Challenge Accepted At Yellow Car Country Wines In Cortez, CO

The alternate title to this post? That time I tried 43 different wine varieties to write my name on a patio.

Yes. It is I, Shae Pepper, master of fruit wines, grape wines and meads of all kinds! We went to Mesa Verde National Park while we were in Farmington, NM. It didn’t quite go how we’d hoped, so we looked for alternate fun nearby. I googled a few possible options and we settled on Yellow Car Country Wines because of their wide selection of meads.

Having had honey mead in Ireland a few times and a cherry mead in Enterprise, Alabama, I was excited when I saw ~10 different types of mead to try. Little did I know that I was about to presented with a challenge that I just couldn’t pass up.

When you arrive at Yellow Car Country Wines in Cortez, CO you’re greeted by Khloe – one of the resident pups. She’ll come right up to your car so a) be careful when pulling in or out and b) be prepared especially if you have a pup with you. We had Truffles and did a little meet and greet with them and then we followed our four-pawed hostess to the wine tasting patio.

We met our host, Jim and his wife Jean. They also have a business partner (Susan), but it’s clear that this is Jim’s passion. He just tries out different ideas he has. Some work. Some don’t. But there’s something for everyone with 44 different wines available. The only one that wasn’t available on our visit was the Afternoon Tea mead.

As we sat and learned more about the team and operation at Yellow Car, I asked about the names on the patio.

Jim explained that if you try all 44 (43) varieties you get to write your name on the post. Well, if that’s not a challenge I don’t know what it is! It was only 3pm. Plenty of time and I had Stephen as my designated driver. I told Jim… Count me in!

It was a fun afternoon filled with laughter, stories, tasty wines and unique combinations. The patio area is really lovely and Jim has ways to heat and cool it depending on the weather so we were comfortable all afternoon and evening. Truffles and Khloe soon became tired of my antics and caught pup on their snoozles respectively.

Here are a few highlights from the tasting. You get to try a few at a time – they’re marked and placed in the ideal tasting order. Stephen did one small tasting and I sipped each of his options. One that I was really curious about was the chocolate mint mead. It doesn’t look anything like chocolate or mint or even mead. But it tasted just like a Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie.

Jim brought out something special he was working on. A slushie using the Apple Cinnamon wine. It was really tasty and would be a great evening treat on a warm fall evening.

Now, to try them all, means to try them all. I don’t care for coffee but I was in for a penny, in for a pound at this point. So I tried the My Morning Coffee mead. My face isn’t directed at the efforts of Jim but solely at my dislike of coffee in general.

As the evening went on and the sun set another couple joined us and it was nice to just relax on the patio, get to know them, share our stories and hear theirs.

Finally, I did it. I tried them all and was able to write my name on the patio. As you can see the patio is unfinished so maybe Jim will cover up my achievement one day, but it was still really fun to try all his options. My runaway favorite was the Merry Orange Berry wine which is a mix of orange with strawberry, blueberry and raspberry. There was something about it that was nostalgic for me and I bought a bottle to share with my family when they visited.

By the time I came to put my autograph on the wall of shame… uh fame… my penmanship wasn’t what it should’ve been. It says “Thanks for the Memories and No Worries.” There was a sign on the patio behind me which is where I got my inspiration since it perfectly summed up our night time at Yellow Car Country Wines.

Thank you to Jim, Jean and Susan for providing such a fun experience. If you find yourself near Mesa Verde for a visit or driving through Cortez, CO, stop in and see the team and give Khloe a kiss for me. That crazy lady from No Home Just Roam that tried all 4(3) varieties that one time.