Delicious Orchards

What is this place? An oasis? I was super surprised to find an organic cidery tucked away near Hotchkiss. My wife and I stopped in and loved it. Amazing, peaceful setting and really good cider. There are indeed some cool bucket-​lid swings hanging from the trees that people are free to go hurt themselves on. (We did not hurt ourselves. Please do not remove the swings.)
We did the tasting, which, as a minor drawback, was overshadowed by the apparent annoyance of the bartender lady. It felt as though she did not want us to try them all and wanted us to move along. Strange.
As you can read in other comments, there’s lots of cool stuff here. I really wanted to try the pie, but we spent enough on cider for gifts that I didn’t get to, this time.
Although the cider is good, it is pricey, about $ 4.50 per pint-​sized can. That’s about average for organic, small-​batch cider, but I thought it might be a bit cheaper at the source. And, as another minor observation, we saw cans of cider for sale outside during the live music event for 50 cents more than they cost inside. Come on!

My wife and I have gone here several times and have always loved the food. Today we stopped in for lunch, my wife had her favorite pulled pork sandwich. I decided to try the special, smoked prime rib sandwich with sautéed onions and green chili. This sandwich is by far the best sandwich I have ever had! There are a handful of meals that I remember in this life and this sandwich will stay in that category forever!!! I have a standing order to get a call when they have this special again!!!

I love stopping here on my way to Telluride or Montrose. It’s convenient when traveling from Carbondale. The market has unique product. hand made… home– grown… Organic. And the menu has something for everyone. Large portions and most of it is straight out of the garden. If you’ve never stopped here… it’s so worth checking out!!!

Everyone was super friendly in this great country store with homemade local goodies. We had a terrific lunch and the best baked beans ever. Lots of flies inside which was an annoyance while eating, but we attributed that to the doors being open (due to the heat) and the very rural area. More box or ceiling fans would have been nice. Still, this place is definitely worth a visit.

The best hard cider in the area! All the flavors are wonderful, but the cherry is my favorite! I’m addicted! Great family owned business with very friendly staff and great food! Don’t pass it up.

Loved this place! We were just passing through the area and stopped in right before they were getting ready to close. The staff there were so friendly!

Our friends were really excited to take us to this place they both had great memories of — picking peaches, tasting the hard cider made there, tasting wines from local wineries but sold there, eating the delicious natural deli food. It was a very disappointing experience for all of us. The interior was all re-​designed with a lovely tasting area in the back — we asked the deli guy how to start tastings and he sent us to women at the front check-​out area. One came back, poured two tastes of cider — and before I could get to ‘cider’ in my query of whether we could taste the wine & cider, she tossed the ciders out. She stacked the wine bottles on the counter, and then put a map of local wineries on the counter and told me we should consider tasting the wines at the actual wineries. I was confused as to why she was setting wine out and then trying to send us away. As we didn’t have a lot of time, I told her we were fine with just tasting them here even if they weren’t actually made here. I could tell she was displeased with us but was unsure why, and so said we could just taste the ciders in an attempt to mollify her. She agreed but she had to man the front desk while giving us tastings — we said we didn’t mind waiting. An older couple wandered up and asked for wine tastings, not realizing this was an unacceptable request despite the large sign out front advertising wine tastings. She tossed them tastes of wine, and literally slid/​threw tastes of cider across the table to the four of us. It became so uncomfortable, we hurried through our tastes and got out of there. I eventually figured out she was stressed by her multi-​tasking but was mystified why she hadn’t just said, «We are not doing tastings today,» instead of her vague attempt to solve the situation by suggesting the wineries — honestly not understanding what was really going on until halfway through made for a really uncomfortable unpleasant experience.

They are an actual orchard, located off the main highway, so easy to find. They have a general store, a café, and a BAR, where they have flavored ciders (distilled/​alcoholic) on tap. It was free to sample and they had a great happy hour deal at only $ 3 per glass. The location is stunning and you can hang out in there courtyard and enjoy the views while viewing the mountains. This was a fun stop during our trip and I highly recommend it!

Enjoyed a great lunch, u pick peaches and Colorado wine! Yum!

My only complaint is that Delicious Orchard is over four hours away from where I live. Between pick-​your-​own fresh fruit, wine (free tastings!), a shop full of gourmet/​local/​unique products, and BBQ music events, this place is full of fun and delicious surprises.

Wonderful store, delicious café and pic your own fruit and veggies/​herbs
. Saturday night BBQ and music a must. Stop here when in the area or passing through too and from Carbondale or Crested Butte. Not to be missed!

I grew up on pick-​your-​own fruit. Many summer mornings, my mom and I would go off in search of plentiful fruit and cheap prices. We gathered blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, apples. We stained our finger and mouths with berry juice, took home baskets and pints and crates of freshness, and baked to our heart’s content.
I’ve tried to keep the spirit alive, but pick-​your-​own seems to be going the way of roadside produce stands and VHS tapes. Still, I’m fortunate to live close to the rich and nurturing soil of Colorado’s Grand Valley. Stretching from Grand Junction to Paonia and encompassing orchards, vineyards, and beautiful vistas, the Grand Valley was a new and undiscovered area for me. I wanted to pick apples, Eric was home from work, and so off we went.
Delicious Orchards was my pick from the very beginning. I may be old-​fashioned in some ways, but I like to do my research beforehand and Delicious seems to be the only place in the area that has a good website. I called the morning before we visited and they were incredibly helpful and friendly. They told me apple conditions (plentiful!) and field conditions (muddy!) and gave me directions when, halfway there, I feared we were lost (we weren’t!).
Delicious has a huge orchard of organic apples in different varieties (Macintosh, Fuji, Red and Golden Delicious, Pink Lady) along with pears, cherries, a huge farm store full of both local and their own organic produce, a little café where I enjoyed a most delicious quiche (seriously…it was AWESOME!), and a wine-​tasting area. The girl who did our wine tasting was great… incredibly relatable because she wasn’t an expert. She learned about wine on the job, didn’t use any terms that were over our heads, and set us up with a fantastic bottle of local red.
A bottle of wine and 30 pounds of apples set us back $ 36. Awesome! That weekend, they were also doing a Harvest Fest, which included music, BBQ, and the stunning price of 50 cent/​lb for apples (when we visited they were 99 cents/​lb). Overall, it was a lovely experience, gave me a little hit of nostalgia, and didn’t hurt the wallet. I’ll be back next year… and for years to come. My kids will love it :)