Oenophiles rejoice: Wine and Food Festival is here

The sixth Annual Crested Butte Wine & Food Festival returns this summer, striving to enlighten and educate wine and foodie experts and novices with a variety of wine seminars, elevated dining events, and food pairings from Thursday, July 10 through Sunday, July 13.
Whether you’re a dedicated oenophile or someone who would just like to make it through a wine selection list at a restaurant without feeling lost, there is an event at the Wine & Food Festival for you. And whether you’re drawn to a summery melon undertone of the Chardonnay or a tobacco richness of the Syrah, you will find something here to excite your palate.
Local and visiting sommeliers and chefs structure the backbone. Venues are a variety of local restaurants and other downtown locales. If you thought acquiring even a smidge of a vintner’s knowledge was only for the rich and famous—think again. Here there are affordable ways to participate, as well as all-inclusive festival passes that proudly push the pocketbook.
The bonus of the festival is that not only does it serve as an excellent opportunity to learn about wine and dine on fabulous food, but funds garnered from each event help financially support the Center for the Arts. The center provides a home for the arts in Crested Butte with live performances in music, dance, theatre, and comedy, as well as classes in the visual arts and dance. With a core value of accessibility, inclusiveness and diversity to the arts, the center strives to create a facility whose doors are open to everyone.
So cheers everyone, and let the tasting begin!

Learning about wine
One of the best ways to experience the festival is by partaking in one of the seven wine seminars spread throughout the four days at an assortment of times.
Certainly begin with the “Wine 101” workshop during the Kickoff Party on Thursday. From there if you would like to focus on a particular varietal, there is “Roses—Man Enough to Drink Pink” or “Wines from the Rhone Region of France.” You can concentrate on anything from Malbecs to breakfast drinks outside of Bloody Marys and Mimosas. There’s even a cocktail mixology workshop.
Each workshop is led by a certified sommelier to be a true learning experience (as well as an opportunity to taste some fine wines). Both local sommeliers, such as Aaron Tomcak or Judy Byron, as well as visiting Master Sommelier Damon Ornowski, will be conducting the workshops.
All workshops are held throughout local restaurants such as Maxwell’s Steakhouse, Montanya’s Distillery, Marchitelli’s Gourmet Noodle, or Tracker’s Lounge. Seminars are $40 each, and you can take just one, or all seven.

The Food
What would wine be without its constant companion of fine food? To tantalize your taste buds, there are several foodie events at the festival as well.
For a small taste, try the “Dessert Extravaganza” on Saturday with pastry chef Noah French of Sugarmill. For over 20 years Chef Noah has run pastry programs around the world, inspired by an initiatory experience with a chocolate-pistachio mousse cake.
Or, end the weekend right with the luxurious “Bursting with Bubbles” Sunday champagne brunch at Bonez with Chef David Wooding and Sommelier Aaron Tomcak exploring all those delightful nose-tickling varietals.
The crème de la crème of dining at the Wine & Food Festival are the Celebrity Chef Tour, Winemaker and Farm to Table dinners. Featuring multi-course meals prepared by top chefs from around the country—including ones from Crested Butte—this is fine dining at its peak. If these options whet your appetite, act now—as tickets are almost gone.
Thursday night features Chef Kate Ladoulis (Django’s) working with Chef Troy Guard (TAG, Denver), Chef Lon Symensma (ChoLon, Denver) and Chef Eric Jaeger (CBMR, Crested Butte) at Uley’s Cabin.
The Friday night Winemaker Dinner is held at a private home, showcasing the best of Crested Butte with Chef Jason Vernon (Soupçon Bistro) leading the charge, along with Chef Michael Marchitelli (Marchitelli’s Gourmet Noodle) and Chef de Cuisine David Wooding (The Red Room).
One special guest, winemaker Joe Buckel of Sutcliffe Vineyards, brings his world class wines to the table. Sutcliffe Vineyards is 36 acres of Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Petit Verdot nestled at the foot of the Sleeping Ute Mountain in southwestern Colorado. The estate and organically farmed acres produce quality wines, regarded by Wine Enthusiast as the most highly regarded producer from the southwest to date.
Diners at this event will also receive a special invitation and sneak preview into the Crested Butte Plein Air Invitational Patrons’ Preview Tent to end this fantastic and unforgettable evening.
Saturday night finds foodies at The Sunflower for a fabulous Farm to Table Dinner, where each and every ingredient is sourced locally and brought together in creative and unique ways. Chef Kalon Wall explains the story behind each course, so this dinner delves deeper into really understanding the foods around us and the importance of thoughtful food sourcing. Besides his formal training, Chef Kalon traveled to Europe to study food and wine in San Sebastian, Spain at Martin Berasetegue, a three-star Michelin restaurant.

Kickoff Party and “Wine 101” Seminar
While workshops begin on Thursday, July 10 at 10:30 a.m., the official festival Kickoff Party is Thursday at 12 p.m. at Maxwell’s Steakhouse. One of the best things about the kick-off is that it’s only $10, so this is your most affordable entry point to the festival.
During the Kickoff Party, Sommelier Kathy LaTour conducts the “Wine 101: Finding Wines that Match You” seminar to detect guests’ personal preferences and wine choices. Begin with a test to see whether or not you’re a supertaster and hear about some of the physiology of taste. Kathy then discusses different types of wine styles, how they match up to personal taste preferences, and how to get the most out of your tasting experience according to your learning style.
Currently in her second year in the master of wine program, Kathy is also an associate professor of marketing at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, with a research focus on hedonic consumption such as gambling and wine. Her current focus is on cracking the code of wine expertise so she can teach regular consumers about how to get more from their wine tasting experiences.

Grand Tasting & Crested Butte Four-String Quartet Concert
The signature event of the festival (as well as the most sought) is the Grand Tasting, featuring more than 25 wineries and distributors and more than 500 wines. Wineries range from family operations concocting hand-crafted artisan wines in small batches, to distributors of more than 32 million cases of wine throughout the world.
The main focus, however, is on the exceptional and premium wines (many of them award-winning) of the day. Featured wineries range from Sonoma and Napa Valley in California, to Oregon, New Mexico and even Salida and Paonia.
There will be imports from Chile, Italy and Australia. Some have produced wine for over 30 years. Others are on oenophile’s “up and coming” list. There’s even local rum and Colorado vodka, just to mix it up a bit. As you’re tasting the grape, the Crested Butte Four String Quartet will provide the auditory ambiance.

How to Participate
Events of the festival can be cherry-picked singularly or you can buy the whole farm. You can spend a little, or a lot. Start by attending the Kickoff Party to get psyched (and it’s only $10). You could attend one workshop if you like for $40, or several, but if you want to attend all seven there is a discount Seminar Pass for $250. The Grand Tasting and Sunday brunch will run you $80 each, with the Dessert Extravaganza at a mere $50. The fabulous Celebrity Chef Tour and Winemaker Dinners are $250 each, with the Farm to Table Dinner at $150. The Premium All-Access Pass for $900 gets you into all the events (except for VIP events and Farm to Table Dinner).
Programs can be found at the Center for the Arts at 606 Sixth Street during box office hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Reservations can be made online at www.crestedbuttearts.org and www.crestedbuttewine.com, or if the any fancy hits you suddenly, you can just drop in to any event of the festival. How’s that for supporting impromptu impulses? How very Crested Butte.

The Crested Butte Wine & Food Festival is brought to you through a partnership between the Center for the Arts and Larimer Associates.