Drink Colorado wine

Foodies have their cool term for eating local (locavore, the 2007 word of the year, according to Oxford), meaning winos deserve one too. Recently, the word locapour has started to gain some traction. The general meaning being you drink the vino of the region (set a radius that makes sense for you).

The idea being a locapour, much like a locavore, is supporting local farmers, the economy and, in theory, better environmental practices by cutting down on shipping routes.

Easy if your home address is followed by 95476. If you live in Bangor, Maine, not so much.

Being a locapour in Colorado falls somewhere in between on the feasibility scale. With more than 70 vineyards and wineries in operation (almost all grape production comes from the Western Slope), it's difficult to find a liquor store that doesn't sell at least a few bottles of local wine. There are some stellar releases, but we fall short in vintage and collectible categories and don't offer every wine variety, meaning a true aficionado will have to reach outside the borders.

And that's not a bad thing as variety is key component to enjoying everything from wine to skiing.

So we offer official ColoradoWino.com guidelines for calling yourself a Colorado locapour:

1. At least a one-third of your wine selections (bottle purchases and restaurant ordering) are from either Colorado or New Mexico producers (there's some solid sparkling wines coming out of our neighbor to the south).

2. You must know the two official Colorado AVAs and other key areas (coming soon)

3. You must tell your friends that you like Colorado wine. In public.

That's it.

Not so bad, right?

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