As interest in low-intervention wine grows, much of the focus stays on cellar choices and labels, while the realities of farming are often ignored. That gap is especially clear in Colorado’s West Elks AVA, one of the highest-elevation vineyard regions in the United States, where long winters, freeze events, and water constraints shape whether vines survive at all. Farming here leaves little room for ideology—every season forces new decisions.
In this live farm tour, Ryan visits Peony Lane Wine in Paonia, Colorado, where winemaker Ben Justman walks through what it actually takes to grow grapes and make wine under these conditions. Moving from vineyard to cellar, the conversation covers vine training, freeze damage and retraining, irrigation strategy, and how pressing and fermentation choices are downstream of the land itself, not abstract philosophy.
Justman explains why truly place-based wine offers a different drinking experience, how additives and labeling often obscure reality, and why commodity wine and site-focused wine are fundamentally different products. The episode is a grounded look at what low-intervention wine means when farming comes first—and why regions like Colorado deserve far more attention in conversations about quality and resilience.
Farms & Resources Mentioned
Peony Lane Wine
Paonia, Colorado
Website: https://www.peonylanewine.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peonylanewine/
X: https://x.com/PeonyLaneWine
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