Steven Acquafresca is currently the Mesa County Director to the Colorado River District Board and was reappointed to the board in January 2017 having previously served from 2011-2014. His current term expires in 2023.
Mr. Acquafresca is a graduate of Mesa College and Colorado State University where he earned a degree in Agricultural Science.
He has been an advocate for the agricultural community while being actively engaged in farming, conservation, business, community affairs, and public policy-making.
As a former Colorado state legislator, Mr. Acquafresca represented six west slope counties in Colorado’s General Assembly and focused on farming and ranching issues, business and economic development, water law, conservation, local government, transportation and public education funding and policies.
More recently, Mr. Acquafresca served as Mesa County Commissioner from 2007-2015.
Parker Carlson, a Chicago area native, along with his wife Mary, founded Carlson Vineyards, an early Colorado winery in 1988. Parker was the winemaker at Carlson Vineyards for 27 years before selling the winery in 2015. He was formerly active in most of the various Colorado wine associations and recipient of many awards of achievement. Graduate of the University of Colorado with a degree in marketing spending 19 years in production at Coors Porcelain in both Golden and Grand Junction Colorado. He is currently lounging in retirement.
Doug Caskey has served in his role as the executive director of the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, part of the Colorado Dept. of Agriculture, since 2000. He oversees statewide efforts to promote and advance the Colorado wine and grape industry. Caskey is a 40-year wine industry veteran, with experience in the restaurant and retail wine sectors. Previous to the CWIDB, he managed the wine department at Boulder Liquor Mart, one of Colorado’s largest retail liquor stores, and was the "assistant wine guy" at the original Broker Restaurant and the Rattlesnake Club in the Tivoli Denver. As a devotee of the Greek god Dionysus (wine and theatre), he has degrees in theatre from both the University of Denver and the University of Colorado Boulder.
Miranda has been the Viticulture Extension Specialist with Colorado State University since June of 2019 where she aims to increase the resources and educational opportunities available to Colorado grape growers with the goal of improving the quality of Colorado grapes & wine.
Garrett Portra, owner and winemaker at Carlson Vineyards has lived in the Grand Valley since 2007. Garrett grew up working on a farm in Missouri, then moved to Grand Junction after graduating from Westminster college with a BA in Environmental Science. The 6-month adventure has turned into over 12 years. Garrett has been making wine at Carlson’s since 2011. In 2014 Garrett and Cailin agreed to purchase Carlson Vineyards. Since then Garrett has continued with the legacy of Carlson Vineyards by providing quality and approachable wines. Along with Laughing Cat brands he has explored with new takes on new wines while keeping all products local.
After graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Management and Human Resource Management from Colorado Mesa University in 2011, Cassidee was hired in 2012 as the Executive Directive of Colorado Association for Viticulture & Enology (CAVE), the only non-profit dedicated to the winemakers and grape growers in the state. Since then, she has revamped and reorganized the organization into one of the premier wine related associations in the USA. As the Director of CAVE, Shull is responsible for organizing their regional trade conference, VinCO, as well as Colorado Mountain Winefest, the largest fundraiser for the organization. Mountain Winefest has received national acclaim, being named the Best Wine Festival in the Nation by USA Today as well as receiving the Outstanding Community Tourism Initiative Award from the Colorado Governor's Tourism Conference. Each year, Colorado Mountain Winefest brings in attendees from all over the world as well as over a million dollars of economic revenue to the Grand Valley. Cassidee is active on many boards and committees including the Palisade Tourism Advisory Board, the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, the Western Colorado Horticultural Society Board and the Fruit & Wine Byway Committee. She received the inaugural Young Alumni Who’s Who award from Colorado Mesa University in 2018 and is a participant in the Colorado Tourism Office Leadership Journey Class of 2019. Outside of work, she enjoys supporting live music, D&D and spending time with her one-eyed Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Ruca – all over a glass of Colorado wine of course!
Bruce Talbott is a 5th generation fruit producer in Palisade Colorado currently producing mostly peaches and wine grapes. The family farming organization also packs fruit and produces both sweet and hard apple cider as well as wine. Of special interest to WCCC is our production of about 45 wine grape varieties on about 150 acres giving us a special interest in the success of the Viticulture and Enology programs.
Brandon has been the Winemaker and Vineyard Manager at Two Rivers Winery since 2016. He had previously worked as the winery’s Manager of Sales and Marketing since 2001 and, as distribution liaison, was responsible for customer relations with the wholesale and retail outlets throughout Colorado. Brandon has served on the boards for the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board (CWIDB) and Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology (CAVE). He is a graduate from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in English. When he’s not in the cellar or vineyard, Brandon enjoys hiking, reading, playing the guitar and spending quality time with his family and friends.