Put Some Altitude in Your Glass

Denver once had a thriving Little Italy in the heart of North Denver. Italian-owned bakeries, markets, restaurants, social clubs and churches helped define the neighborhood, but as Denver has changed, much of that history has slowly disappeared.

In this episode, Paul sits down with Jenna Peccia, Social Media Chair for the Little Italy Historic District, to talk about an effort to preserve and recognize that history through a proposed thematic historic district.

Jenna grew up near 36th and Vallejo and shares memories of growing up around Mount Carmel Church and the Italian businesses that once dotted the neighborhood. She also explains how the proposed historic district would work, why more than 50 historically significant properties have already been identified, and what designation could mean for property owners.

They also talk about Gaetano’s, Lechuga’s, Potenza Lodge, Mount Carmel Church and other places that help tell the story of Denver’s Italian community and why capturing the stories of longtime North Denver families is just as important as preserving the buildings.

In this episode:

Learn more about the proposed Little Italy Historic District and how you can get involved at LittleItalyofDenver.com.

This time Paul and 'Cha get together to sample some Tempranillo and go over some of the robust flavors that emit from it. We also hear from Doug Kingman from Kingman Estates Winery.

10 acres and a barn in the Grand Valley of the Colorado River, near Palisade. Really, it started with a dream and a strong desire to create Colorado Wines that are equal to, or better, than wines from other great wine producing regions throughout the world.

The unique climate and soil conditions in the Grand Valley of Colorado yield a grape with outstanding characteristics enabling the production of uniquely exquisite wines. We are proud to be among the wineries in Colorado that serve authentic, handcrafted wines made right here in our facility.

Cha-Cha's back again! This time we're trying a well-bodied 2019 Malbec from Vinnie Fera Wineries in Boulder, CO. It's called Hogback, which might sound like an odd name, but it makes sense once you hear founder Tim Moley explain it. Vinnie Fera has been around since 2016, and they say they pick their grapes based on what fits best in the Colorado landscape. They're not forcing anything here- they want to allow the full flavor and potential of their grapes to come through when the wine hits your tongue, and spoiler alert, they definitely succeed with the Hogback. You can check their website out here if you'd like to pick some up for yourself.

Paul is joined by Colorado Music Experience founding director and author, G Brown. G covered popular music at The Denver Post for 26 years, interviewing well over 3200 musicians, including Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, and Kurt Cobain. He's also amassed an archive of close to 150 rare promotional photos, and he's put them all into a new book series called On Record.

ChaCha's back! And we're back to wine tasting. This week, we've got a lovely selection from Carboy, a fast-growing and award-winning winery with four locations across Colorado. We test their 2019 Riesling from Grand Valley, and it's quite the treat. We also get a special audio clip from Tyzok Wharton, Head Winemaker at Carboy, where he walks us through their whole winemaking process.

Carboy also has 3 wines in the Governor's Cup this year. If you'd like to learn more about them or pick up some of their wines yourself (which we'd definitely recommend), you can visit their website here.

I recently attended a wine tasting event hosted by Blanchard Family Wines in downtown Denver. Four winemakers each presenting one Colorado wine to an enthusiastic and thirsty crowd during Colorado Wine Week. In attendance was Doug Kingman from Kingman Estates Winery, Tim Moly from Vinny Fera Winery in Boulder, Tyzok Wharton from Carboy Winery in Littleton and myself. After the tasting and presentation, we had a panel discussion for the attendees to ask us questions. This is a part of that discussion which will hopefully give you some insight into the world of Colorado wine special. Thank you to James Blanchard for hosting this event and letting us pour our wines in his tasting room.

Nationally, October is Italian Heritage Month and since 2019, Colorado Governor Jared Polis has signed a proclamation designating October as Italian Heritage Month in Colorado. The Dante Alighieri Society of Denver drafted the proclamation noting the many different ways in which Italians helped and contributed to the establishment of many industries within the state. My guests are Susan Gurule from The Dante Alighieri Society of Denver and Alisa DiGiacomo from History Colorado.

Alisa DiGiacomo is the director of curatorial services and the senior curator at History Colorado. In 2007, she curated the Italians of Denver exhibit at the Colorado History Museum. A fifth-generation Italian American in Colorado, she holds a B.A. in art history and photography from the University of Northern Colorado and an M.A. in art history and museum studies from the University of Denver.

We encourage people to explore, document, share and celebrate our Heritage. In case people are not aware, History Colorado has one of the largest Italian American research archives in the nation. Developed in partnership with the Colorado Italian American community (beginning in 2002) it is a rich resource currently in the final stages of processing. Many items are available online and work continues.

Paul sits down with Alwyn "Fitz" Fitzgerald, the former President of Fisher King Winery which closed in 2020 when there were staffing shortages. In this episode you will find out first hand that it is not too cold to grow amazing grapes in Wisconsin, and that Paul finds similarities between Colorado and Wisconsin when it comes to growing grapes. He also tells the story of his mother and how he used to watch her make wine and why he decided to go into the wine business in 2011.

First of all, a disclaimer: No wine bottles were opened in this week's episode, but you certainly don't need a drink to enjoy this week's guest.

Angel Mendez-Soto grew up in New York City’s East Harlem (El Barrio), and he's a man with a storied career in theatre. He has been a member of Su Teatro, directed by Anthony J. Garcia, for over 40 years. In the 1980’s he was also a member of the the Black theatre company Eulipions, directed by Jo Bunton-Keel. Angel is a former recipient of the Mayor’s Excellence in the Arts Award. Earlier this year he portrayed Grandpop in the Theatreworks production of Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue at the ENT Center for the Arts in Colorado Springs.

Paul has known Angel for years, but the reason he's coming on the show now is because he's currently in Puerto Rican Nocturne, a powerful historical drama which will be at The Bug Theatre in North Denver from August 11th to the 21st. To grab your tickets, click here.

Paul and Angel dive into Angel's background on-stage, his experiences with telling Latino stories, and the importance of the story behind Puerto Rican Nocturne.

Fate and a combined passion for the wine industry brought two families together to create Continental Divide Winery. 

Part-time Breckenridge residents Jeffrey and Ana Maltzman owned two successful wineries in California. Ten years ago the Maltzmans, their two daughters and their two Australian Shepherds were walking down Main Street in Breckenridge when they spotted Colorado winemakers and Alma residents Kent Hutchison and Angela Bryan, their two daughters and their two Australian Shepherds walking the other direction. The couples and their girls have been fast friends ever since. 

The families quickly discovered their mutual passion for the art and science of wine. Today Continental Divide is owned and operated by the Maltzman family with Kent and Angela serving as contributing winemakers producing some of our most acclaimed Colorado reserve wines.    

By tasting different wines crafted from both California and Colorado grapes, guests can learn and experience the differences that altitude, soil and weather make on wine.   

They produce all of their wines in a state-of-the-art winemaking facility in Fairplay, making Continental Divide the highest altitude winery in the world. Crafting and aging wines at over 10,000' altitude minimizes oxygen exposure and results in a slower and more gentle fermentation that allows the true flavors of the fruit and land to come through. To further capitalize on our unique alpine location, they use a patented winemaking system to craft many of the wines in a nearly zero oxygen closed-cell environment as well as the use of snow and the extreme temperatures of the alpine environment to control fermentation instead of mechanical and artificial cooling.  

Continental Divide Winery invites you to come visit our tasting rooms in both Breckenridge and South Park (Fairplay) and experience first-hand our award-winning wines.