Exceptional wine service requires thoughtful planning, precision, and focus.

And when you’re dealing with top Burgundy wines like those we’ll be pouring at the Boulder Burgundy Festival next month, attention to detail in event planning is key.

There are many moving parts in a festival like this and everything has to be perfect.

That’s why we turn to Heather Dwight, Boulder-based event planner and owner of Calluna Events, to run the festival.

It’s now the second year in a row that she’ll be working with us. But our relationship goes beyond our partnership for the yearly Burgundy gathering.

Throughout the course of the year, we work with her and her team on private and public wine events that we organize, from intimate tastings for high-level collectors to wine-themed parties.

And in turn, Boulder Wine Merchant owner and Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman consults with Calluna on the wines it serves at its own events.

“We partner with Boulder Wine Merchant and Brett,” says Heather, “with clients ranging from small, intimate dinner parties with wine pairings as a focus to larger cocktail parties and wedding receptions. We truly value the partnerships we have with Boulder Wine Merchant because it allows us to provide expert resources to our clients from a Master Sommelier when navigating their choices for wines for their event.”

So when every glass (or “stem” as they are called in the trade) has been polished and everything is set to go, it’s thanks to Heather and her team that the magic happens.

Click here to learn more about Heather and Calluna Events.

Above: The 2014 harvest team at Domaine Lignier Michelot (image via the Domaine Lignier Michelot Facebook).

As you peruse the many pages and posts about winemaker and grape grower Virgile Lignier Michelot and his family’s winery, Domaine Lignier Michelot, you find that nearly every one of the great Burgundy writers and trade insiders points to a fundamental shift in the winery when Virgile began making the wines in 2000, taking over for his father.

He underwent “an epiphany in the vineyard,” writes the legendary Burgundy merchant Becky Wasserman on her site.

She echoes a note from her son Peter: “Virgile has changed his philosophy from one of technical winemaker to passionate vitculturist where all energy is spent on ensuring the growth of the very best vines and letting the wine make itself.”

“Father and son had worked well together and without conflict,” writes Burgundy blogger and author Bill Nanson on his excellent site Burgundy Report.

“But in 2000, right from the start, Virgile chose to make changes that reflected his own philosophy — mainly in the vines. Green pruning and working the soil without herbicides were the starting point.”

(We highly recommend Bill’s profile of Virgile and the Domaine, including notes on the growing sites and a handful of tasting notes for some of the top wines.)

Peter perhaps puts it best in an anecdote about an early tasting with Virgile:

It was at a tasting in 2001 at the Domaine that Virgile pulls me off to the side.

Now, Virgile is a man with intensity and infectious energy. I was very excited. And I haven’t been let down since as his wines have continued to climb since that day.

Virgile represents a growing movement of young winemakers in Burgundy who have embraced transparency and anti-interventionism in winemaking over manipulation and technology.

After all, it’s the materia prima — Virgile’s “raw material” — that makes the wine, not the winemakers.

We’re thrilled that Virgile will be joining us at the Boulder Burgundy Festival this year.

Click here for details on the Friday, November 21 dinner to be held at Flagstaff House in his honor.

“Vintage after vintage,” begins his bio on the Domaine d’Angerville website, “Guillaume d’Angerville has run the Domaine Marquis d’Angerville preserving the fundamental values he inherited from his predecessors: precision, respect for the great terroirs, and humility in the face of nature’s surprises.”

It’s hard to imagine a better description of his family’s legacy and approach to winemaking.

The famed Volnay estate and winemaker behind some of the appellation’s most profound expressions is known throughout the world of Burgundy collectors and connoisseurs as a champion of restraint in winemaking. “Minimalist intervention” in the cellar and “judicious use of oak” in aging the wines are the expressions that pop up in nearly every write-up you’ll find.

During Burgundy’s dark period between the two world wars, the Marquis d’Angerville was a pioneer in battling corruption and championing quality. And he was also among the first to produce estate-bottled wines, an fundamental shift in the négociant system of the time.

Jacques d’Angerville took over the winemaking in the 1950s and his non-interventionist style and work in developing the estate’s unique Pinot Noir clone, Pinot d’Angerville, made the winery one of the most celebrated producers of fine wines in the world.

