Telluride Film Festival organizers have installed a permanent grand cru tasting queue outside every screening venue after the premiere of the Burgundy documentary, requiring all attendees to sip premier cru wine throughout every film, including animated shorts and Q&A sessions.
The queue, which stretches from the Sheridan Opera House to the town's only traffic light, now operates around the clock. Festival director Julie Huntsinger said the new policy reflects the film's «old school values». «We realized that watching a movie without a glass of grand cru is like watching a documentary about beefcake without the beefcake,» she said. «So we made it mandatory.»
Volunteers in burgundy vests now patrol aisles with decanters, refilling glasses during climactic scenes. Attendees who arrive without a glass are issued one at the door and escorted to the back of the queue, which has become a permanent fixture. Local hotels report guests sleeping in line to secure a spot for the 8 a.m. screening of a silent film.
The documentary's subject, Enzo Ferraroli, has been appointed honorary queue marshal. He now leads the procession shirtless, carrying a magnum of grand cru. «I used to just walk through vineyards,» he said. «Now I walk through lines of people who want to walk through vineyards.»
By next week, the festival will require all attendees to stomp grapes before entering any theater, and the town council has voted to rename the main street «Premier Cru Boulevard». The Telluride airport has added a second runway for wine deliveries only.