For a nominal fee, Colorado wineries will be able to submit their wines to a professional sensory evaluation service and to a ATF Certified wine laboratory for chemical analysis.

Wines will then be tasted blind by a pannel of national industry professionals representing the fields of oenology or winemaking, the restaurant industry (a chef or sommelier) and someone from the wholesale or retail distribution system. This pannel will then give the winemakers first hand evaluations of their products to supplement the sensory and labratory reports. Having an oenologist on the pannel will give Colorado winemakers insight into how to fix any perceived or identified problems with their wines.

This evaluation programs, which will hopefully be in place by the spring of 2003, is the first step in the CWIDB's Quality Improvement Initiative. Industry wide quality improvement was identified as the number one priority of the CWIDB at its annual retreat at the end of 2001. Now the board will initiate a program to give wineries concrete, tangible suggestions for improving the quality of their products.

For more information on the CWIDB's quality activities, please check this web site for updates, or call Doug Caskey, executive director, at 720.304.3406.