Aspen Peak Cellars in Bailey is a year-round destination
By Jay McKinney
Photography by Rosy Heart Photo
Ask someone to close their eyes and picture a winery and they’ll likely see rolling hills with rows of grape vines stretching to the horizon.
Yes, many wineries are located in vineyards where the grapes are grown, but Aspen Peak Cellars Winery & Bistro in Bailey is not one of them. Despite the absence of a picturesque vineyard, this mountain town hot spot is worth a visit regardless of the season. From a wide selection of wines, intimate dining experiences and live music every weekend, connoisseurs and casual consumers will fall in love with the place.
It’s a family-owned winery that was founded by husband-and-wife duo Marcel and Julie Flukigerwho are both trained chefs. Throughout their careers in restaurants, the couple certainly enjoyed wine, but the beginnings of Aspen Peak Cellars can be traced to 2005 when Marcel bought Julie a winemaking kit for Christmas. They fell in love with the art of winemaking, entered some amateur competitions—and won awards—and decided to turn the hobby into their first business venture.
The Flukigers overcame some major hurdles en route to creating the business they operate today, but Aspen Peak Cellars is a pitstop for mountain travelers on Highway 285 and a destination in and of itself. The winery has an expansive patio area along the North Fork South Platte River and even created its own beach with sand made from a special bottle-crushing machine. An influx of customers flocked to the winery to see the glass beach for themselves last summer after some positive social media exposure.
As the seasons change, the patio typically closes in October and the winery shifts its attention to winter events. Customers can still wine and dine in the dining room or heated covered porch, but the primary event that drives business during winter is the snowshoe and fondue outings it hosts.
“If we didn’t have the snowshoe and fondue event that we’ve done now for 13 years, we probably would be very seasonal as a destination up here,” Marcel Flukiger says. “We don’t have any skiing or anything in the area, but some nice lodging places have remodeled a lot of their rooms in the last few years, so we do have some great getaways in the wintertime.”
In a mountain town that lacks skiing tourism, Flukiger estimates that the snowshoe and fondue events draw upwards of 1,200 people to Bailey each winter. The outings are held Friday through Sunday and run from the first weekend in January until St. Patrick’s Day weekend in March.
The events start at the winery at 10:30 a.m. where there is a quick orientation, and everyone gets outfitted with snowshoes and poles before driving to the trailhead near the base of Kenosha Pass. Guides lead the snowshoers through the winter wilderness for roughly 1.5 hours and just as their legs start to get tired, it’s time to return to the winery for the real fun. There’s a food and wine pairing challenge where the Flukigers quiz guests on which wines pair best with each appetizer served, and afterward, each guest gets to choose a glass of wine to go with the meal. By 3:30 p.m. the event is typically wrapping up.
“Everybody gets a glass of wine and the cheese fondue is being served with live music—it makes for a fun day in the mountains and not being too far away from the Front Range,” Flukiger says. During the snowshoe season, the winery adds live music on Fridays in addition to their weekly live music held every Saturday and Sunday throughout the year.
While the snowshoe and fondue event has become a staple of Aspen Peak Cellars’ winter business, the winery offers other events throughout the year such as monthly barrel room tastings and seasonal wine club dinners. Other wine clubs often ship bottles out, but the Flukigers prefer connecting with their loyal members by inviting them to the winery to pick up bottles. To show their appreciation, the restaurant then prepares a nice dinner for the members to enjoy with live music.
Regardless of membership status, after a weekend visit to Aspen Peak Cellars, wine lovers may picture snowshoeing through the mountains and sipping a glass of merlot the next time they’re asked to envision what a winery looks like.
Aspen Peak Cellars Winery & Bistro
60750 US Hwy 285
Bailey
303.816.5504
aspenpeakcellars.com
