Leading Burgundy expert Bertrand Leulliette will be joined on Saturday, November 14 by Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman and Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht as they discuss the wines of Vosne Romanée and taste through wines from one of its most celebrated producers, Domaine Anne Gros.
Bertrand will be leading the guided tasting and offering detailed notes on each parcel and the domaine’s winemaking style. He’ll also be talking about the changing-of-the-guard at the domaine as Julie Gros, the winery’s current generation, begins overseeing winemaking there.
Saturday, November 14 Winemaker Seminar: The Village of Vosne Romanée with Bertrand Leulliette featuring Domaine Anne Gros
1:00 p.m. MST
Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman, Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht, and importer Bertrand Leulliette will host this special virtual seminar featuring some of the most celebrated wines of the Vosne Romanée.
The 2020 Boulder Burgundy Festival gets its start this Friday with a winemaker seminar featuring Dominque Lafon and the wines of Domaine des Comtes Lafon (see details and registration info below).
Dominque has been called “one of the most talented winemakers in all Burgundy and one of its most inquiring minds.” Decanter magazine has called him “the world’s best producer of white wine.”
Dominque’s family has owned the storied Domaine des Comtes Lafon since 1865. It includes 14 hectares planted to vine in the communes of Volnay, Monthélie, Chassagne-Montrachet, and Meursault where the estate is located. It also hold the unique distinction of being the owner of the all the premier crus in Meursault.
Dominique will be joined by Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht and importer Daniel Johnnes for what is sure to be an unforgettable tasting and discussion of Domaine Comtes Lafon’s extraordinary wines.
Friday, November 6 Winemaker Seminar: Domaine des Comtes Lafon
with Dominique Lafon
10:00 a.m. MST
Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht will join importer Daniel Johnnes and Dominique Lafon to discuss the superb Burgundy wines of Domaine des Comtes Lafon and Domaine Dominique Lafon.
As Brett explains in the video above, this year’s festival will be entirely virtual: He and his team, together with the festival’s title sponsor, Coravin, have been working to ensure that the online events will be as enjoyable and compelling as always.
Please see all events below, including links to reserve and select your wines.
Brett and Boulder Wine Merchant were able to obtain exclusive allocations of the wines this year. This means that festival attendees will be the first in the state to have the opportunity to purchase them.
The Boulder Wine Merchant is also offering a special promotion on Coravin systems:
Any combined Burgundy wine purchase over $2,000 will receive a Model 3 Coravin FREE! ($200 Value)
Any combined Burgundy wine purchase over $4,000 will receive a Model 6 Coravin FREE! ($400 Value)
Any combined Burgundy wine purchase over $5,000 will receive a Model 11 Coravin FREE! ($500 Value)
For those not familiar with the Coravin wine preservation system, they allow you to pour the wine from the bottle without removing the cork.
Additionally, anyone registered for an event can also purchase a discounted Coravin system directly on the Coravin website. Use this code for a 10 percent discount: CCR06R0OLZ
Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht will be joining us this year for a special seminar featuring Domaine des Comtes Lafon (see below).
PLEASE NOTE: Attendees are not required to purchase wines in order attend events. And all events (except the Frasca at Home dinner) are FREE to anyone who would like to participate. Attendees have the option of making a donation to our charity partners. All donations will go directly to our partners.
Please check out the video above for Brett’s notes. And we look forward to “seeing” you at this year’s festival!
Boulder Burgundy Festival
Celebrating 10 years.
Friday, November 6 Winemaker Seminar: Domaine des Comtes Lafon
with Dominique Lafon
10:00 a.m. MST
Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht will join importer Daniel Johnnes and Dominique Lafon to discuss the superb Burgundy wines of Domaine des Comtes Lafon and Domaine Dominique Lafon.
Friday, November 13 Nuits-Saint-Georges Seminar featuring the wines of Domaine Robert Chevillon
with Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman and Lyle Railsback of Kermit Lynch
1:00 p.m. MST
Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman and Lyle Railsback of Kermit Lynch will walk guests through the storied Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation featuring the wines of Domaine Robert Chevillon.
