Ray Duncan: wine lovers know him as the proprietor of silver oak, but it's just one of several successful enterprises for the oilman and rancher.

• Author: Ryckman, Lisa

Ray Duncan's life work has been pumped into barrels and poured into bottles. It's been up on the mountain and down on the ranch.

People make fortunes trading paper, but that's not Duncan's style. At 81, the founder of Duncan Oil Inc., might be considered a professor emeritus of the "Can I go see it, and can we build it?" school of business.

"The wine business, the ski business, ranching - they're tangible assets and tangible business," says Kevin Duncan, one of Ray's lour sons. "The depth and breadth of his business achievements speak for themselves; they're so wide and varied."

Oil and gas, bison ranching, skiing, wine-making: Over the years, Duncan has created thriving businesses out of them all. But ask about his greatest accomplishment, and he'll tell you there isn't one.

He's a self-described small businessman who just did what made him happy.

"I've enjoyed the oil and gas exploration tremendously, and I enjoy the wine business tremendously," Duncan says. "I'm very proud of our ski area down in Durango, and I love our ranch property in Northern Colorado."

Originally from Illinois, Raymond Twomey Duncan graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1952 and moved to Durango six years later. Oil and gas exploration was his main business - he was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Hall of Fame in 2004 - but certainly not his only one.

"All kinds of different things come from hard work and keeping your eyes open," Duncan says. "And being in the right place at the right time."

Case in point: An avid skier, Duncan found himself living in the early '60s in a part of Colorado with no resort. There was, however, a first-class mountain nearby. So Duncan co-founded Durango Ski Corp. and Purgatory Ski Resort, which opened in 1966.

Duncan eventually became...