Chef Ryan Hardy easily blends the fast pace of the jet set Little Nell with the local agricultural community outside of Aspen. By melding two distinct cultures, he creates memorable food along with discovery and support of the region.

How often do you meet a chef who understands the complete process of the farm to table movement by actually doing it?

I had been keeping my eye on Chef Ryan Hardy for a while. I became aware of his involvement in the farm to table movement while spending last summer in Colorado, so I knew quite a bit about his 15 acre Rendezvous Farm, where he raises livestock in addition to handcrafting charcuterie, artisanal cheeses, and growing produce.

The purpose of the farm is sustainability, as Ryan creates culinary masterpieces from Rendezvous to support his seasonal menu at the Little Nell. Ryan understands the localization of the food and wine movement, as a new renaissance of agriculture emerges in the United States. Ryan states “ If you don’t have sustainability, why do it.?”

Originally from Kentucky, this celebrity chef understands the rich diversity of food and wine across the U.S. We spoke of the convergence of technology as the tool to obtain artisanal products and as a means to research and discover what is unique in other regions. While technology is the tool to get us there, it ultimately is food and wine that brings us face to face.

If you wonder why local foods cost more, quite simply it’s because we are looking back to history to get to the future. As small farms and wineries disappeared from the landscape, we lost our roots. As Ryan puts it, “People don’t know what they are consuming”. Unfortunately he couldn’t be more correct. Because of our lack of understanding with food production, we are now paying for that loss of history-which has led to trial and error farming in the agrarian community.

Simply put Ryan states “if it grows together it goes together.” While he is talking about food, think about it in a business sense, if you support a local winery, chances are you will start to support the creamery down the street, search for the grass fed beef up the road, while stopping at the produce stand in town. If you support one local producer, you support the region. If grows together it goes together indeed.

Once the hour was up, I felt, well, a little high from meeting such a unique and caring presence in the culinary community. As I tasted the pungent earthiness of Ryan’s hand made charcuterie paired with the delightful dance of the fermented house made pickles, I felt I was tasting something uniquely Colorado with the insight that it was created by a man who raised the pigs, farmed the earth, and made the meal.

Quite simply put, he is brilliant.

With the agritourism movement people are becoming more wise to their choices as they begin to understand sustainability by supporting local food and wine producers. Winerybound assists you with creating GPS ready tours in addition to saving and sharing them with your Facebook and Winerybound friends. By supporting agricultural businesses close to home, you to become the local food and wine expert by sharing your travels’ and tastes with reviews that integrate into your facebook page. I invite you to become Winerybound and support the local foods and wines close to home and beyond.

Chef Ryan Hardy easily blends the fast pace of the jet set Little Nell with the local agricultural community outside of Aspen. By melding two distinct cultures, he creates memorable food along with discovery and support of the region.

How often do you meet a chef who understands the complete process of the farm to table movement by actually doing it?

I had been keeping my eye on Chef Ryan Hardy for a while. I became aware of his involvement in the farm to table movement while spending last summer in Colorado, so I knew quite a bit about his 15 acre Rendezvous Farm, where he raises livestock in addition to handcrafting charcuterie, artisanal cheeses, and growing produce.

The purpose of the farm is sustainability, as Ryan creates culinary masterpieces from Rendezvous to support his seasonal menu at the Little Nell. Ryan understands the localization of the food and wine movement, as a new renaissance of agriculture emerges in the United States. Ryan states “ If you don’t have sustainability, why do it.?”

Originally from Kentucky, this celebrity chef understands the rich diversity of food and wine across the U.S. We spoke of the convergence of technology as the tool to obtain artisanal products and as a means to research and discover what is unique in other regions. While technology is the tool to get us there, it ultimately is food and wine that brings us face to face.

If you wonder why local foods cost more, quite simply it’s because we are looking back to history to get to the future. As small farms and wineries disappeared from the landscape, we lost our roots. As Ryan puts it, “People don’t know what they are consuming”. Unfortunately he couldn’t be more correct. Because of our lack of understanding with food production, we are now paying for that loss of history-which has led to trial and error farming in the agrarian community.

Simply put Ryan states “if it grows together it goes together.” While he is talking about food, think about it in a business sense, if you support a local winery, chances are you will start to support the creamery down the street, search for the grass fed beef up the road, while stopping at the produce stand in town. If you support one local producer, you support the region. If grows together it goes together indeed.

Once the hour was up, I felt, well, a little high from meeting such a unique and caring presence in the culinary community. As I tasted the pungent earthiness of Ryan’s hand made charcuterie paired with the delightful dance of the fermented house made pickles, I felt I was tasting something uniquely Colorado with the insight that it was created by a man who raised the pigs, farmed the earth, and made the meal.

Quite simply put, he is brilliant.

With the agritourism movement people are becoming more wise to their choices as they begin to understand sustainability by supporting local food and wine producers. Winerybound assists you with creating GPS ready tours in addition to saving and sharing them with your Facebook and Winerybound friends. By supporting agricultural businesses close to home, you to become the local food and wine expert by sharing your travels’ and tastes with reviews that integrate into your facebook page. I invite you to become Winerybound and support the local foods and wines close to home and beyond.

I am embarrassed to say that when my mother and I came upon Jack Rabbit Hill, she made a comment about the state of the vines, in which a heartily agreed. “Oh my goodness the vineyard looks unkempt.” Little did we know that the caretakers were sheep who were actually doing a great job keeping the vineyard healthy.

And so began my day at Jack Rabbit Hill with Lance Hanson. My ill conceived notion that all vines should have statues, rose bushes, and irrigation systems was about to be turned rightly so on it’s head. After all there is no bull in biodynamic.

So what is biodynamic farming? Some call it agricultural witchcraft. I envision naked dancing under a full moon in the vineyard- sounds like my kind of date. But I believe that Randal Graham said it best:

“Biodynamic growing practices are not old wives’ tales or marketing flim-flam. These practices respect and heal the vineyard and by extension the earth. While it may not be the only way to grow great wine, I do, in fact believe that it is the royal road to terroir.”

Lance is an amazing person to learn from, and I felt like I got a great lesson about vineyard management. Respect the vine.

Through our conversations I realized that some of the things that I thought were the right vineyard practices were maybe the wrong ones. For instance, I worked with a winery that had a problem with song birds. So I watched as they brought in a variety of techniques to solve the problem, from cannons, to streamers, to falcons, and owls. Now that I think about it the vineyard was a regular fourth of july. Which is perfect for them because those are the wines they produce-beautiful, in your face, big fruit bomb, spectacles.

Lance had a different take on the issue- manipulating the vines by over irrigation produced too much fruit which attracted large numbers of song birds. Not to forget that it creates more work, and yields higher sugar content during the winemaking process.

I liked Lances perspective, let a vine be a vine, let it grow and take root in the manner it is supposed to. Take care of it with its surroundings, and help it flourish as nature intended.

As I sat on his porch tasting his portfolio, I felt a deep sense of peacefulness around me. And the wines, they were so delicate and delightfully pure- 100% unique to Jack Rabbit Hill. As we sat and tasted on the front porch, I felt that I too had become part of Lance’s delightful microcosm.