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[click "Play" to hear Deidra Krois on the Festival]

RF09_poster Ridgway, Colorado, is much more than a bedroom community for Telluride.

The town is famous – or infamous – as the location for several movies, including "How the West Was Won," and one of actor John Wayne's late great movies, "True Grit," (1969), in which Wayne stars as Rooster Cogburn. The True Grit Cafe is filled with John Wayne memorabilia, but as far as we know, no drunken, one-eyed federal marshals.

Ridgway boasts an abundance of wildlife: mountain lions, badgers, deer, elk, bears, coyotes, and bald eagles are indigenous to the area. And a river runs through it.

The Uncompaghre is a great source for trout fishing and this weekend, the focus of Ridgway's second annual River Festival. The Mosaic Community Project, a local nonprofit dedicated to sustainable living practices, environmental awareness, and the arts, organized the FREE watershed celebration,11 a.m – 9 p.m., downtown, in and around Rollans Park.

26 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Kristin on gladiator shoes]

IMG_0232 According to Telluride Inside... and Out's fashion maven Kristin Holbrook of Two Skirts, this summer in Telluride and around the country the focus is definitely on being a slave to fashion – starting from the bottom up with your shoes.

Gladiator shoes were first spotted in the Spring 2005 collections of Balenciaga and Imitation of Christ, In its four-year run, the style was reinterpreted by designers from Azzedine Alaia to Aldo. The trend really gathered a head of steam when a pair of gladiator spikes were spotted on Sarah Jessica Parker in "Sex and the City," the movie, last summer.

26 June, 2009 /
[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 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 /
[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 Bouqion interview]

Bertrand New 1-07dCopy You may hear unfamiliar murmurings on the streets of Telluride this weekend. The conversation won't be about dogs on sacred tracts of land or the local economy.
The talk may be about "terroir" versus technology. This weekend is all about drinking wine, consuming copious amounts of fabulous food. It is the 28th annual Telluride Wine Festival.

The French word “terroir,” from a Latin root meaning “earth,” describes the relationship between a given wine and the place that wine comes from. The ongoing debate in the wine world about “terroir” versus technology asks the question: Is wine about some place or about the expertise of someone, aided by technology? At its heart, however, the debate is all about the Old World, meaning primarily France, telling the New World, meaning places like Napa, it’s all about the land stupid: We have had it for centuries. You are upstarts.

22 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Kristin Holbrook on scarves]
IMG_1565 It's Friday in Telluride, the end of the week, a great day to tie one on. But I am not talking about bending the elbow at a favorite watering hole. I am talking about scarves.

According to Telluride Inside and Out's fashion expert, Kristin Holbrook of Two Skirts, scarves, classically associated with cold weather, are, the hottest summer fashion accessory and about as glam as it gets. Think anew Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Sarah Jessica Parker (aka. Carrie) in "Sex and the City."

More recently, Jennifer Aniston was photographed on the set of her lastest movie, "the baster," wearing a cashmere silk number by faliero sarti. Other A-list actors and models, including Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon and Heidi Klum, are similarly all wrapped up.

19 June, 2009 /

[click to hear Dr. Ptak speak about skin rejuvenation] Obama's stimulus package is meant to address our sagging economy. Telluride's Dr. Jeff Ptak, a board certified plastic surgeon with a private practice in town, has a stimulus package of his own to address your sagging...

19 June, 2009 /