Mountain Spirit Winery

News from our wine club, the Angels!

For a limited time, you can still enjoy our extremely popular "super-saver" discounts as a member of Colorado's premier wine club.  With our Angels' discount policy, through the end of March, Angels can purchase bottles of cases of the wines in our current shipment (Cabernet Sauvignon and Cherry/Apple Bluch) and receive a 25% discount off all bottles and 30% discount of any order of twelve or more bottles. 

If you choose to order a mixed case, you'll receive the 30% off these two wines and the usual 20% Angels discount off the other bottles.

It is completely free to become an Angel wine club member, and you can find more information by clicking on this link:  Mountain Spirit Winery Wine Club You'll need to contact the winery directly to sign up.  That way we can guarantee that we get all the information we need to send you our very best wines!

Mike and Terry

A new puppy in our lives!

Terry and I must have had one too many glasses of Chardonnay when we came up with this idea.  It sounded so good at the time.

No, just kidding.  For those of you who haven't visited us at the gallery or the winery in the last several weeks, we have just recently become the parents of a too cute little AussiePoo, an australian shepherd puppy.  Sophie is just the sweetest little thing. 

Terry and I traveled to Virginia to pick her up from the most outstanding dog breeder we've ever interacted with, and brought our sweet new pup home just this week.  She was simply a great traveler and an even greater addition to our lives.

Terry and I both feel 30 years younger, that is when we manage to sleep through the night. 

When I get the chance I'll post some pics of our new little furry daughter for your viewing pleasure. 

And in a few days, I promise I'll get back on topic.  More wine news to come!

Mike B.

My newest and incredibly sweet granddaughter!

Hey everyone!  I just have to share this bit of totally non-wine related news with you.  My daughter and her husband, Summer and Andrew Ritchie, the owners of the Twisted Cork Cafe in Salida, CO, have just welcomed their sweet little daughter Olive Jane into their lives.  Olive was born in late September, and both momma and baby are doing great.

I'm still trying to convince Summer to let me include a picture of little Olive on this blog.  But just imagine a sweet innocent bundle of sunshine wrapped up in love and beauty, and you can picture our newest granddaughter!

Needless to say, I've only just recently been able to give our wine the focus they need to grow and mature into the wonderous creation we call Mountain Spirit Wines.  But, like anything worth waiting for, the wines are coming along nicely and with much promise.

Take care everyone.  Terry and I hope you are taking the time to enjoy your family!

Mike Barkett

“Wine brings to light the hidden secrets of the soul.”

“Wine brings to light the hidden secrets of the soul.”

                         Horace  (65 B.C.E.)

It’s hard to believe summer is almost over---hope yours has been great so far.  It’s almost time for grape harvest, or “crush” as it is affectionately known.  It usually starts the first week in September, and continues until mid to late October.

It’s the busiest and most exciting time at the winery, and we always welcome our Angels to take part in this adventure. We usually have only 2-3 days advance notice that a certain variety of grapes are at the maximum ripeness (determined by sugar and acid readings taken in the field) and ready for hand-picking in Colorado’s Grande Valley. 

If you’d like to come down to watch or even help with a crush, call the winery (719-539-1175) and we will be able to give you an update on expected crush dates.  Remember with all the open equipment and the excitement, crush time is not a good time for children to visit.

Be good friends, and stop by to see our new wines be born!

Mike and Terry

In the Middle of a Wine making Storm!

Terry and I are up to our necks in wine!  What a wonderful position to be in, I know.  But sometimes it feels a bit like drowning.  Several of our wines have come to age in the tanks and are now ready to be bottled.  We've already run through two major bottlings and the Chardonnay is nearly ready to go as well.  The Chardonnay's red cousin, Merlot, will be headed to the bottles soon thereafter.  Certainly seems like enough to keep us busy for a bit.

