Meet Shamai + Joe Buckel | Founders

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shamai + Joe Buckel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shamai + Joe, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
We are creatives at heart and always wanted to build a brand with a great story. Nestling into the West Elk Mountain Range, we found our sense of place at the headwaters of the Gunnison River. The main focus of our winery project is to showcase Colorado-grown grapes from small family farmers on the Western Slope of Colorado, where the majority of our state’s fruit is grown in the hot summer days and cool evenings. Farm-to-table styled eating has always been something we have sought, since picking peas and strawberries from the family garden as a child. Working to build and drive wine quality in Colorado has become our adventure.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Nestled in the Colorado Rockies, Buckel Family Wine is Colorado’s premier family-owned winery producing Old-World styled wines with minimal intervention. With 300 days of sun a year and an altitude of 7,000 feet, Buckel Family Wine is proud to source their grapes from the Western Slope of Colorado, an underdeveloped wine region ripe for adventure. While Buckel’s Cinsault and Flyer Red Blends are fan favorites, be sure to try the Chardonnay, PétNat Rosé, or Glug Glug as well. With tasting rooms in Gunnison and Telluride and nationwide shipping, Buckel Family Wine is for the adventurous traveler and the seasoned wine drinker alike.

While building our brand, one of the biggest challenges was where to build the Buckel Family Wine brand in Colorado. We choose a dead-end road nestled in the center of the state with mountains on all sides. The winter’s snow runoff forms one of Colorado’s major rivers – the Gunnison. The Gunnison River formed the Black Canyon, a deep and steep canyon that carries the water to the ‘grand junction’ – where the Gunnison meets the Colorado River in Grand Junction, CO. The Colorado River then travels the grand canyon and makes its way to Lake Powell feeding water to so many folks down the valley downstream. Water will continue to be important as we find new grape-growing regions and human population centers.

Our path to where we are today hasn’t always been easy, but we are true adventurers at heart. We work hard in the winery and also work hard to make time for getting into the mountains we love. We are outdoor enthusiasts who value time amongst the aspen trees, atop mountains, and on trails where the quiet is all you hear. Enjoying the colorful views of Colorado and smelling the earth after fresh rain, that is the good stuff! Ultimately this is why we choose to make wine in the Gunnison Valley of Colorado- we can enjoy the mountains we love and make wine that we are proud of.

Something that we are particularly proud of about our story and brand are the connections to our growers, wholesalers, retail customers and employees. Taking the time to build and maintain relationships with every segment of our broad team has helped us to make exceptional wine and grow our small brand. We continue to share the joy in winemaking and life with our partners who are pursuing their Colorado dreams, as well as visitors coming to the Rocky Mountains for the first time. We thrive on introducing people to this budding wine region and good Colorado wine.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
While in the Gunnison Valley enjoy the outdoors!

Camp at Campfire Ranch they have all the gear you’ll need.

Stay, fish, raft at Three Rivers Resort

Hike the scenic Black Canyon

Eat and enjoy cocktails at the Breadery in Crested Butte to meet Trisha the 60 year old sourdough starter.

Catch an evening of music at the Ibar Ranch

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to give a shoutout to BoldBrew for creating the original branding for Buckel Family Wine. Working with this Durango based team at the onset of the storyboard, logo, and wine label creation has proven to play a part in our success.

The early mentors in this winemaking adventure were Mike Duffy of Optima Winery for stoking the passion for wine and providing the space for custom crushing in his Dry Creek facility. Ross Cobb of Cobb Wines shared his extensive knowledge and experience in producing cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on the Sonoma Coast.

Website: https://www.buckelfamilywine.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buckelfamilywine/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BuckelFamilyWine/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/buckel-family-wine-telluride

Image Credits
Buckel Family Wine