Carlin Karr didn’t foresee falling in love with wine during culinary school. She also couldn’t imagine moving back to Boulder, Colo., after leaving college there. But 12 years later, working as director of wine and beverage for one of the most wine-centric restaurant groups in all of the United States, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
After graduating University of Colorado Boulder, Karr headed to San Francisco in 2008 and was on the opening team for Sons & Daughters, a beloved New Nordic destination where she worked the floor for several years. Though San Francisco was the center of the restaurant wine world on the West Coast, she was looking for a way to take her career to the next level. “When I would ask others ‘Who’s the best at not only wine, but also at management and hospitality?’ everyone would say Bobby Stuckey,” says Karr.
Stuckey, a Master Sommelier, ran the wine program at Aspen luxury resort the Little Nell when it won a Wine Spectator Grand Award, before joining Thomas Keller’s famed Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry to expand its wine list. In 2004, he put down roots in Boulder, opening an acclaimed restaurant of his own dedicated to the gastronomy of northeastern Italy’s Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region. “The idea of Frasca was constantly put in front of me; I started to realize it was such an iconic restaurant and incredible wine program,” explains Karr. “I met Bobby in San Francisco and we really hit it off, plus they were looking for a sommelier. I jumped at the opportunity: I wanted to be in a position where I was learning from somebody rather than just seeking out mentors in my free time.”
For close to a decade, Karr has been responsible for Frasca Hospitality Group’s wine lists in Boulder and the Denver area. The flagship Frasca Food and Wine, in downtown Boulder, has won the Best of Award of Excellence since 2011 with its global list that puts the focus on Friuli, followed by other wines from northern Italy and the rest of Italy.
Fellow Best of Award of Excellence-winner Tavernetta, which opened in Denver’s bustling Union Station in 2017, pairs its handmade pastas with a list that’s all Italian, with the exception of Champagne. Next door, the Frasca team made it a hat trick with Sunday Vinyl, a record-spinning listening lounge with a wine program that covers the classics except for Italy. At Pizzeria Alberico, an ode to Neapolitan pizzerias in Boulder, the list is “rooted around Naples and Southern Italy—lots of Sicily,” Karr explains.
This summer, Frasca Hospitality added Osteria Alberico, in the Denver suburb of Englewood, to the family. With over 150 labels, the neighborhood spot’s list is similar to Tavernetta in that it is entirely composed of Italian bottles (plus Champagne) paired with simple, hearty dishes like bucatini all’amatriciana and branzino with trapanese pesto.
Karr sat down with editorial assistant Julia Larson to chat about what wines work best with bitter greens, how the tech boom has affected Boulder dining and why wine lovers should book a ticket to Friuli pronto.
Wine Spectator: Was there a bottle that changed how you think about wine?
My ‘aha moment’ was tasting white Burgundy: a Meursault. It was just so sensational for me. It made me realize at that moment that I wanted to pursue wine rather than a career in the kitchen. I dug deep into wine in every way that I could.
What is one of the biggest lessons that you’ve learned from Bobby Stuckey?
Bobby has this point of view of always keeping an open mind and always to be tasting. Context is everything. He taught me to not be dogmatic about wine. It is so fluid and it always changes; a producer might be nailing it one vintage but maybe not so much the next. Tasting all the time takes so much diligence and work; it gets to be a bit much, but it’s also what makes you great at wine.
Do people come into Frasca already knowing something about Friuli? How do you approach the unacquainted?
I think it’s split. Having been open for 20 years, we have a good following of people who know about Friuli, especially our locals. Many have actually been to the region! Many have made the venture out there and stayed at our favorite restaurant, the hotel La Subida, where we draw so much inspiration. But then some guests have no idea. We have a Friulano tasting menu, mostly paired with wines from Friuli. You get to experience the whole gamut of cuisine from Friuli, which is really so diverse. We always say “monte e mare”—from the mountains to the sea.
What are some misconceptions people have about the wines of Friuli?
