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A man who knows wine

Enologist Menke counsels Colorado's vintners

By Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 11, 2008 at 4:08 a.m.
Updated March 11, 2008 at 6:43 a.m.

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Stephen Menke second from left, talks to members of Creekside Cellars, from left, owner Bill Donahue, winemaker Michelle Cleveland and Donahue's son, Jim Donahue. Menke, an enologist, is visiting the state's 65 wineries with the goal of improving Colorado winemaking and developing the industry.

Photo by Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Stephen Menke second from left, talks to members of Creekside Cellars, from left, owner Bill Donahue, winemaker Michelle Cleveland and Donahue's son, Jim Donahue. Menke, an enologist, is visiting the state's 65 wineries with the goal of improving Colorado winemaking and developing the industry.

Wine glasses are displayed at Evergreen's Creekside Cellars winery, which produces about 3,500 cases a year.

Photo by Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Wine glasses are displayed at Evergreen's Creekside Cellars winery, which produces about 3,500 cases a year.

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Raising a glass of the 2006 Creekside Cellars Chardonnay, Colorado's official winemaking guru savors what he's tasting.

"I like the direction you're going with this," Steve Menke tells the winery's owner and winemaker, seated at a table with him. "I like the overall balance."

Creekside owner Bill Donahue pours a glass of his 2006 Viognier. Then, he utters a confession.

"We learned a lot from this particular bottle of wine," he tells Menke, who's sitting at the same table in Creekside's popular cafe here.

Donahue is a stickler for quality. For his taste, the wine has suffered from oxidation - a process in which oxygen changes the wine's chemical makeup and taste. While Menke downplays the impact, Donahue is disappointed. The wine, he notes, was "delicious" when it was bottled.

"We're baring our souls," Donahue tells Menke.

Menke is part winemaking evangelist, part winemaking consultant and part winemaking scientist - not to mention a man who loves to pair good wine with food.

Officially, Menke, who is based in Grand Junction, is the state's first full-time consulting winemaker, or enologist. His tasks: Work with Colorado's 65 wineries to help solve problems and serve as an information clearinghouse.

He'll offer workshops for winemakers, for example, on topics such as analyzing wines through smell and taste as well as chemical analysis.

He'll also teach enology at Colorado State University. And Menke will put Colorado's grapes and its dry, high-altitude climate under a microscope to learn how the two affect winemaking here.

"He'll be able to develop his own answers that are unique to Colorado," says Doug Caskey, executive director of the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, a state agency.

Menke, who held similar jobs in Pennsylvania and Illinois, puts his goal this way: "See if I can help (winemakers) transition from good wines to great wines."

He hopes to get Colorado winemakers to better understand and talk about how their wines pair with food - a concept Creekside Cellar already has been espousing for its wines and port. The wine and food pairings can help market the wines.

"You build a wine culture and a food culture together," says Menke. "Every wine area of the world that has become renowned has done that."

Menke's job is somewhat unusual. According to the trade publication Wines & Vines, Colorado is among just a half-dozen states with an official enologist.

Menke's position is bankrolled 50-50 - by CSU on one side, and by the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board and the Rocky Mountain Association of Vintners and Viticulturists on the other.

The state enologist program has a $100,000 annual budget, the bulk of which goes toward Menke's salary.

Mike Fisher, partner with Global Wine Partners - an investment banking and financial consulting company serving the wine industry - says a state enologist "makes a lot of sense."

"If you've got a lot of people making wine, it's nice to have a clearinghouse," says Fisher, whose firm is based in California's Napa Valley. "You have some unique conditions in Colorado."

Winemakers here like the idea. "It's somebody you can make a phone call to and ask a question," says Parker Carlson, owner of Carlson Vineyards in Palisade.

Menke has begun visiting the state's winemakers. Last week, he spent several hours at Creekside Cellars. The week before he visited Carlson Vineyards.

In particular, he plans to delve into the wineries' histories, the winemakers' motivations, where the wines are now and the wineries' technologies.

With a clipboard and pen in hand, Menke is busy here at Creekside Cellars asking questions and taking notes.

What, for example, was Donahue's original vision when launching Creekside? Where does Donahue see himself five years from now? How much business is the winery getting?

"We're very busy," responds Donahue, who began winemaking as a hobby in the early 1980s. The winery makes about 3,500 cases a year. "We intend to keep it small."

They also discuss Creekside's winemaking techniques and how the winery manages its Western Slope vineyards.

After meeting in the winery's cellar, surrounded by barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and port, Donahue and Creekside's winemaker, Michelle Cleveland, take Menke on a tour. They show him the fermentation tanks and their new computerized grape press, about the size of a large car.

"This is a little bit more of a Cadillac variety," says Menke, pointing to the press. "You're getting a little bit gentler of an extraction."

Then it's back to the adjoining cafe to taste the wines and to pair them with food. A server brings a wooden platter covered with imported cheeses, meats, stuffed grape leaves, grilled vegetables and olives.

Nibbling an olive, Menke sips Creekside's 2005 Merlot. "This Merlot works really well," says Menke. "It's doing some wonderful things with the food."

Menke also likes the way the winery's 2003 Robusto "plays with the food," noting the "back and forth" between the big red wine and blue cheese.

Cleveland, the winemaker, agrees: "They keep playing off each other."

"Now we're having fun," continues Menke, in between nibbles of food and sips of wine. "But we're just as good in our analysis (of the wines). We're finding new things to talk about."

fillionr@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2467

Steve Menke

* Age: 58

* New jobs: Colorado's state winemaking consultant, or enologist; associate professor, Colorado State University

* Education: B.S. in agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan; Ph.D. in biochemistry/molecular biology from the University of Wyoming; postdoctoral work on grape disease at the University of Arizona

* Previous experience: Manager/assistant winemaker at Sonoita Vineyards in Elgin, Ariz.; enology specialist at the University of Illinois; statewide extension enology educator for Pennsylvania State University

CSU's new winemaking curriculum

* Professor: Steve Menke

* Department: Horticulture and Landscape Architecture

* Courses: Enology I, Enology II

* Topics covered: The science of winemaking; the wines of the world, including grapes used, wine styles and regional differences; starting a winery as a business

* When courses begin: Spring 2008

* Possible future class: Sensory analysis of wine, based on aroma and taste

Comments

  • March 11, 2008

    8:53 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    airbornebigfoot writes:

    thats just perfect. the state of colorado has hired a professional
    wino?
    And their paying him a hundred grand a year?
    has the entire freakin state lost there mind?
    whats next? a pro weed taster?
    its really time to clean out the capitol building and start over.
    The whole country is headed for economic collapse,
    and colorado has hired a pro-wino.
    Does he also get a "get out of jail free" card for all the D.U.I's
    he is bound to accumulate?

  • March 11, 2008

    9:33 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Denver2050 writes:

    Airbornebigfoot, I'm glad you're not the person making decisions.

    If this guy can help Colorado perform better in the wine industry, that $100,000/year investment will easily pay for itself. Wine isn't like wheat or corn. Quality and marketing are crucial. If quality and marketing improvements improve demand and support higher prices per bottle, the end result will be millions in additional revenue for western slope wine makers.

    How much benefit the move delivers depends on this particular person though. In theory, it could produce great benefits but theory is different from execution.