Colorado wine industry faces challenges.

• Author: Robbins, Claude

If I walked up to you at a wine bar and said, "I had a great wine from, oh, something valley." Would you think Napa, Grand or Elk?

I'm betting on Napa Valley, an appellation with far more name recognition than Grand or Elk valleys (both located in Colorado).

Name recognition is just one challenge facing the Colorado wine industry over the next decade; but it's not the most critical challenge.

First on my list of challenges would be the availability of wine.

Having more wine available means increasing production in an industry where the ability to produce wine is currently quite small. Even though Colorado is the 10th largest producer in the country, the industry consists of a group of boutique wineries.

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To increase wine availability would mean putting more land into grape production. However, this requires more water, and water is always at a premium in Colorado. Water will ultimately dictate how large the wine industry will grow in Colorado.

After availability comes image, which I will divide into two challenges: credibility and name recognition.

In the modern world, a wine choice is often based on what someone else has to say about the wine--usually in the form of a score from 84 to 100 points. To many wine enthusiasts credibility is created when a wine is reviewed. However, the national press won't review a wine that doesn't have national distribution (or at least distribution in the 10 largest markets). For national distribution, a winery needs fairly large production and a positive image.

Many Coloradans tried Colorado wines five or more years ago. Their reaction was to never try another one. This is another major credibility issue. Colorado wines have changed a great deal in the past five years, and there are many new producers. The industry cannot build a credible image outside the state if it doesn't have one inside the state. Fortunately, this is achievable without increasing production.

The other component of image, name recognition, is also critical to growing a local wine industry. We cannot build positive name recognition until the public and more professionals recognize Colorado appellations as quality growing areas. This also applies to producers. How many Colorado estates or wineries can you name? There are at least a dozen that have received national or international acclaim for their wines.

As wine has increased in popularity across the U.S., there also has been an increased interest in "local"...