Guillaume, above, who worked as banker until his father’s passing, returned to run the domaine in 2003 and — just as his bio reads — embraced the same values of previous generations.

Perhaps the only difference in the way the wines are raised today is the fact that the winery is now a Demeter-certified biodynamic grower and winemaker.

Unfortunately, the Boulder Burgundy Festival’s Domaine d’Angerville dinner is already sold out. But there is still availability for the Domaine d’Angerville seminar, which will be led by Guillaume himself.

The organizers are thrilled to have him return to the festival.

Image via the Domaine Marquis d’Angerville website.

From the Growe Foundation website: By providing children with engaging educational experiences that connect them to food, how it’s grown and why fruits and vegetables are essential to their diet, we aim to address the childhood health issues and the environmental problems facing society.

Any parent in the U.S. will tell you the same thing: getting your kids, especially toddlers, to eat fresh fruit and vegetables can be a trying experience.

And it’s a universal problem that cuts across economic and geographic lines. Beyond a given family’s economic means or lack thereof, children from all walks of life in the U.S. are incessantly bombarded by advertising and marketing (often subtle or veiled) for processed food.

“98% of the $2 billion in food and beverage advertisements viewed by children,” writes Bryce Brown on his Growe Foundation’s website, “are for products that are high in fat, sugar or sodium.”

Brown created the foundation after many years of watching children suffer from chronic disease in the hospitals where he was working as a management consultant.

“[He] became troubled by the number of children with health issues,” he writes, “and the increasing role that environmental problems were having on disease. With a vision to create a healthier future for kids.

And so “he began thinking about how schools could play a role in helping children learn about healthy eating and caring for the environment.”

Today, “by providing children with engaging educational experiences that connect them to food, how it’s grown and why fruits and vegetables are essential to their diet,” he and his Growe Foundation “aim to address the childhood health issues and the environmental problems facing society.”

The Growe Foundation is one of the official causes of the Boulder Burgundy Festival.

Proceeds from select events will be donated to the foundation.

Click here to learn more about Bryce’ vision and work.

Davis Phinney (above, left, with his wife Connie Carpenter) is a true American hero.

He’s one of the most successful competitive cyclists in U.S. history.

And he’s also the man behind the Davis Phinney Foundation, which strives “to help people living with Parkinson’s to live well today.”

From the Davis Phinney Foundation website:

In 1993, after almost 20 years of nearly unprecedented success as a cyclist, Davis retired from pro cycling. His last professional win set yet another record that is still unbroken; he finished the legendary “Hotter Than Hell 100″ in Texas in an amazing 3hrs. 23 minutes. To this day, no one has ridden faster.

Today, Davis lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife of 25 years, Connie Carpenter-Phinney, and their children Taylor and Kelsey. Davis continues to celebrate the daily victories in his life and inspires others with his message of optimism and encouragement.

The Davis Phinney Foundation is one of the Boulder Burgundy Festival’s official causes.

Proceeds from select festival events will be donated to the foundation and the event organizers hope to raise awareness of its mission through the festival’s social media campaign. Thanks for being here and for letting us share Davis’ story.

Image via HeyDay Creative.

Above, from left: Robert Bohr and Rajat Parr at last year’s festival.

Grant Reynolds, Charlie Bird, NYC
Eric Railsback, Les Merchands, Santa Barbara
Jordan Salcito, Momofuku, NYC
Robert Bohr, Grand Cru Selections, NYC
Rajat Parr, Sandhi and Domaine de la Cote Wines, Santa Barbara
Mark Bright, Saison, San Francisco
Jay Fletcher, MS, Director of Fine Wine for Southern Wine and Spirits, Aspen
Carlton McCoy, MS, Wine Director of the Little Nell Hotel, Aspen
Chubby Oveges, Assistant Food and Beverage of the Little Nell Hotel, Aspen
Matt Mather, Sommelier with Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder
Carlin Karr, Sommelier with Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder
Bobby Stuckey, MS, Owner of Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder
Richard Betts, MS My Essential Wines, Sombra, Scratch & Sniff Wine Book
Carla Rzeszewski, TLU Wine Co.
Brett Zimmerman, MS, Owner of Boulder Wine Merchant, Boulder
Jonathan Pullis, Chefs Club, Aspen