NORTH FORK OF THE GUNNISON RIVER VALLEY
West Elks AVA

Redstone Vineyard
Mountain vineyards provide unique challenges, far greater than for lower elevation vineyards. At Redstone Vineyard near Paonia, spring comes later, and late spring frosts can be a threat well into June.

Afternoons and evenings are cooler than in Palisade. The sun shines with greater intensity. The vines yield less fruit. Yet, all of these factors combine to produce concentrated wines of great character.

Plum Creek’s Redstone Vineyard is truly spectacular. Situated 6,000 feet above sea level it offers majestic vistas of the North Fork Valley to the south and West Elk Mountains to the east.

The vineyard is located on a small, easterly outlier of Sunshine Mesa overlooking Colorado Highway 135 to the south between Hotchkiss and Paonia. Redstone Vineyard has a somewhat undulating 3 percent south-to-southwesterly surface gradient dropping off steeply on three sides to the valley floor 200 feet below.

The arable acres were planted in 1987, originally 27 acres in Chardonnay and 3 acres in Pinot Noir. The vines produced their first commercial crop in 1990. In 2005 the 3-acre Pinot Noir site was replanted in Riesling.