Although this region doesn’t have the name recognition of Napa Valley or Tuscany, it does have the optimal soil, desert climate — hot days, cool nights — and ability to control water through irrigation that creates ideal conditions for grape growers with the mettle to handle the threat of freezes and intense sun common at altitude, said Stephen Menke, Colorado State University associate professor of enology and the state enologist at the Western Colorado Research Station in Grand Junction.

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