Striving for the Best Finish

Vinnie Fera Winery, an outside-the-vineyard winery, produces wines with a Colorado soul

By Irene Middleman Thomas

“Our wine is not just a product in a bottle,” says Kyle Mitchell, the dedicated and passionate winemaker at Vinnie Fera Winery in East Boulder. “We want the last sip to taste better than the first.”

You may not know Vinnie Fera Winery, although it has been open since 2016, and its products have repeatedly earned silver and gold medals in Governor’s Cup competitions. In fact, visitors to the tasting room often remark that it is a “hidden gem“ of Boulder. 

Mitchell and owner/founder Timothy Moley admit that marketing and public relations are not their strong suits. Instead, their strength is the winemaking itself. There is no “Vinnie,” by the way. Rather, the name is a play on words. “Vitis vinifera” is a flowering plant in the grapevine family Vitaceae. 

Moley, renowned for his Boulder-based Chocolove company, which produces a wide array of chocolates made with non-GMO-verified ingredients, has a deep appreciation and fascination with wine. A botanist by training, Moley worked with tea blends at a tea company in California and, while there, embarked upon an education in wine in Sonoma County. 

Moley founded Vinnie Fera with the mission of crafting world-class wine in his home of Boulder. “While the Front Range of Colorado isn’t the most obvious place for a winery, we have lived here for many years and couldn’t imagine leaving our beloved community,” he says. “The lure of creating small batches of wine led to making world-class wines here in Colorado.”

“Our first step was to source premium quality fruit from highly reputable vineyards in California, Oregon and, of course, the Western Slope of Colorado,” Mitchell explains. “When harvest time arrives, our grapes are picked early, before sunrise. The cold air naturally chills the grapes and keeps them fresh while they are transported directly to our winemaking facility in Boulder. Once we have them in-house, we steward them through the entire process from grape to glass into fantastic wines.” 

Currently, the winery uses about 80 percent Colorado grapes with some 20 percent sourced from the West Coast. The solely Colorado wines are labeled “Hogback,” while the mixed blends are labeled “Vinnie Fera.”

Classic principles drive Vinnie Fera’s approach to winemaking, striving to achieve natural balance and structure. The first wines Vinnie Fera produced were cabernet sauvignons and pinot noirs. The winery then moved to sparkling wines. The biggest sellers now are the Colorado-sourced Bordeaux varieties such as the cabernet franc and malbec. 

Mitchell, a CSU graduate with a degree in horticulture science, has worked in various culinary and wine-making positions with prominent restaurants and vintners in California and Colorado.

Influenced by wines from around the globe and one to believe the best vineyards are those yet to be planted, his job at Vinnie Fera is to find prized fruit and craft clean wines. Mitchell says he loves to find value in modestly priced wines. Indeed, the wines start at $20 per bottle, and the highest is priced at $35.

Vinnie Fera wine club guarantees its members access to every new release, as well as special pricing, release parties and invitations to exclusive social events, including a complimentary monthly tasting in the Tasting Room. Options are three-, six- and 12-bottle memberships. There’s no fee to join, and the club sends four shipments annually. 

The pleasant and roomy Vinnie Fera Winery tasting room seats 30 people, with additional space on the outside terrace. It’s open Thursdays and Fridays from 3–7pm, Saturdays from 1–5pm and Sundays from 2–5 pm. Five-wine flights are $15 with a charcuterie board offered at the same price.

During the regular tasting room hours, the winery offers a Valentine’s Day weekend chocolate and wine pairing event priced at $30 per person. It will include four Chocolove truffles and the regular 5-flight wine tasting. Reservations are strongly encouraged. 

Vinnie Fera Winery, 3012 Sterling Circle, 720-287-1252, vinnieferawine.com