Get TIO in your Inbox!

Events

[click "Play" to hear Steve Olsen discuss Telluride Wine Festival]
Pic_steve They are here in force. Telluride Wine Festivarians, the people who inhale audibly at the mere mention of the word "Bordeaux"  paired in the same sentence as the words "Chateaux Lafite Rothschild." But few of them condone torture in any form,  including phrases such as "afterthoughts of linden" and "fragrances of toasted milk bread," a few examples on a long list of poetic flights of fancy used to describe the almighty grape.

In winespeak, certain terms are universal – but nearly incomprehensible unless you happen to be in the trade and forced to pronounce words such as "malolactic" to make your assessment understood. (A close translation is creamy.) Unless you happen to be in the trade and are on a mission to make tasting fun by removing the intimidation factor and all the aforementioned pretense. Meet Steve Olson, aka wine geek, and co-director of the 28th annual Telluride Wine Festival.

Grapes may be persnickety. Steve is not.

25 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Paolo Canclini]

Foto%20cavaliere%20e%20frutta (Editors note: We have corrected an error later in the story. The Italian Reserve event at the View is Friday, 2:30-4:00)

This weekend, June 25 – June 28, Telluride celebrates great wines and great food, and, for the 28th annual Telluride Wine Festival, local and restauranteur Paolo Canclini (Rustico, La Piazza, The View)  has invited two distinguished guests to town.

There is little doubt where Franco Cavalero of St. Agata or Emiliano Alessi would come down in the ongoing debate among oenophiles between terroirists and wine-making scientists/technophiles: location, location, location.

25 June, 2009 /
[click "Play' to hear Mark English interview]

English_farm_to_market_road_sm Mark English is in Telluride this weekend – at least in spirit. The newest paintings of this great artist/illustrator are now on display Telluride Gallery of Fine Art. The foggy foggy dew image that became the poster for the 28th annual Telluride Wine Festival is also his.

What is the syntax that unifies Mark English's magical, mystical paintings? Are there any governing principles that unite them? If you guessed that images of Native Americans, a ghost rider, a toy town, and farmscape suggest a rural Western past filtered through memory onto a canvas, you would be right.

Mark English was born in 1933 and raised in the rear view mirror town of Hubbard,Texas, which lies northeast of Waco. This no-count address once called Slap-out is a patchwork of farms, cotton fields, and snaking creeks and country roads, just exactly what is pictured in his "Farm to Market Road."

24 June, 2009 /
[click"Play" to hear Doug Frost on the Wine Fest]

Studio His handle is "wine dog" and he is always learning new tricks.

The Telluride Wine Fest is pleased to welcome back film critic Doug Frost. No, we have not conflated our festivals. Yes, we know the 28th annual gathering of poets of pinot is this coming weekend, June 25 - 28,  and that the Telluride Film Festival is not until early September. We are, however, just stating the facts of Doug's robust life.

Doug's bio begins modesty: "Doug Frost is a Kansas City author who writes and lectures about wine, beer and spirits." That is a bit like saying Leonardo was a guy who drew nice lines and invented war machines. All true, but that's just scratching the surface. Doug was only 15 when he had his Archimedes-in-the-bathtub moment upon tasting his first glass of Louis Martini 1968 Special Select Pinot Noir: Eureka! The rest is now part of the history of wine in the making.

24 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Eliza Gavin's interview]
Eliza_book-2
Warning: do not read further if you are on a diet (again) or it's been a few hours since you ate your last meal. The mouthwatering menu at Eliza Gavin's Telluride eatery, "221 South Oak," is an eclectic blend of flavors and styles.

The mix at Eliza's table reflects the chef's southern heritage. She was raised in Richmond, Virginia and ran her first kitchen while attending college at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Her extensive travels –   Europe, the Caribbean, New Zealand, Australia, and all over the United States,  Seattle, Boston, Nantucket, the Chesapeake Bay, the Deep South and California – are likewise reflected on the plate, as is her rigorous training.

24 June, 2009 /

The Telluride Bluegrass Festivarian and bride-to-be was hanging on to the gate, shaking a shoe and frantically waving a cardboard sign which read "Play My Wedding," at the band on stage. Kay Vollmayer was not disappointed.Greensky Bluegrass, former band contest winners and new Festival...

23 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Chef Richard Chen on the Telluride Wine Festival]

Chef Richard Chen - Wing Lei photo by Barbara Kraft

Forget what you remember about the Chinese food from your childhood when superstar chef Richard Chen comes to town for the 28th annual Telluride Wine Festival. We are not talking about Moo goo gai anything. We are talking strictly uptown: "Reverse fusion." Chef Chen's food is French-influenced Shanghai, a mix of Shanghai, Cantonese, and Szechwan cuisines. His restaurant, Wing Lei at The Wynn, Las Vegas, is the only Chinese eatery in North America to have earned a Michelin star and the AAA Four Diamond award, also in 2008.

Cooking is in Chef Chen's  DNA. He began his career at the age of seven, working in his parents’ restaurant in his native Taiwan, and continued to work in their kitchen after the family established a restaurant in suburban Chicago.

23 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Maria Bachman on the concert series]

Telluride 2009 5
The seven year itch may ring true for marriages, but fans of the Telluride Musicfest have grown more ardent over the years – and with good reason. The heavy breathing always begins when the Hungarian beauty picks up her 18th century instrument, a Niccolo Gagliano violin, and starts fiddling: The ensuing pyrotechnics mesmerize.

She is Maria Bachman, artistic director of the Telluride Musicfest and a member of the Trio Solisti, recently described by The New Yorker as "the most exciting piano trio in America." The musical materiality between her and her colleagues,  Alexis Pia Gerlach on cello and Jon Klibonoff on piano, is the reason: their complicity is perfect and other-worldly. They play as one.

23 June, 2009 /

by Daiva Chesonis

Otdofsccoversmall[1] Penguin Books author Kaya McLaren is touring Colorado. She will be in Telluride at Between the Covers Bookstore & Café on Tuesday, June 23, 7-9 p.m. to read from and discuss her latest novel “On the Divinity of Second Chances.”  This is our first-ever Book Clubs Mixer. A store full of women who like to read-'n'-discuss plus some wine … what could be more fun, right?"

If you’ve ever been given (or given someone else) a second chance, you’ll relate. If you live in a ski town, you’ll relate. (She actually started the novel on a snow day!) If you have children going in a multitude of directions, you’ll relate. If you think dancing can save a relationship, you’ll relate. If you’re menopausal, you’ll relate.

Kaya McLaren's previous book is "The Church of the Dog."  She’s as enthusiastic about living as she is about dogs. (Can you relate?) With weekly closings of some of America’s finest independent bookstores, gathering at creaky floored shops and talking about books is more important than ever. Thanks for your continued support of Telluride’s indie bookstore … We’re only as good as our readers!
 
22 June, 2009 /