Wining and Dining in the Rockies

Pouring the Beloved Nectar

For years I had heard about the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, the big foodie event that just took place in Aspen last weekend.  It wasn’t until I moved to Telluride six years ago that I learned about the Telluride Wine Festival, the gastronomic extravaganza that has drawn food and wine connoisseurs to our more subdued mountain town for almost three decades.  Steve Olson, aka Wine Geek, plays a pivotal role in both of these happenings.  In Telluride, he’s our Master of Ceremony for our food and wine celebration that’s taking hold of our town this weekend.  Clearly Steve loves these festivals like a father who loves two very different children.

“Aspen Food and Wine Classic is truly one of the most important food and wine festivals in the world,”  Steve said in a recent Travel Fun interview.  “It draws some of the biggest chefs, vintners and food and wine enthusiasts from all over the globe and it continues to grow every year.  We handpick experts that fit Telluride.  There’s not a bone of pretense here.  These professionals come to share, not preach.  Telluride is more low key, more intimate,” Steve continues.  “It’s more one on one—you can find yourself having a cup of coffee with a chef on Main Street.”

Chef Bertrand Bouquin

That chef might very well be Bertrand Bouquin, Executive Chef at The Broadmoor of Colorado Springs, the Grande Dame of resorts in the Rockies.  As one of the culinary experts invited to the festival, Chef Bouquin will be preparing a special lunch tomorrow, Saturday, at Allreds where he’ll be serving up carrot soup with lime and cilantro, followed by veal tenderloin wrapped in bacon.  All will, of course, be paired with exceptional wines.

Steve Olson and Bertrand Bouquin enjoy a professional relationship outside of the Telluride Wine Festival since Steve consults for the beverage program at The Broadmoor.  He has, in fact, concocted a great variety of cocktails that serve as the perfect accompaniment to Bertrand’s innovative cuisine.  Indeed all kinds of beverages from mezcal to lager are showcased at the Telluride Wine Festival along with a cellar-full of wines from near and far.

And like so many of the other beverage and culinary experts participating in the festival, Steve and Bertrand began in the hospitality industry at a very young age.  Steve started out as a waiter and quickly caught the fever for the need to make others happy.  Bertrand was working in a restaurant kitchen in Burgundy in his native France at the age of fifteen.

Thank goodness we have festivals that encourage us to celebrate the passions of these dedicated oenophiles and gastronomes.  These events allow us to spend entire weekends learning, tasting and savoring.  Once again, the world comes to us in our little mountain town.  Maybe someday I’ll break out and attend the Aspen Food and Wine Classic.

A Scrumptious Salad from Summit at The Broadmoor

Hot Topics According to Wine Expert Steve Olson

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(Steve is largely known in the industry as the guy who is going to show you the next cool thing.)

Steve Olson, aka Wine Geek

-”Spain has emerged as a great wine-making country,”  Steve says.  Their wines are a good bet overall for great value and quality.

-”Greece is exploding now.  There’s a whole renaissance of winemakers,” he says.

-”Colorado wines are taking their rightful place among the hierarchy of American wines,” he emphasizes.  Some of his favorite wineries include Stone Cottage, Snowy Peak, Holy Cross Abbey, Boulder Creek and Canyon Wind.

Hot Topics According to Culinary Expert Chef Bertrand Bouquin

–Molecular gastronomy.  “This is when chefs break down ingredients and reconstruct them,” Chef Bouquin explains.  “You have the flavor of a food in a different form.”  An example of this would be a carrot flavored gelée (a sort of Jello, but more refined).  Apparently there’s a lot of this going on in the big cities.  Sounds rather Sci Fi to me.

The Broadmoor: Where You Can Sample the Creations of Steve and Bertrand Year-Round

Cheers!