the family-owned Brush Hollow Winery in nearby Penrose. The trip took Vanatta and family through Hatch, the town known for its eponymous chile. It’s also a town that knows how to market its most famous crop and a town that sells its own Hatch Chile wine.
Chile wine, thought Vanatta, was a smart idea, especially since nearby Pueblo—it’s 30 miles to the east— produced a chile crop that rivals or even exceeds the quality of Hatch.
Now, the family-owned winery is selling Pueblo Chile wine. It’s right there on the label. ‘Pueblo Chile’ is its formal name.
Vanatta characterizes the wine as “semi-sweet with a lot more pepper flavor.” It’s also a wine, he said, that seems to have found an instant fan base, selling out its first press- ing in a matter of days. “Everybody was very surprised,” he said of the new vintage. “It’s not as spicy as people expect.”
Vanatta said when the Pueblo wine was first introduced, he wasn’t sure how it would be received. “When we would do tastings,” he recalled, “they’d sample the chile wine and turn to their friends and say, ‘You have to try this!’
Vanatta learned winemaking following a short stint in Wyoming where he attended college and dabbled in the distillery business. But wine, not whiskey, is where he’s making his mark.
To date, the Fremont County winery has produced about four barrels of the Pueblo Chile line. Each barrel can produce approximately 53 bottles of wine. A bottle of Pueblo Chile wine is the standard 750 liters and “we sell them for about $25 a bottle.”
While Fremont County is right in the middle of Colorado’s ‘banana belt,’ so called because of its temperate winters, it’s not so temperate that a great grape crop can be grown. To fill in the grape gap, the winery must import a lot of its grapes from the western slope and Palisades, where most of the state’s grape crop is grown. As a result, “We won’t have another batch until September or October.”
Like any new product, Vanatta didn’t want to produce more than could be sold. And while sales have surprised, very little of the early pressing remains. But, he said, a few bottles might be found at select liquor stores in Pueblo or Colorado Springs.
Vanatta said reviews have been good for the new wine which, he suggested, goes best with “fish tacos or street tacos, anything with a little bit of spice, especially Mexican food.”
He describes the new creation as “definitely a white wine, a traditional white with a little bit of golden color.” So far, he said, the only criticism about the wine has come from people who don’t like spicy food.
For anyone interested in a day trip to Penrose and a visit to Brush Hollow Winery, Vanatta said it’s an easy drive. He said from Denver, take I-25 to Colorado Springs to Highway 115 and you’ll arrive in about 90 minutes. Once there, the winery offers tastings of any of its unique offer- ings. It also sells other items including its own line of pas- tas, vinegar, soaps and candles. The tasting room, however, is only open on Saturdays.
For those curious about Pueblo Chile wine but prefer not to drive, Vanatta said Brush Hollow Winery ships across the country. You can visit its website at brushhollowwinery.com.
