Browse: June 2007

Just as in France, Italy, Spain...any time is a fine time for wine during Wine Fest weekend. The Telluride Wine Festival is toasting 26 years of uncorking and finely finishing this gathering rooted in the decadent pairing of food and wine.

Master sommeliers and renowned chefs team up and blend foods from around the globe with wines from around the globe. Spanish wine was last year's starring vino and wine experts concentrated on the country's Rioja, Sherry, Albarino and Cava wine growing regions. Spanish wine experts and authors, Doug Frost and Gerry Dawes, spoke on the varietals and styles of what's called one of the greatest wine producing countries in the world.

Steve Olson returns to Wine Festival year after year, and last year he returned as Master of Ceremonies. Award-winning sommelier, author and teacher, Olson returned to teach the expansive and entertaining relationship between food and wine.

Cooking demonstrations, luncheons, seminars, reserve programs, and tastings, tastings, tastings make up the weekend. And if wine isn't your thing, Telluride Wine Festival is hosted a scotch and cigar evening, and fine tequila tastings.

By Kara Tatone

Thousands have photographed Telluride—a quick walk to the middle of main street, and click, mountainous beauty is captured. But to spend a few days, even weeks, painting this landscape is art, and this weekend it is en plein air with the Telluride Plein Air Celebration.

In its fourth year running, Plein Air has invited 30 of the nation’s top plein air artists to the town’s natural and historic landscapes to capture in oil or watercolor the colors of Telluride. Many are returning artists, returning to the alleyways and main street, the outlying mesas and the Valley Floor entrance to paint their own picture.

Local liquor store owners enjoy Telluride Wine Festival not just for the clientele it draws, but for the educational opportunities.

"It's homework," says Pacific St. Liquors Manager Mike Davis.

Telluride Bottleworks Manager Mike Florence said the Wine Festival lets him meet winemakers and owners from all over the world, people with whom he might not otherwise make contact. Florence said that the festival helps him to search out the best, most eclectic and sometimes obscure wines that make up the store's 2,000-plus label selection.

"The Festival increases people's knowledge. It brings like-minded people together, winemakers, foodies, sommeliers ... it's like a Trekkie festival, for wine geeks," says Florence.

Florence said people from other states are happy to find the selection in Telluride.

"We get our hands on wines you can't get in other states. That's the luxury of being in a resort town," says Florence.

Aaron Tschetter owns and operates Telluride Liquors. For him, the Wine Festival is a place to connect with people.

"It's just nice to meet and greet the owners and makers. It's educational," says Tschetter.

Don't miss the Telluride Wine Festival's scheduled events.

Paul Major's contibutions to the community are just that — major. Since coming to Telluride in 2000 to start the philanthropic Telluride Foundation, he has drawn significant funds to the region to help buoy local nonprofits, $2.1 million last year alone.

Of that figure, some 80 percent represents new funding, drawn from resources that did not exist prior to the work of Telluride Foundation. Major said it was good timing.

"What we were able to do is attract new donor and more untapped resources," said Major. "It sounds like a cliche, but it was the right thing at the right time and the right place. Not just for me, but for Telluride."

Telluride Foundation supports everything from immigrant services, to land and watershed conservation, and holds seminars teaching people about grantwriting and running non-profits. Major is proud of the help that his organization can give.

"In a prosperous community lke Telluride, there's still a lot of emerging and unmet needs," says Major. "But we have the ability and luxury of being proactive."

Major was formerly in Park City, involved with the U.S. Ski Team. He lives in Telluride with his wife, Lois, the town's municipal attorney, and their three children, Victor, Naomi and Malcolm.

What is Plum 98? It¹s a collection of 98 individuals (a nice, round number) who have etched a mark in the Telluride community with positive energy and vision. Be it in the realm of art, recreation or politics, we at Plum want to recognize these local stars for their encouragement and inspiration. To read about more interesting locals, check out the rest of Plum 98ers.

Kris Holstrom is good at growing. From the organic, high-altitude Tomten Farm she started twenty years ago, to the relationships she has built in the community to encourage sustainable, environmental practices, she has made significant contributions to the Telluride region.

Holstrom planted a lot of seeds — not just at Tomten, but all over Telluride. She has served on the county planning commission for many years, advocating for the environment as the region developed. She started the composting movement that has become successful at the sumer festivals, and reduced the Bluegrass Festival waste by half. She was the natural choice for the new position of Sustainability Coordinator, helping to integrate all of the ecological innovations in the Towns of Telluride and Mountain Village and in San Miguel County. And most recently, she took the reins of the Telluride Farmers Market, ensuring that it carried on into its fifth summer of providing organic, bio-regional food and products to the community.

Holstrom still makes time to operate the Tomten farm, providing educational work opportunities to more than 100 interns over the years.

"I couldn't do the farm without the interns, and I couldn't do the job of Sustainability Coordinator without the community," says Holstrom.

What is Plum 98? It¹s a collection of 98 individuals (a nice, round number) who have etched a mark in the Telluride community with positive energy and vision. Be it in the realm of art, recreation or politics, we at Plum want to recognize these local stars for their encouragement and inspiration. To read about more interesting locals, check out the rest of our Plum 98ers.

A massive 10,000 folks rolled into town last weekend for another Telluride Bluegrass Festival, but their travel trails were erased. Telluride Bluegrass was granted kudos this weekend because it offset 100 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions from travelers with its own renewable power. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter deemed June 23 Colorado Bluegrass Day. Hooray.

In the last 20 years Planet Bluegrass, Telluride’s Bluegrass organizers, has honed in on making the festival purely green—this festival was powered solely by renewable energy along with a ton of efforts to recycle, reuse and reduce. A few years ago Planet Bluegrass mandated that all food products be served on products that can be composted and on-site recycling and composting has more than a presence at the Town Park. Last summer Telluride Bluegrass diverted two-thirds of its waste from the landfill.

Governor Ritter praised festival organizers for their efforts on Saturday. “Planet Bluegrass has exerted countless hours and immeasurable efforts to create a unique, environmentally friendly festival in a naturally beautiful location, not only for the people of Colorado, but for those that have traveled from across the country and from other nations,” reads the proclamation.

By Kara Tatone