From gridiron to grapes, John Elway’s journey continues

7CELLARS PIVOTS AND CONTINUES TO GROW WINE BRAND

By Joe Ross
John Elway learned to think on the fly as an NFL quarterback. When things looked insurmountable, he’d call an audible to help move his team down the field. Jump forward to 2020 and Elway and his team at 7Cellars figured out a way to outsmart the defense – in this case COVID-19.

The Denver-based wine company shifted marketing efforts and began pushing its lineup of moderately priced products online, oftentimes with free shipping. Up to 50 percent of the brand was moving online, and more people were putting 7Cellars in their glasses.

“It’s all about our team and how they work together,” Elway says. “We want to build the (brand) for the long term, like every team I’ve been a part of.”

To launch 7Cellars, Elway’s executives included Robert Mondavi Jr., as well as 30-year business partner Jeff Sperbeck. Dan Foster serves as president.

A fourth-generation wine maker, Mondavi Jr.’s family has produced award-winning wines in the Napa Valley since the 1960s.

Working with Mondavi Jr. to create a wine brand seemed to be a perfect fit after the success Elway had with Elway’s restaurants, located in Cherry Creek, downtown Denver, Denver International Airport and Vail.

Last year, when restaurants were closed and unable to sell wine, Sperbeck said the online push began. That was accompanied by adding more liquor stores and outlets such as Costco to the distribution list. “COVID definitely slowed the process,” Sperbeck says. “But when one door closes, another one opens.”

Although up to 80 percent of the wine was sold in Colorado just two years ago, nationwide shipping also has increased out-of-state sales tremendously, Sperbeck adds.

7Cellars offers the Elway Reserve, which hit the market in 2015 with a cabernet sauvignon and a chardonnay. That was followed up with a lower price point: The Farm Collection, which includes a cab, a chardonnay and a pinot noir. The Farm Collection references Elway’s playing days at Stanford University, which has carried the nickname The Farm since the school’s inception. “We have the right price and a great product,” Elway says, which has resulted in a winning combination.

Elway says Broncos head coach Vic Fangio was one of the first from the Broncos to give the thumbs up to 7Cellars cabernet sauvignon. “Vic’s a wine drinker,” he says, “He likes to eat meatballs and he says they go great with the cab.”

Additionally, “every one of the varietals gives to a cause,” he points out. Elway and 7Cellars recently donated funds to Team Rubicon, which trains and deploys veterans to help out in areas where disasters such as hurricanes have taken place.

7Cellars also has teamed up with OneHope, which provides charitable funds to organizations around the world.

As for the future, 7Cellars plans to open a tasting room this summer in Rutherford, California, in the Napa Valley. In addition, Elway says 7Cellars is exploring the spirits scene and could produce a whiskey soon.

Peyton Manning Brings His Talents to Colorado (Again)

Sweetens Cove Bourbon is Not Your Average Celebrity Spirit

By Jay McKinney

When Peyton Manning announced he would be signing with the Broncos in 2012, it sent a wave of enthusiasm across the state and rejuvenated the team’s loyal fan base. But since his reign of excellence on the football field has ended, Manning has found a new way to dominate with his recent venture into the bourbon industry.

With the first release sold in only Tennessee and Georgia, Sweetens Cove bourbon is now available in Colorado, and it is more than just another trendy celebrity spirit. It’s won over Manning fans and bourbon aficionados alike, with renowned distiller Marianne Eaves appointed as the master blender. Aside from being a tasty libation, the interesting story of how the bourbon came to be sets it apart from Manning’s other mainstream endorsements.

It started at Sweetens Cove Golf Club, a dinky nine-hole public course outside of Chattanooga, Tenn. Despite lacking a lavish clubhouse or even a paved parking lot, the humble property has amassed a cult following and lured a notable team to purchase the course. The ownership group includes Manning and tennis great Andy Roddick, who both fell in love with this hidden gem. 

So, what makes this discrete golf course so legendary that it inspired a $200 bottle of bourbon? Tradition. One that even resonated with Manning, who is a self-proclaimed beer drinker and does not pretend to be a connoisseur of bourbon, despite this new partnership.  

“This tradition was kind of going on and it just sort of started organically. Before people were doing their first golf shot at Sweetens Cove, they were doing a shot of whiskey on the first tee and leaving the bottle,” Manning says. The bottles would be left for other groups to enjoy or even the maintenance staff, and they began to pile up quickly through this pay-it-forward tradition.

With this pre-shot routine, the idea was born to create a bourbon that paid homage to the golf course that so many have fallen in love with. And while the tradition will surely live on at the golf course, those who purchase a bottle of Sweetens Cove will likely want to keep it for their personal bars rather than gift it to someone else after a few shots.

Photo Credit: From the Hip Photo

The first release in 2020 was a limited edition of about 14,000 bottles sourced from 100 barrels in Kentucky, and blended by Eaves. The 2021 release will be more accessible as it makes its way into other states, but it is still a premium product blended from bourbons aged 4, 6 and 16 years.

“My hope for Sweetens Cove, the ultra, hyper-premium product is that it creates a new experience every time you taste it,” Eaves says. “It’s layered, you know lots of nuances and complexities and hopefully you’re getting a little bit of everything that we love about bourbon. A lot of people talk about the pieces of the pie, the sweet aromatics, the fruit and floral, the oak characteristics, the grain characteristics, so I want all of those to be present in the product that we present.”

