Our hearts are full. Mine is overflowing because I just left my dream wine pairing farm-to-table outdoor dinner on a Colorado vineyard. And Sterling said the same words yesterday as we arrived into the calm of the country roads near Paonia while watching the remaining glimpses of the congestion and traffic of the Colorado Front Range fade away in our rear view mirror.
What First Brought Us to Paonia, Colorado
This is our third trip here to Paonia, Colorado. We’ve made the four-hour road trip from Denver every year since we found it in summer of 2020. Today we pondered what even brought us out here the first time. Road trips were all the rage in 2020, weren’t they? After so much had been closed during the pandemic, Sterling and I decided our 2020 Summer would be outside in our beautiful state. Brainstorming new uncongested destinations made me think outside of the box of where we had camped or visited before. And somehow, in my AirBnB search that year, I found a small town to stay in Western Colorado that just happened to be secluded and beautiful. And…there were vineyards. And tasting rooms. And they happened to be flanked by the backdrops of snowcapped mountains towering over green valleys and mountain rivers. Who could blame us for falling love? We found a place so special that we want to pinch ourselves every time we come here.
So now we are in year three of visiting here. We packed up ourselves up with our dog, Max. He loves Paonia, too. There are hiking trails, creeks and dog friendly wineries so he gives it five paws. When we come here, it’s almost as if we sneak away. We don’t even tell many people where we’re headed. We kind of don’t want anyone to know about it. It’s hard to explain, but it’s just a special place. It’s where Sterling, Max and I go to fill up again.
How Our Paonia Adventure Started
We left Denver yesterday in a late May winter storm with freezing temperatures. And this was late May. We’re one week to Memorial Day and I’m covering up all the plants in my garden that I just planted on Mother’s Day weekend with every pot, bowl and tarp I can find in the house two hours before we headed out. We almost cancelled the trip because even in Paonia, they were having rain and abnormally cold temps. But, we didn’t. We knew that a cold weekend in Paonia would be better than cold one in Denver.
And we had the extra incentive of pre-purchased tickets to a this fabulous wine pairing outdoor dining experience at Storm Cellars Winery. I had been watching the nail biter weather forecast all week for this outdoor dinner. It went from a forecasted high of 50 degrees and rainy to finally looking fairly clear and a temp I could deal with for an outside dinner.
Saturday started out with a walk around town with the dog near the AirBnB where we were staying. We stopped at Sweet Grass and had breakfast on their patio while the sun had just started shining. We kept walking checking out all that this little town had to offer and grabbed lattes at Espresso Coffee Shop. Next on the agenda was a hike. It was a half hour drive over to Dark Canyon Trail. Here, we hiked for 2 ½ hours along the Anthracite Creek up to where the two rivers converge (North Anthracite Creek and Middle Anthracite Creek). It made for a 5 mile round trip trek, a tired dog and two tired humans who had to soon get themselves ready for our farm-to-table outdoor dinner event at Storm Cellars.
The Outdoor Dinner Experience
As you know from the outdoor dinner experiences we create in our backyard garden at home, I love any farm-to-table experience and want to be a part of anything loosely related to it! There is something about home-grown food being served in nature in a beautiful setting that just speaks to me. Then, you pair that with wine and this has ‘win-win’ written all over it!
When we arrived at The Storm Cellars Winery and I saw the farm table set up and the amazing mountain views in the background, my heart soared with excitement. It was so fun to sit down with all the guests and chat about where they were from and how they found out about this. We were greeted with a welcome cocktail and we down and got comfortable.
The owners and sommeliers of Storm Cellars, Steve and Jayme, greeted everyone and gave a toast to open the farm-to-table dining experience. They introduced The Forage Sisters who were the chefs and created the vegetarian menu we were about to eat. They prepared everything on outdoor grills and cooktops and a team of servers delivered the courses to our table.
It was an unforgettable farm-to-table dinner filled with good food, wine and meeting new people against a beautiful Colorado sunset. We can’t wait to attend the next one!
