Last night found me at the 9th annual Boulder Burgundy Festival in Colorado where I’ve worked as the event’s official blogger for the last six years.
Even though it’s not my first rodeo (as we say in Texas), the thrill of getting to taste these spectacular wines, especially the “old and rare” wines at the festival’s kick-off event each year, has never worn off.
The flight for last night’s sold-out tasting of 30+ wines was selected by Master Sommelier Jay Fletcher from the Somm Foundation Cellar. There were wines stretching back to the 1930s and a number of show-stopping wines from the 1970s.
But my personal highlights were the 1985 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands-Échezeaux (above) and the 1996 Michel Bonnefond Ruchottes-Chambertin (below).
The 1993 Domaine René Engel Grands-Échezeaux (above), from a challenging vintage, wasn’t bad either, a truly rare wine in part because the estate no longer exists.
When you taste wines like these, it’s easy to understand why wines from Burgundy are so coveted by collectors. They were all vibrant and teeming of life, with nuanced aromas and flavors that lingered on the palate. The 85 Grands-Échezeaux was especially compelling.
What an incredible tasting!
I am so grateful to my long-time friend Brett Zimmerman for making me part of this gathering and experience. He’s been so generous to me. And I’ve been so glad to get to know many of the collectors who attend the festival each year and share their wines at the event’s marquee tasting, the Paulée Inspired Lunch.
This year’s featured producer is Jean-Marc Roulot and I’m really looking forward to his seminar on Sunday.
It’s all a bit of a dream for me. I spend most of my year tasting and working with Italian wines. But every fall, I take a break to come up here for these remarkable, truly extraordinary tastings.
Italian wine is my signora (and how I make my living). But Burgundy is my mistress.
Do Bianchi 
Did you know the saying “it’s not my first rodeo” was actually popularized as recently as the 1980s with the movie Mommie Dearest? Anyway, this sounds like it was a great event. I’m going to really try next year to make it up to Boulder for this event.
“Don’t mess with Texas” is another one of those “old time” sounding expressions that’s actually fairly recent. Hope to see you at next year’s event, the 10th anniversary.