The high-quality, limited quantity bourbon is different from typical spirits endorsed by celebrities, making it nearly impossible for critics to write off.

“I thought football critics were tough, but bourbon critics are really tough,” Manning jokes. “The people that really know it seem to like it.”

Despite his dedication to drinking beer, it is clear that Manning is proud of this product. The former Tennessee Volunteer loves the parallel between the hidden treasure of Sweetens Cove Golf Club and Sweetens Cove bourbon, which isn’t mass-produced and requires some diligent searching to acquire. 

Jay McKinney is a Colorado native who recently graduated from Metro State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He loves spending time outdoors, playing golf and hiking.

Peachy in Palisade — the history of Colorado's most alluring fruit

The famed Western Slope orchards have been growing for more than a century

By Steve Graham

It all started with a letter to an Iowa farmer. Talbott’s Farm grows some of Colorado’s most coveted fruit, and crafts plenty of hard cider and wine. And the whole operation began 114 years ago with a letter.

Before TV advertising and Facebook campaigns, land developers on the Western Slope tried to attract buyers by sending letters directly to Iowa farmers. Joseph Evan Yeager was one of those grain farmers, attracted by the promise of better weather and rich alluvial soils.

He was among a wave of rural Iowans who settled in the Grand Valley. Yeager’s 5th generation descendent Bruce Talbott said at least half of the Palisade population was originally from Iowa, inspiring an Iowa Street in town, and Iowa Day celebrations in Grand Junction in the early 1900s.

Yeager moved to Palisade and started growing peaches and other fruit in 1907. The Talbott family married into the Yeager family and more than a century later, the family now oversees a 550-acre operation that includes the Talbott’s Mountain Gold orchards and wine vineyards, as well as Talbott’s Cider Company, Centennial Cellars wines, and a popular line of sweet ciders and juices.

Talbott’s has the largest orchards in the area, and is known for supporting and helping other Mesa County businesses.

“The Talbott family are icons in the Palisade area,” said Julia Durmaj, acting director of the Palisade Chamber of Commerce. “Not only have they been farming here for over 100 years but they have been a predominant influence to so many other farmers in the area, always willing to give a ‘hand up’ to those who need advice about their crops.”

Yeager’s great great grandson Harry Talbott is credited with building both the family business and the larger Palisade peach industry. He died earlier this year, and his sons and grandsons now help run the business. 

The Grand Valley is known for an ideal combination of climate and soil conditions, resulting in large, sweet and flavorful fruit. Talbott’s Mountain Gold was once primarily an apple farm, but it is now best known for piles of peaches every August.

“The peach industry is our sweetheart,” Bruce said. “It’s what allows us to do the other things we do.”

In the mid-20th Century, Colorado peach farmers were mostly supplying a large population of home canners. 

“People back then had big gardens,” Bruce said. “They were already canning tomatoes and sweet corn and pickles and whatever else. Peaches were just one more thing that they canned.” 

He said home canning started to phase out in the 1970s, when Del Monte and other large companies started selling really cheap canned fruit. The Talbotts’ business took a hit, but by the 1980s, they started selling fresh peaches directly to supermarkets in the region.

Now, Talbott’s grows enough peaches to drive them over the Continental Divide every day and stock pop-up peach stands along the Front Range and in neighboring states.

“We try to keep an endless parade of peaches headed into the system,” Bruce said.

Talbott’s now grows 35 varieties, and sells ripe peaches from July 1 to Oct. 1. Last year, only 15 percent of the peach harvest survived a cold and late spring. Bruce expects about 80 percent of the peach harvest to make it to stores and farm stands this year. 

Talbott’s orchards used to be 90-percent apples, but consolidation and industry changes have moved nearly all domestic apple production to the Pacific Northwest. 

In 1983, Bruce started pressing apples and making sweet cider. 

“We were trying to find something to do with our off-grade (apples),” Bruce said.

Now Talbott’s grows no apples, but still makes plenty of cider — both sweet and hard.

Harry’s grandson Charles Talbott turned his interest in home brewing into a new Talbott’s venture in 2015. He is the director of operations for Talbott’s Cider Company. It is one of the state’s most recognizable hard cider brands, even though Washington and Oregon apples comprise most of the cider.

In 2019, the family launched the Centennial Cellars wine brand. Charles said it has been hard to compete on crowded bottled wine shelves, but he jumped on the canned wine bandwagon in May. 

Following in the footsteps of Denver trailblazer Infinite Monkey Theorem, the company is now focusing on a variety of 375 ml wine cans, and only bottling special reserve wines. He said he is hoping to help boost the reputation of Colorado wines.

“I’m starting to have a little more confidence that in the next 20 years, the Colorado wine industry is going to be pretty big. I think we are putting ourselves on the map,” Charles said.

The wine and cider is available in the Talbott’s taproom on a hill overlooking Palisade. The taproom also hosts guest wines and ciders, and has a small market that sells a wide variety of local produce and other Colorado products.

“We really focus on collaboration,” Charles said. “We want the entire industry working together, and that will raise everyone’s boat.”

Steve Graham is a freelance writer and former newspaper editor who takes his two boys biking, hiking and brewery-hopping in northern Colorado.