Saturday, November 14 Winemaker Seminar: The Village of Vosne Romanée with Bertrand Leulliette featuring Domaine Anne Gros
1:00 p.m. MST
Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman, Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht, and importer Bertrand Leulliette will host this special virtual seminar featuring some of the most celebrated wines of the Vosne Romanée.
Sunday, November 15 At Home with Frasca Food and Wine
Reservations can be made online HERE. View menu by clicking HERE.
Frasca Food and Wine exclusive “At Home with Frasca Food and Wine” ~ A Burgundy-inspired menu with wine pairing.
Scheduled Pickup will be available in Boulder (at Frasca) on Sunday, November 15 from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. and Denver (at Tavernetta) from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Ordering Deadline: Friday, November 13 at 5:30 p.m. MST. Only 100 meals available.
Dinner for 2: $200.00 + tax & optional gratuity (includes a $25 donation to our charity partners).
Includes full menu & bottle of 2018 Didier Fornerol Côte de Nuits-Villages. This menu contains dairy and gluten. Please email reservations@frascafoodandwine.com or call (303) 442-6966 for more info.
We recommend placing your orders before the event to enjoy the wines while engaging in the conversation.
Special pricing on Coravin wine preservation systems available!
Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht will join importer Daniel Johnnes and Dominique Lafon to discuss the superb Burgundy wines of Domaine des Comtes Lafon and Domaine Dominique Lafon.
Friday, November 13 Nuits-Saint-Georges Seminar featuring the wines of Domaine Robert Chevillon
with Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman and Lyle Railsback of Kermit Lynch
1:00 p.m. MST
Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman and Lyle Railsback of Kermit Lynch will walk guests through the storied Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation featuring the wines of Domaine Robert Chevillon.
Saturday, November 14 Winemaker Seminar: The Village of Vosne Romanée with Bertrand Leulliette featuring Domaine Anne Gros
1:00 p.m. MST
Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman, Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht, and importer Bertrand Leulliette will host this special virtual seminar featuring some of the most celebrated wines of the Vosne Romanée.
Sunday, November 15 At Home with Frasca Food and Wine
Reservations can be made online HERE. View menu by clicking HERE.
Frasca Food and Wine exclusive “At Home with Frasca Food and Wine” ~ A Burgundy-inspired menu with wine pairing.
Scheduled Pickup will be available in Boulder (at Frasca) on Sunday, November 15 from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. and Denver (at Tavernetta) from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Ordering Deadline: Friday, November 13 at 5:30 p.m. MST. Only 100 meals available.
Dinner for 2: $200.00 + tax & optional gratuity (includes a $25 donation to our charity partners).
Includes full menu & bottle of 2018 Didier Fornerol Côte de Nuits-Villages. This menu contains dairy and gluten. Please email reservations@frascafoodandwine.com or call (303) 442-6966 for more info.
We recommend placing your orders before the event to enjoy the wines while engaging in the conversation.
Special pricing on Coravin wine preservation systems available!
As in years past, the featured producer dinner and seminar were highlights from this year’s Boulder Burgundy Festival.
That’s Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman (above, left), founder and organizer of the Boulder Burgundy Festival, with Mersault grower and winemaker Jean-Marc Roulot who is widely considered to be one of the world’s greatest producers of white wine.
Both Brett and Jean-Marc spoke at the festival’s Saturday evening dinner at Frasca Food and Wine, hosted by Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey, who also gave a short talk as he introduced them.
Before Jean-Marc’s legendary wines from Mersault were served, he also shared tastes of wines from a new project that he’s created together with Italian winemaker Piero Incisa della Rocchetta (of Tenuta San Guido fame).
Starting in 2017, Jean-Marc began making Chardonnay at Piero’s Bodega Chacra in Argentina. It was one of the first times the wines had been tasted in the U.S.
Jean-Marc was leaving shortly for South America, he said, to taste the new vintages (harvested in February of 2019).
But perhaps the biggest treat of all was Jean-Marc’s guided tasting and seminar on Sunday morning when guests had the opportunity to taste five wines from Jean-Marc’s 2017 vintage, including the Roulot monopole Clos des Bouchères (1er cru) and Corton Charlemagne (grand cru).