People think that it’s only centered in orange wine or macerated wine. It is where macerated wine was reinvigorated; they are some of the best in the world—from Gravner, Radikon, Primosic. We love them, but they are also a really small proportion of the overall wines in the region. There are more winemakers making fresh, mostly stainless steel–fermented, food-friendly, bright and crisp white wines. And there are also amazing indigenous red wines, like Schioppetino and Refosco—punchy and acid-driven. There’s also incredible old-vine Merlot that’s been there since the Napoleonic era.
What do people tell you about Friuli after they’ve visited?
It’s like undiscovered Italy. It’s very pastoral, but there are also so many different parts of Friuli to discover. There’s the incredible port city of Trieste, which was the main port city of Italy for so long, through the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was the access point of the spice route for Europe. That’s also why the cuisine of Friuli is so diverse and uses such interesting spices: It’s not unusual to have cinnamon or cardamom in a pasta. It’s such a different angle of Italian cuisine.
But, if you’re in a seaside village like Grado, you’ll find incredible seafood like a risotto filled with all different types of incredibly fresh seafood like razor clams. It’s kind of like Venetian cuisine but on a whole other level. The best prosciutto in Italy for sure is in Friuli, with many producers there that you don’t see in the United States. I’ve never really heard anyone come back from Friuli and just say, “Eh.” They’re all so excited by it.
What is one classic pairing you’ll never be tired of?
Italian chicories are beautiful, super bitter and unique—there’s nothing better with those than Friulano. The wine itself is full-bodied and rich, but it has a distinct bitterness to it. Paired with the bitterness of those winter greens, it’s an incredible match. It might not seem super intuitive, but bitter plus bitter becomes kind of fruity and cuts the bitterness. In the summertime, having a roasted or grilled piece of radicchio with a delicious Sangiovese is another favorite pairing of mine, because it takes that radicchio bitterness and eliminates it.
Are there any other Italian wine regions that you think people are missing out on?
Campania is really interesting. I think it has so much potential. The region is dominated in general by a few huge producers, but outside of them, the small producers are just so exciting. Also, to me, Fiano is for sure one of Italy’s greatest white grapes; there’s so much diversity within Fiano that is really compelling. It’s very much a carrier of terroir, which I think it’s taken us time to realize with Italian white wine.
Boulder has seen a bit of a tech boom. Has the wine culture there changed over the years?
Our restaurant community has expanded and contracted over the last several years like so many others in America due to COVID. Like you said, with tech, it’s like a micro San Francisco. We have Twitter and Google, lots of venture-tech firms. Our wine scene is strong, but there’s just not a whole lot of restaurants here that are taking wine very seriously. We have Bryan Dayton, a Frasca alum who owns a few restaurants here like Corrida, which is a Spanish steak house with an-all Spanish wine list. We’ve just lost a few restaurants that were really compelling in terms of wine, unfortunately. It’s in flux right now.
Boulder also has a very health-conscious population.
Everyone is a runner or cyclist, or is doing a cleanse or loves cold plunging. So that combined with the tech thing—so many of the tech companies feed their employees in-house. … That’s why so many restaurants shuttered with the second tech bubble: There’s no reason to go out and dine when they provide incredible chefs within the building. I think that drinking wine is just not part of the lifestyle of so many of the individuals, which is okay. We love that people are coming to live in Boulder and we love all of our guests. But with Frasca, many people are not from Boulder. We see so many people from Denver and from out of state. We’re really a destination restaurant.
What wines are people gravitating towards in Boulder?
Our diners in general are very sophisticated. We sell so much Burgundy. We sell a lot of Italian wine, lots of Nebbiolo, Sangiovese and Friulano. Here in Boulder, we’re selling a lot less Cabernet and Super Tuscans, whereas in Denver, those are our top-selling categories.
How do you see the Denver area’s wine and restaurant scene developing over the next 10 years?
So many restaurants have opened in Denver since we opened Tavernetta seven years ago. Denver is a booming city. I don’t think it will slow down. There’s so much development and construction, and it’s great that people are moving to Colorado. We’re seeing more and more really experienced chefs opening restaurants in Denver. We’re also seeing a more diverse restaurant scene with the wine programs. We haven’t gotten to a point yet where we have a large number of restaurants with dedicated sommeliers, but I don’t doubt that that will come with time.