On a side note, our twin grandsons are having a birthday this week!  We'll be traveling up to Denver to see them.  Always a sweet visit playing with those rough and tumble fellas.  But, boy, do they leave me worn out.

What's a winemaker to do?

Good time to enjoy a glass of Angel Blush, wouldn't you say?

Be well everyone!

Mike

Virtual Winery Tour on YouTube!

Mike Duffy over at the Winery Website Report gave me yet another good piece of advice.  He saw Mike's video tour of Mountain Spirit Winery and said we should post it over on YouTube. 

A bit of uploading later, and voila!  You can now see Mountain Spirit Winery's YouTube debut.  Just head over to YouTube and run a quick search for Mountain Spirit Winery to find part one of our virtual winery tour.

I'm hoping to post part two by the beginning of next week.  I figure I've left you all hanging long enough.

Be good!

Darren

Welcome to our Virtual Winery Tour of Mountain Spirit Winery

Alright, let's give this virtual winery tour a try!  I've been busy editing this video for Mike, my dad, and I'm excited to see how it turns out. 

For those of you who don't know, I own Creative eMarketing Solutions, the company that provides all of Mountain Spirit Winery's online marketing.  This includes their blogging, optimizing their website for the search engines, and various other ways of enhancing Mountain Spirit Winery's online presence.

This summer my family and I visited my folks, and Mike and I decided to take a little digital video of him touring around the winery.  Below you'll find part one, a good introduction to the winery.  Part two will come a little later, showing how Mike takes the wine from the grape to the labeled bottle.

Enjoy!

Technical Difficulties, please stand by...

Well, we wanted to get our special running this week, but we're having a bit of difficult with our shopping cart.  We expect this thing to spread like wildfire once we release it, so we want to make sure that everything's in working order before letting the cat out of the bag.

We're in direct communication with our shopping cart vendor and hope to have things ironed out by the end of this weekend.  So stay posted.  If you've ordered wine from us before, this special will be unlike any special you've ever encountered.  If you've never had the distinct pleasure of our wines, this is a great opportunity to become a believer!

Take care everyone.  Check back soon!

Mike

The latest happenings at the winery

We are very excited to be able to offer personalized wine labels on several of MSW’s award-winning wines.  Terry can create labels to celebrate weddings, reunions, birthdays, new arrivals, anniversaries, parties,  or any of your special events.  These can even include photographs of “the happy couple, the new baby”, or whatever you choose.  Some of our local businesses (real estate, auto sales, banks) are using these as thank-yous for their customers, putting their logo on the label with a message of thanks.  It’s also a great method of advertising.  If you are interested simply contact Terry by e mail:  barkett@mountainspiritwinery.com, and let her create something you will love.

Chardonnay Without Oak??

Non-oaked Chardonnay has received a big play in the wine media lately.  Although all of us at MSW prefer some oak in our Chard, we decided to take a small amount of our excellent 2003 Reserve Chardonnay and process it without any exposure to our oak barrels.  The flavor is surprisingly delicious and we will be bottling about 50 cases of this MSW “first” on January 26, and the wine should be available to try by March.  Fifty cases is too few a supply to send for a shipment to all of our Angel Club Members; however, if you want to try this one either come by the tasting room or order some from the MSW web site in about 6 weeks. We’ll keep you posted on the popularity of this one.

Special Super Saver Angels Discounts Continue

We are continuing our very popular special “super-saver” Angels discount policy.  Through February and March, Angels can purchase bottles (or cases) of the wines in this shipment (Blackberry/Chardonnay and Blackberry/Cabernet Franc) and receive a 25% discount off all bottles and 30% off any order of twelve or more bottles.  If you choose to purchase a mixed case, you’ll receive the 30% off these two wines and the usual 20% Angels discount off the other bottles.  Thanks for being one of our Angels.  And if you want information about how to become a member of our Angel Club, leave us a comment or check the website at http://www.mountainspiritwinery.com for more information.

Peace and love to you all!