Above: one of the Twin Lakes, a shot I took about 15 minutes before reaching the village of Twin Lakes near Leadville, CO.
The beauty of Colorado leaves me speechless. Yesterday I crossed the Continental Divide (also known as the Great Divide) as I made my way from Boulder to Aspen. The awe-inspiring landscapes fill one’s soul with wonderment and marvel. The expanse of the horizon and the power of nature — and the accompanying introspection — puts a lot into emotional perspective.
Above: it had snowed earlier in the day in and around Aspen. I took this shot about 5 minutes before reaching the Continental Divide.
As I travel through these (for me) uncharted landscapes, I’m feeling a little like Lemuel Gulliver. And my arrival in Aspen brought even more wonderment. When I happened upon The Grog Shop, the town’s standby wine and spirits shop, it occurred to me that there is perhaps no other place in the U.S. where bottles of Haut-Brion and Gaja — ranging from $250 to $600 apiece — are displayed six-deep on the store’s shelves.
Seems that they live well on this side of the divide.
The Grog Shop
710 E Durant Ave #1
Aspen, CO 81611
(970) 925-3000
In other news…
While browsing all the wines I cannot afford at the antithetically named Grog Shop, I couldn’t resist picking up a copy of The Wine Spectator’s “pizza issue.” I liked Harvey Steinman’s coverage of pizza in the U.S. but I was disappointed to see that the editors included only one Italian wine in the 75+ wines featured in their “Value Reds to Serve with Pizza” sidebar. It’s just as well: Italians generally serve beer with pizza (I have to confess, however, that one of my guilty pleasures is Nebbiolo and pepperoni pizza).
Earlier this year, I did a post on New York City pizzerie, including a few pizzaioli omitted by the Spectator.
In other other news…
The Aspen Food & Wine Classic officially begins tonight with the kick-off party… stay tuned…
Those pictures make me miss my home state & glad I’ll be there in a couple weeks. Looks like a great trip.
-Troy
Vine Wine, LIC, NY
“only one Italian wine” I thought this to be rather strange as well.
Tim, thanks for the comment. The funny thing is that Harvey actually mentions an Italian wine on the opposing page… Lambrusco.
Troy, Colorado is truly awesome… in so many ways… The night I was at Frasca (a pretty fancy joint), a guy walked in a bathing suit and flip flops and Bobby Stuckey didn’t miss a beat… “Two for dinner?” he said. They have a really great thing going in Boulder. Bruce told me that a seventh master sommelier will be heading there soon.
As much as I like German wine, to recommend more German wine to go with Pizza than Italian is mystifying…