Boulder’s wine scene faces a new audience as Sundance moves in

Boulder’s wine businesses may soon meet a much larger visitor audience. Decanter columnist Katherine Cole writes that the Sundance Film Festival is scheduled to move to the Colorado city in January 2027 after four decades in Park City, Utah, and is expected to bring 85,000 attendees.

Cole describes a hospitality scene that includes Frasca Food and Wine, founded by Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey, and restaurants with extensive wine lists. Stuckey’s Frasca Hospitality Group has also hosted visiting winemakers and helped establish the annual Festa del Chianti Classico in Denver, according to Cole.

The local trade includes Boulder Wine Merchant, run by Master Sommelier Brett Zimmerman, which holds producer tastings. Zimmerman also founded the Boulder Burgundy Festival in 2011. Cole notes that wine professionals have moved between the city’s restaurants and wine businesses, including when wine critic Jeb Dunnuck hired Frasca team member Audrey Frick for his subscription wine business.

Cole links Boulder’s wine culture to its technology, aerospace and biopharma employers, as well as its university population. She also contrasts Colorado’s rules with Utah’s state-controlled wine retail system, citing an 88.5% markup over cost in Utah and Colorado’s prohibition on BYOB dining. Her account presents the regulatory differences as part of the distinct operating environment for restaurants in the two states.