Colorado wine combines a small, geographically concentrated vineyard base with a broad winery and tourism economy. The Colorado Wine Industry Development Board’s 2021 report places 2019 vineyard acreage at an estimated 750 acres and grape production at an estimated 2,100 tons. WineAmerica’s Colorado Wine Industry 2025 figures list 147 wine producers, 596 vineyard acres, 545,800 wine-country visits, and $104.23 million in annual tourism expenditures for 2025. These measurements come from different reporting periods and should not be treated as a single-year trend line.
Contents
- Colorado vineyard history and geography
- Vineyard acreage, grapes, and varieties
- Wineries and statewide distribution
- Production, sales, and winery income
- Jobs, wages, and economic impact
- Wine tourism and visitor spending
- Taxes and 2025 industry measures
Colorado vineyard history and geography
Colorado’s first wine grape vines were planted in the late 19th century, according to the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board 2021 report. The state’s best-known American Viticultural Area, or AVA, has a more recent formal history: the Grand Valley AVA was established in 1991.
The Grand Valley AVA covers nearly 76,000 acres. Its vineyards sit between 4,000 and 4,500 feet above sea level, making elevation a defining geographic feature of the region. The 2021 report also describes Colorado’s vines as primarily concentrated in Western Colorado.
The geographic pattern is especially clear in the 2019 acreage distribution. Mesa County contained an estimated 87.5% of known Colorado vineyard acreage. Delta County accounted for 6.9%, while the remaining 5.6% was spread across the rest of the state. This concentration helps explain why a relatively small vineyard footprint can support a wider network of producers, tasting rooms, restaurants, retailers, and visitor activities.
Vineyard acreage, grapes, and varieties
In 2019, Colorado vineyards totaled an estimated 750 acres of vineyard land and produced an estimated 2,100 tons of grapes. The 2021 report says 2019 was the fifth consecutive year in which Colorado produced 2,000 or more tons of grapes. These are estimates for the 2019 growing and production period, rather than current measurements.
The most common grape varieties in 2019 were Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard business model was divided between estate and contract acreage: 32% of Colorado’s vineyards was estate-winery acreage, while 68% was contract-vineyard acreage. That split indicates that most reported vineyard acreage was connected to contractual production relationships rather than being owned as estate-winery acreage.
For a compact view of the main 2019 vineyard measures:
| Measure | Colorado figure | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Vineyard land | Estimated 750 acres | 2019 |
| Grape production | Estimated 2,100 tons | 2019 |
| Mesa County share of known acreage | Estimated 87.5% | 2019 |
| Delta County share of known acreage | 6.9% | 2019 |
| Estate-winery acreage | 32% | 2019 report measure |
| Contract-vineyard acreage | 68% | 2019 report measure |
The acreage percentages are shares of known acreage and should not be read as a complete land-use inventory for every vineyard in the state.
Wineries and statewide distribution
As of January 2021, Colorado had 177 winery and winery-related licenses. After cideries were removed, the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board counted 154 business locations licensed as limited wineries, wine manufacturers, or vintners restaurants. At least one winery operated in 29 Colorado counties.
Mesa County had 29 wineries as of January 2021, followed by Delta County with 19. Denver County had 16, Boulder County had 14, Arapahoe County had 10, and Larimer County had 8. The other 23 counties together had 58 wineries. Six counties therefore had at least 10 wineries in the January 2021 count.
The county distribution shows two different sides of the industry. Western Colorado counties led the named county totals, consistent with the concentration of vines in the western part of the state. At the same time, urban and Front Range counties such as Denver, Boulder, Arapahoe, and Larimer represented substantial winery presence even where vineyard acreage was not concentrated.
In 2019, Colorado wineries moved 199,500 cases of bottled wine from bonded to non-bonded locations. The state had 55 employers whose primary industry classification was winery. The case movement measure tracks bottled wine transferred between regulatory locations; it is not the same as total bottles sold to consumers.
Production, sales, and winery income
Colorado wineries produced an estimated 259,200 cases of wine in fiscal year 2019–2020. The Colorado Wine Industry Development Board 2021 report says that production more than doubled compared with fiscal year 2013–2014. Because the comparison uses fiscal years, it should be kept separate from calendar-year 2019 vineyard and revenue figures.
