On a late-summer afternoon warmed by the high-altitude sun and scented with scrubby sagebrush, I followed a trail with other riders, occasionally tugging the reins as my horse grazed on tall grass. The wranglers warned against “eating on the job,” but I did not fault the animal — we were all looking forward to liquid rewards after our dusty ride.
© Kelly Magyarics
The ride was part of a themed Wine Weekend at Brush Creek Ranch, one of three historic guest ranches on a 30,000-acre working cattle spread in Wyoming’s North Platte River Valley. The ranch partners with winemakers and trades chefs with other resorts to create multi-day, grape-focused events. During my visit, Todd and Sarah Anderson of Napa’s Ghost Horse Vineyards poured small-production, high-end Cabernet Sauvignon that quickly became a guest favorite.
Over three days, guests mingled and tasted during a welcome reception, a winemaker’s dinner in the resort cellar, a weekend brunch and an afternoon of horseback riding. After a two-hour ride with sweeping views for miles, we rode down to a picturesque riverbank where resort wine director Sydney Werry greeted us with glasses of Ghost Horse Chardonnay and Cabernet, alongside cheeses from the on-site creamery and elk charcuterie.
Brush Creek Ranch recently concluded this season’s Wine Weekends and will announce the 2024 schedule soon. In the meantime, visitors can still enjoy the resort’s immersive wine and spirits offerings at The Farm: a 94-yard-long wine cellar housing roughly 35,000 bottles, with a focus on Bordeaux and large-format vintages — one of the largest resort collections in the world. Nearby, the dim Spirits Vault stores about a hundred of the rarest bottles, including storied names like The Macallan 1950 and Pappy Van Winkle’s 23-year-old Family Reserve, available for tastings on request.
© Kelly Magyarics
Next door, Brush Creek Distillery crafts small-batch spirits, with several special editions standing out. The Heroes Edition Bourbon blends red, white and blue corn bourbons from Indiana and offers a sweet caramel-corn character. The Railroad Rye is a peppery, textured whiskey aged with a storytelling twist: barrels were rolled on a rail cart to simulate historic transcontinental travel, echoing the fluctuations in temperature and motion of sea-aged spirits.
Guests can savor wine, spirits and cocktails across the resort’s three dining venues. My favorite lunch was in the Pioneer Room, where sweeping views pair with a menu that blends rustic ingredients and refined techniques — dishes like Wagyu burnt ends with pickled onions and an Õra salmon bowl with edamame illustrate the balance of hearty and delicate flavors.
Those plates would have paired nicely with a chilled rosé, but I skipped it to save room for post-lunch activities: tackling simulated moose and bears on the archery course, followed by target practice with rifles and handguns at the range. No worries — an Adirondack chair and a happy-hour glass waited on the Saloon’s front porch, where the vast Wyoming landscape stretched out before me.