About Us

The Zig-Zag Road is our nickname for a series of roads that wind their way through East Orchard Mesa in Palisade, Colorado.

This part of Colorado is known as the Grand Valley – a lush, green oasis surrounded by desert and spectacular mesas. The Zig-Zag Road takes you through some of the most beautiful vineyards, orchards and agricultural land in the United States. The Colorado river meanders through the valley, providing farmers with water for irrigation.

The Zig-Zag Road is also a metaphor for the twists and turns we all encounter. Life is rarely a straight line – and we have no idea of the plans that God has for each of us. Our advice is to relax, keep the faith and enjoy the journey!

Palisade, Colorado is home to Desert Moon Vineyards. We’re a small winery with the goal of making simple wines to enjoy with food, friends and family. In fact, the photo at the top of this page is taken from our vineyard. You can see East Orchard Mesa in the foreground, and the Bookcliffs in the background.

We have 10 acres in three varieties of red grapes: cab, merlot and syrah. We buy grapes locally for our white wines. All wines are made on the premises.

We’re “weekend warriors” (for the time being). Deb is a software engineer in Denver, and writes C++ code. Paul owns a couple of technology companies. We both sit in front of computers all day, and can think of no better way to spend our weekends than mowing, spraying, pruning, making wine and generally getting dirty and tired.

This blog will hopefully chronicle the trials, tribulations, joys and frustrations of building and managing a small vineyard and winery part-time. We love this work, and want to share it with others.

As they say in Italy, “a tavola!” (“to the table!”). Pull up a chair, grab a heaping plate of pasta, some caprese salad, a chunk of bread, a glass of wine, and join us on our journey….