Days of wine and rosé: 30th annual Telluride Wine Fest, an overview

21 Jun Days of wine and rosé: 30th annual Telluride Wine Fest, an overview

[click “Play” to  hear Steve Swenson’s conversation with Susan]

“I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food,” W.C. Fields

One of the longest running wine festivals Colorado, the Telluride Wine Festival, celebrates its 30th anniversary over a long weekend, beginning Wednesday, June 22, 5 – 7 p.m. The event starts with an opening reception at La Piazza in Mountain Village, where patrons get to mingle with guest speakers, guest chefs, homeowners, and members of the Telluride Ski & Golf Club.

Mountainfilm in Telluride and Telluride Bluegrass are festivals for folks. Both have reputations for a welcome-to-the-neighborhood feel. But Wine Fest? Is it all about a sleek, well-heeled fraternity? Them, not us?

Not really. The lowdown on this purportedly highbrow event is this: the 30th anniversary offers something for everyone.

Friday, June 24, starting at 4:30 p.m., is the The Grand Tasting. This year that event takes place “uptown” on the picturesque back deck of The Peaks Resort & Spa, where about 50 exhibitors will be serving wine, spirits and beer to a projected 500 attendees. 

The Toast of Telluride is Saturday, June 25, starting at 4:30 p.m., “downtown” at 10 locations throughout the Town of Telluride, including galleries, parks, liquor stores, and Between the Covers bookstore.

Head back up the hill, again to The Peaks, on Sunday for the Telluride Wine Festival’s closing Sunday Brunch, June 26, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

The guest list of the 30th annual Telluride Wine Festival includes people who have rarely met a grape they did not like, starting with the Master of Ceremonies, the one and only Steve Olson, aka the wine geek, also a Festival co-director with Steve Swenson.

Master sommeliers include Doug Frost, Andrea Robison, Steven Geddes, Bobby Stuckey, Ken Fredrickson, Keith Goldston, and Greg Harrington.

One of the country’s top mixologists, Andy Seymour, returns to offer a Cocktail Seminar again this year.

The All-Star chef line-up includes Aaron Sanchez, Food Network/author; Sue Torres, owner/chef, Suenõs, New York; Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, co-owner of Frasca Food & Wine; plus Telluride’s very own Erich Owen, executive chef, the New Sheridan Hotel’s Chop House.

For a rundown of other noteworthy events, click the “play” button and listen to what Steven Swenson has to say.