Above: Boulder Burgundy Festival founder Brett Zimmerman (left) with winemaker Jean-Marc Roulot at last year’s gathering. This year’s event marks the festival’s tenth anniversary.

The organizers of the Boulder Burgundy Festival have decided to open up their virtual winemaker seminars to anyone who would like to attend — free of charge.

Speakers this year include Dominique Lafon, Julie Gros (Anne Gros), Coravin founder and inventor Greg Lambrecht, and renowned Burgundy importer Daniel Johnnes. Festival founder Brett Zimmerman and Lyle Railsback of Kermit Lynch will also be leading seminars.

Attendees are given the option of making donation to the festival’s charity partners. But as Brett told me by phone last week, he encourages wine professionals to join even if they prefer not to make a donation.

As many sommeliers across find themselves with extra time on their hands, these seminars represent a wonderful opportunity to interact with some of the leading names in Burgundy today.

I began working with the festival in 2014 as its in-house blogger and media creator. It’s been a fantastic experience: the caliber of the speakers and the quality of the content has been nothing less than spellbinding (not an exaggeration). I sincerely hope that wine professionals will take this opportunity to expand their knowledge of Burgundy. And I’m thrilled that Brett made this move. It’s something that he wouldn’t have been able do in a “normal” year.

To sign up for the seminars, just visit BoulderBurgundyFestival.com. You’ll see that there are options for $0, $25, $50, or $100 donations. Again, Brett highly encourages people to sign up free of charge. And there’s no limit to how many people can join. Brett’s even brought a Zoom specialist on board to manage the sessions.