Cassidee Shull is a top advocate for Colorado’s wineries. That’s one way she might describe her work when asked by strangers she meets on her travels. They commonly sound surprised. “They’re like, ‘Wait, did you mean breweries?’” Shull says.

Yes, Colorado is better known for its craft beer. But there is perhaps no better person than Shull to tell you about her native state’s vibrant, award-winning wine.

She is executive director of Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology, fancy words referring to grape growing and wine making. Shull’s office is nothing fancy — nothing like you’d find in Napa, Calif. But this base in Palisade is not to be overlooked.

The quaint, tiny town is regarded as the birthplace of the Colorado industry, proudly representing about a fifth of the state’s 170-plus wineries. Palisade is the center of the Grand Valley, which is said to provide 80% of the state’s wine-making grapes. The valley is one of 267 American Viticultural Areas.

Here along the Colorado River, under the gaze of the Grand Mesa, groups ride bikes and honeymooning couples take carriages along country roads lined by vineyards and tasting rooms.

“Here from our office in the middle of town, we have 25 or 30 (wineries) in like a 2-mile radius,” Shull says.

Palisade Fruit and Wine Byway is a tour to the heart of the town’s flavorful economic engine. Agritourism rules here. The same elements that bless the long-legendary peaches are said to bless another crop slowly but surely gaining notoriety: grapes.

The warm days and cool nights. The sun radiating from the Book Cliffs. The breeze known as the million-dollar breeze, drifting from De Beque Canyon down to the alkaline-rich soil. It’s the natural alchemy behind every sweet and tannic sip.

The ultimate showcase is set for Sept. 16. That’s the date for the annual Colorado Mountain Winefest that dates to 1992 in Palisade’s Memorial Park.

Where five wineries poured their blends for maybe a few hundred back then, now closer to 6,000 visitors are expected to sample from 53 makers. Just as the festival is a showcase of the blends concocted in unlikely Colorado, it is a celebration of how far the industry has come.

Among the first representatives at the 1992 festival were Rick and Padte Turley of Colorado Cellars. The business continues today and continues to tell the story of how the local industry sprouted.

Colorado Cellars started in 1978, not long after the passage of the Colorado Limited Winery Act. The legislation “made way for small farm wineries,” explains an account by History Colorado, which traces the interest much further back.

“Many European settlers who came to Colorado for mining brought viticulture with them,” the account reads.

Just as Palisade peaches had grown around the turn of the 20th century, so had grapes. Close to town, the man who established Grand Junction in 1881, George Crawford, is credited for one of the state’s earliest vineyards.

But Prohibition in 1916 effectively shut down the vineyards. They would remain dormant until the quiet resurgence in the 1970s.

How fast has the recent rise been? Consider that five was still the state’s winery count upon the 1990 Colorado Wine Industry Development Act, another spur to action.

And where the elements have gotten in the way, creativity and innovation have prevailed. And, yes, the kind of rebel attitude synonymous with Colorado.

Highbrow connoisseurs may scoff at the canning trend sweeping the world. But it was a practical, profitable idea said to have taken off in this state, where hikers, climbers and rafters would rather carry cans than bottles and glasses.

Innovation is core to the grapes too. “Cold, hardy varietals,” Shull says. The result in the bottle is true to Colorado — as is the experience. While the industry grows here, it can still often feel small.

“When you’re doing a wine tasting, you have such a huge chance of meeting the owner or the wine maker or the cellar manager, and a lot of times it’s the same person,” Shull says. “It’s such a hyper local wine experience that you have here compared to other wine regions throughout the country and world. I think that’s something we should be so proud of.”