One of the most remarkable things about the tasting was Jean-Marc’s talk. After the event, many of the guests noted how he discussed the wines with a forthrightness unusual for winemakers, never glossing over his own challenges in winemaking.
When the “Roulot method” came up, for example, he was quick to dismiss the notion that he invented it. It refers to a white winemaking approach whereby the wines are fermented in cask and then aged in stainless-steel vats before bottling. It was developed by Jean-Marc and other producers in the 1990s and today many American Chardonnay growers have embraced it. But as Jean-Marc was eager to point out, he was not the first to do it.
Jean-Marc was disarmingly humble, immensely charming and funny, and very earnest to talk about what makes Mersault and Domaine Roulot such a unique place to make wine. Everyone in attendance agreed that it was one of the best seminars in the festival’s nine-year history.
Over the years, the Paulée Lunch has become the gathering’s marquee event, capturing the esprit of the festival. This year’s Paulée was no exception. And as always, the wines that made their way around the room were exceptional.
Be sure to visit the Facebook photo album (at the bottom of this post) for more food and wine highlights.
Boulder Burgundy Festival 2019 Day 2 started off with a fantastic seminar on “Outer Borough Burgundy” with (above, from left) winemakers Laurent Mouton and Ludivine Ambroise, their U.S. importer Bertrand Leulliette, and Master of Wine Ashley Hausman.
As wines from Burgundy have become increasingly expensive and emerging markets have begun to compete for already tight allocations, the wine trade — from importers to restaurateurs, retailers, and consumers — are looking toward “under the radar” AOCs.
Festival-goers were led on a guided tasting of wines from Ladoix, Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, and Givry as the panelists discussed these relatively unknown appellations and growing areas.
The panelists also led a lively discussion about Aligoté, its historic role and legacy in Burgundy, and why it deserves our attention today.
Yesterday evening, Laurent and Ludivine were the featured winemakers at Arcana restaurant where guests enjoyed scallops topped with black truffles and duck confit served with grits as they tasted some of the growers’ top wines.
The 9th annual Boulder Burgundy Festival began yesterday evening with an extraordinary tasting of “Old and Rare” wines selected from the Somm Foundation cellar.
This historic collection of wines got its start in 2002 when benefactors Kathy and Jeff Johnston donated $1 million worth of wine to the foundation.
In the words of Master Sommelier Jay Fletcher, who selected the wines for last night’s event and presented the spectacular flight, the gift inspired Jay and a group of his colleagues to launch “the Guild of Sommeliers Education Foundation in order to use this great gift from the Johnston’s collection to enlighten aspiring sommeliers. We worked to create a great online educational wine compendium while also raising money for scholarships and enrichment trips to help those in need.”
Last night’s sold-out event helped to raise money for future scholarships and travel opportunities for up-and-coming sommeliers and wine professionals.
As Jay noted at the end of the tasting, many of the bottles he’s used over the years for the Boulder Burgundy Festival tastings have been “onesies,” in other words, the very last bottles from a given lot. After so many years, the collection is coming to an end, he said, making last night’s event a truly historic one.
Special thanks to Jay, his team of volunteer sommeliers, and Mateo restaurant who hosted the event and offered guests a wonderful spread of delicious Burgundy-friendly food.
On Sunday, November 3, the Boulder Burgundy Festival will be hosting its Grand Tasting event at the Embassy Suites Hotel. As in years past, we will be featuring more than 200 top wines from Burgundy. It’s an extraordinary tasting and a fantastic value.
“It’s a great way to get to taste a lot wines you wouldn’t be able to and in one place,” said one top wine professional in attendance last year.
Whether you’re just beginning to dive into Burgundy or trying to hone your tasting chops, it’s a wonderful way to taste and interact with leading wine professionals from around the country.
And of course, nearly all the wines presented at the event are available for sale through the Boulder Wine Merchant.
Domaine Roulot has always been among the best producers of Chardonnay in Burgundy. Under the guidance of Jean-Marc Roulot, the domaine is now amongst the few whose wines are always sold out even before they are in bottle. Jean Marc’s wines have the same precision and energy as the individual. Like the man, they are full of spirit and intensity.
