Our History

Greeley Colorado, 1989

Glenn Foster pursues his childhood passion and becomes a falconer. His first raptor was a red-tailed hawk. Years later he would take inspiration from birds of prey and use “talon” for future wine endeavors.

But first…

Palisade Colorado, 1995

Rocky Mountain Meadery was founded by Fred and Connie Strothman. The couple was semi-retired, in their late fifties/early sixties, and had no experience in wine or mead making when they decided to launch one of Colorado’s first meaderies.

California, 1995

Meanwhile, now happily married, Glenn and Natalie Foster were moving back to Colorado after two years of working in Sonoma, California. At the time, there were 15 wineries in Colorado, and the Grand Valley wine industry was just starting to take off. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for Glenn to build on his knowledge from working in the California wine industry.

Colorado, 1995

Glenn begins work in the Colorado wine industry. He would go on to work for three different wineries in the Grand Valley over the next several years.

Palisade Colorado, 1999

St. Kathryn Cellars is established, named after Fred’s mother. Originally an event venue and tasting room, Confre Cellars is eventually added as a third winery of the Strothman’s and shares the same building as the St. Kathryn Cellars tasting room. All wines and meads continue to be produced at the original location, now called Meadery of the Rockies, allowing the St. Kathryn Cellars/Confre Cellars building to be solely dedicated as a retail space.

Fruita Colorado, 2004-2005

Glenn and Natalie decided it was time to venture out on their own. By this time they had two children and Glenn had set falconry aside to focus on his career. They dreamed of owning a tasting room that showcased the best of Colorado wine and crafting their own wine. After over a year of building and planning, the Colorado Wine Room opens its doors in Fruita, just off of I-70.

2006

Talon Winery is created and the Foster family bottles their first wine: Viognier. A humble 45 cases were produced for the first bottling. Several other varietals and blends would follow.

Palisade, 2007

Fred and Connie Strothman, now in their early seventies, are ready to finally retire. Without a buyer lined up, they decide to halt production and begin the liquidation process.

2008

Glenn and Natalie take a leap of faith and decided to purchase all three labels from the Strothmans: Meadery of the Rockies, St. Kathryn Cellars, and Confre Cellars. They continue to run the Colorado Wine Room for several more years, commuting back and forth between Fruita and Palisade to manage all four tasting rooms among the three locations.

2010

The decision was made to close the Colorado Wine Room for good and replace Confre Cellars with Talon Winery over in Palisade. With Confre Cellars dissolved, things become slightly more manageable and all operations consolidated to Palisade. Around this time, Glenn and Natalie also make the decision to distinguish the three labels a bit more clearly, with fruit wines under St. Kathryns and grape wines under Talon. Meads remain under Meadery of the Rockies.

2016

Talon Wine Brands is established to unite all three labels under one umbrella. In 2021, this would change to Talon Wines.

2023

Talon Wines moves out of the original St. Kathryn Cellars building and consolidates operations to the meadery location. Meadery of the Rockies becomes Talon Wines at the Meadery, and renovations on the original location begin.

Today

The Fosters continue to own and operate Talon Wines. Glenn and his daughter, Camille, are the most active in day-to-day operations, but it remains a true family business. Glenn, now with over 30 years of experience in the wine industry, was recently able to get back into falconry with a Merlin named Hazel.