Boulder Burgundy Festival

The Boulder Burgundy Festival begins this Friday, October 20!

A few seats for the Friday night marquee dinner at Frasca have just become available. Click here to reserve.

There are also spots available for the Sunday morning seminar “Rethinking the Négociant” and the Grand Tasting Sunday afternoon. Click the links to reserve.

The Grand Tasting is an event that many Boulder Burgundy lovers look forward to each year. More than 200 wines will be poured, including many higher-end and exclusive labels. But the thing that really takes it over the top is the wine professionals who come out to pour: They are some of the top people working in our field and their knowledge of Burgundy is astounding.

And wait, there’s more! The icing on the cake this year is that locally based concert pianist Walt Lott will be joining us for the Grand Tasting. And he’ll be taking requests!

A note from Walt:

“As there is no shortage of excellent French music throughout the centuries, French compositions will constitute the bulk of my repertoire at the Boulder Burgundy Festival. Debussy’s Preludes, Estampes, and Images, and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and Gaspard de la Nuit will certainly be on the menu. I find these works to be a great counterpoint to wine tasting: as a quality wine displays balance of weight, acid, tannin, et cetera, these pieces demand attention to the balance of tone, color, and dynamics. In addition, attendees can expect a smattering of Beethoven (I’m currently planning a recital series of all 32 Beethoven sonatas), Bach, Francois Couperin, and jazz standards. And as always, I encourage listeners to make any requests!”

Debussy and Burgundy? Sounds great to us! We hope to see you this weekend! Please click links above for event availability.

The Boulder Burgundy Festival is less than a month away!

This year’s seminar will be devoted to “Rethinking Négociants.” For the occasion, Brett has asked three of the top sommeliers working in Colorado today to talk about some of their favorite négociant wines and how they “apply” them in their wine programs.

We couldn’t be more thrilled that they’ll be joining us for this year’s Boulder Burgundy Festival panel. For a complete list of this year’s events, please click here.

Read on to learn more about our three featured speakers, Jeremy Schwartz, Gili Koren Lockwood, and Andreas Harl.

One of the most beloved wine professionals in Boulder, Jeremy Schwartz first started working as a sommelier at Frasca Food and Wine in 2016. He became the restaurant’s lead sommelier in 2020. He often attributes his achievements in the industry to his time working with restaurant and wine “greats” Bobby Stuckey, Carlin Karr, Grant Reynolds, and Brett Zimmerman, among others. He became interested in gastronomy after an extended trip to Spain and other destinations in Europe. It was then that he abandoned his career in medicine to devote himself full time to his work in hospitality and his studies. He’s currently studying to become a Master Sommelier. A father and husband, Jeremy travels back to Burgundy whenever he has the chance.

Gili Koren Lockwood is an advanced sommelier with a deep passion for the worlds of food, wine, and wellness. Gili graduated from the The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, the most highly regarded cooking school in the United States, and soon after, she began her foray into the restaurant scene at Myth in San Francisco. She relocated to Napa Valley where she helped open and manage the exclusive hotel and spa, Bardessono, before moving to Boulder, Colorado, where she learned under the tutelage of Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman at the Boulder Wine Merchant. Gili received her ranking as an Advanced Sommelier and, soon after, landed a role at one of the country’s most prestigious restaurants, Le Bernardin, under head sommelier, Aldo Sohm. Today, alongside three partners, she is working on creating a new culinary venture due to launch in 2024.

Andreas Harl is the founder of Vail Beverage Consulting. He was born and raised in Salzburg, Austria where both his grandmother, a chef, instilled in him a love for food and wine at an early age. He graduated from one of Europe’s most prominent tourism and hotel management schools and moved to the Vail Valley in 2003. He achieved the title of Advanced Sommelier in 2017 and has been trusted with running the Beverage program for Chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s Vail location since its opening in 2011. Through his program at the restaurant, he’s become well known as a pioneer of pairing classic European wines with Japanese cuisine. “We turn up the music, and there are no white tablecloths,” he told the wine trade magazine MarketWatch in 2017. “The ambiance is fun, and I keep the beverage program in tune with that vibe.” Andreas lives in Vail, Colorado with his wife and dog.

Festival founder Brett Zimmerman and the entire event team are pleased to announce the dates for the 2023 Boulder Burgundy Festival: October 20-22. Please save the date.

Please also stay tuned for updates on the featured wineries and speakers. You can also visit BoulderBurgundyFestival.com for updated information in the near future.

Every year, top Burgundy winemakers, leading Burgundy collectors, wine writers and wine lovers from across the U.S. gather in Boulder for the Boulder Burgundy Festival, founded more than a decade ago by Boulder Wine Merchant owner and Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman.

This non-profit event raises money each fall for local causes and scholarships for aspiring wine professionals.

Featured wineries have included D’Angerville and Roulot, just to name a few, and past wine writers who have participated include Eric Asimov (New York Times) and Master of Wine Jancis Robinson.

Thanks to everyone who took part and made it one of our best years ever! Thanks especially to winemakers Simon Colin and Pierrick Bouley for sharing their extraordinary wines with us. And thank you to Esther Mobley and Elaine Brown for their excellent seminars! What a great weekend!

Click here to see a Facebook album with photo highlights from the weekend.