For calendar year 2019, Colorado wineries generated an estimated $50.7 million in production-and-sale revenues. The revenue model used an estimated retail average sale price of $21.79 per bottle and assumed wholesalers took an average 45% discount from wineries. These are model inputs and estimates, not a universal shelf price or a reported discount for every transaction.
Inflation-adjusted winery revenue grew at a 9% compound annual growth rate between 2012 and 2019. In the same 2019 estimate, wineries employed 540 workers across Colorado, and winery workers and owners earned an estimated $20.8 million in labor income.
The report gives one practical wage context for tasting rooms: staff may earn $12 to $15 per hour before tips, and tipping can double tasting-room staff hourly earnings. The wage figures describe a role and compensation conditions cited in the report; they do not establish a statewide wage for every winery employee.
Jobs, wages, and economic impact
The 2021 report separates direct activity from wider effects through production, distribution, sales, and tourism. In 2019, the total wine production and distribution system directly generated $59.1 million in business revenues, supported 630 direct jobs, and generated $24.4 million in labor income.
When indirect and induced effects were included, Colorado wine production and distribution and sales were associated with 990 total jobs across the state economy. Those impacts included 160 indirect jobs and 200 induced jobs. Total revenues traced to production and distribution and sales were $123.2 million, while total labor income was $45.2 million.
The report also provides a more detailed production-and-sales breakdown:
| Production, distribution, and sales measure | 2019 figure |
|---|---|
| Direct jobs | 890 |
| Indirect jobs | 210 |
| Induced jobs | 260 |
| Direct revenues | $79.3 million |
| Indirect revenues | $41.4 million |
| Induced revenues | $41.7 million |
These detailed categories use the report’s own impact framework. They should not be added to the separate 990-job or $123.2-million totals unless the category definitions are reconciled, because the supplied measures describe related but differently scoped presentations of the economic model.
Across production, distribution and sales, and wine tourism, Colorado wine supported 1,360 jobs in 2019. Those segments generated $59.5 million in labor income and $162.3 million in total revenues. Colorado wine production, distribution, and associated tourism also supported an estimated $8.5 million in state and local taxes and $13.3 million in federal taxes in 2019.
Wine tourism and visitor spending
Wine tourism added a distinct layer to the industry’s 2019 footprint. The Colorado Wine Industry Development Board estimated that wine tourism supported $39.2 million in total business revenues, 370 jobs across the state economy, and $14.2 million in income.
Total direct wine tourism spending was $27.9 million. Its direct economic impact included $20.1 million in revenues, 260 jobs, and $8.1 million in labor income. The spending categories included $10.0 million at full-service restaurants, $7.3 million in retail, $4.1 million in accommodations, and $6.4 million in transportation.
The Colorado Mountain Winefest supplied a more specific event-level example in 2019. It attracted an estimated 6,600 visitors from more than 40 states and nine countries. Those festival visitors were associated with an estimated $1.2 million in direct spending in the Grand Valley region.
The event figures are narrower than the statewide wine-tourism estimates: they describe one festival and one regional spending effect, while the broader figures cover Colorado wine tourism and its modeled direct, indirect, and induced activity.
Taxes and 2025 industry measures
WineAmerica’s Colorado Wine Industry 2025 figures describe a later measurement period and include projections for some tax categories. Colorado’s wine-country regions generated 545,800 tourist visits and $104.23 million in annual tourism expenditures in 2025. The state’s wine industry included 147 wine producers and 596 vineyard acres.
The same 2025 figures report direct employment of as many as 16,249 people, 6,512 supplier-and-ancillary jobs, and 30,878 jobs ultimately created and supported. Average annual wages and benefits were $59,600, and total wages reached $1.84 billion.
Several 2025 tax figures are explicitly projections. The industry was projected to pay nearly $337.63 million in state and local taxes and $450.00 million in federal taxes, for projected total taxes of $787.64 million. The figures also projected approximately $18.88 million in federal consumption taxes and $66.67 million in state consumption taxes.
The 2025 figures should not be combined mechanically with the 2019 estimates. They use a different source, year, scope, and set of industry measures. Read together, they show the range of statistics used to describe Colorado wine: vineyard geography and grape production, licensed businesses and bottled cases, modeled economic effects, tourism spending, employment, wages, and projected tax contributions.