Bookcliff Vineyards: Boulder's Hometown Winery

calendar Apr 26, 2026 · 3 min read · Bookcliff Vineyards Winery Tasting Room Colorado Wine 80304 Boulder Colorado NoBo  ·
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Set back in an unassuming business park off Lee Hill Road, Bookcliff Vineyards is the only working winery in the city of Boulder — and it has been quietly turning out award-winning Colorado wine from this 80304 location since 2008. The grapes are grown on the winery's own 40-acre vineyard near Palisade, then trucked over the Continental Divide to be crushed, fermented, aged, and bottled right here in North Boulder.

A Boulder Basement to a Real Winery

Bookcliff started as a passion project for John Garlich and Ulla Merz, two longtime Boulder residents who planted their first vines in Palisade in 1995 and made their first wine in a Boulder basement in 1998. As the operation grew, they moved into the current Lee Hill Road space in 2008, building out a working production facility with a tasting room attached. After more than two decades at the helm, ownership has recently passed to three families committed to keeping the operation going. The story is unusual — most Colorado wineries are based on the Western Slope, near the vineyards — but it has made Bookcliff a fixture of the Boulder food and drink scene.

100% Colorado-Grown Wine

What sets Bookcliff apart is its commitment to estate-grown fruit. All of the wine is made from grapes grown on the winery's own 40-acre vineyard in Palisade, on Colorado's Western Slope. That means no shipped-in juice and no out-of-state grapes — just Colorado wine in the truest sense.

The lineup leans heavily on red Bordeaux varietals, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot anchoring the production. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay round things out, alongside seasonal and limited bottlings. Bookcliff wines have taken gold medals at the San Francisco International Wine Competition for Cabernet, Pinot Noir, and Petit Verdot, among other awards.



The Tasting Room

The tasting room at the Lee Hill location is open Thursday through Sunday afternoons. Visitors can sample 15 or more wines, talk with staff about the vineyard and winemaking, and pick up bottles to take home. The space sits inside the working production facility, so a visit also gives you a glimpse of the actual winemaking equipment — barrels, tanks, and the bottling line are all part of the same building.

Bookcliff also hosts barrel-room events, winemaker dinners, and seasonal pickups for its wine club, which delivers six bottles twice a year. Follow @Bookcliff_Vineyards on Instagram or BookCliffVineyards on Facebook for upcoming events.

Why It Matters for 80304

For NoBo residents, Bookcliff is a rare thing — a producing winery a few minutes from home. You can taste through a flight, fill in your wine rack, and chat with the people who actually make the wine, all without leaving 80304. It is also one of the better local-gift options in the neighborhood, since a Bookcliff bottle is genuinely from Colorado, made by Colorado winemakers, in Boulder.

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