If you haven’t discovered Colorado wines yet, it’s probably time for a road trip.

The state is now firmly entrenched on the wine map, and you’ll be deliciously surprised by the variety and complexity.

In 2018, Colorado was listed among Wine Enthusiast’s top 10 wine getaways. But the wine scene started here in 1890, when the first vines were planted on the Western Slope. In less than two decades, the state had harvested more than a million pounds of wine grapes.

The scene has only grown, as Colorado now boasts more than 170 licensed wineries, including 25 cideries, 16 meaderies and a sake producer.

The state’s two federally designated American Viticultural Areas are the Grand Valley, along the Colorado River between Palisade and Grand Junction, and the West Elks, along the North Fork of the Gunnison River between Paonia and Hotchkiss. Together, they produce 90% of Colorado’s wine grapes.

These wineries are the highest in the Northern Hemisphere and among the highest globally, and they thrive thanks to plentiful sunshine, cool nights and low humidity.

But the Grand Valley offers much more than award-winning wines. There’s outstanding dining (with most restaurants using locally sourced and grown products), a lavender farm and a long list of charming communities.

Colorado National Monument outside Fruita is a stunning wilderness park, with 23,000 acres of colorful canyons, towering monoliths and high-desert landscapes.

Nearby, some 100 mustangs run freely among the plateaus and rock canyons at Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range. Then there’s Grand Mesa, the world’s largest flattop mountain, and its 300-plus alpine lakes.

Palisade, 12 miles east of Grand Junction, is known as Colorado Wine Country, home to two-thirds of the state’s vineyards. This is no uber-posh Napa, however. Here, the wineries, open year-round, are friendly and unpretentious. Most sit so close that folks can visit several by bicycle or on foot. Or they can opt for shuttles, limos and horse-drawn carriages. Even the library in town sports a grape arbor.

Some of the standout wineries include:

• Carboy Winery at Mt. Garfield Estate, with 11.5 acres of high-elevation vineyards planted with varietals such as Albariño, Teroldego and Cabernet Franc, as well as a recently launched sparkling wine. Carboy hosts events including a concert series, vinyasa yoga and a book club.

• Colterris Estate Winery, the state’s largest fully estate-grown winery. Two years ago, it expanded its footprint by acquiring Plum Creek Cellars, Colorado’s oldest continuously operating winery. Colterris has since transformed it into a tasting room where visitors can sample legacy Plum Creek bottles as well as Colterris’ new Plum Creek Heritage line.

• The Ordinary Fellow, which offers French-inspired wines from regeneratively farmed vineyards in Colorado and Utah. It continues to push hands-on winemaking, focusing on sustainable practices at its high-elevation vineyards, including the Box Bar Vineyard situated above Yucca House National Monument south of Cortez.

• Sauvage Spectrum, an innovative winemaker that’s known for Devil’s Prey, a bourbon barrel-aged red wine developed with Peach Street Distillers.

• TWP (Twee Wingerd Plaas) Winery, which produces small-batch, handcrafted wines inspired by South African traditions and made with estate-grown Colorado grapes. This harvest season, it will have new releases, including Tinkering with Pink rosé, Primitief Primitivo and Cab Franc.