I was recently able to sit down with local Boulder’ite Liz Willette Daneels and taste through a selection of her portfolio. Liz traveled extensively through Europe in her youth and discovered her interest in wine while living in Burgundy and hanging out with none other than Erin Cannon-Chave. She then ran a wine bar in Northern Italy before moving to New York to work as a sommelier. Liz quickly moved into the importer/distribution side of the business, working for Skurnik Wines in New York for four years before branching out on her own in 2004. Her company merged with Grand Cru Selections in 2011, where she remained until 2017, when she left the company and moved to Boulder, Colorado with her family. Liz worked with Natural Wine Company for six years before once again branching out on her own, launching Willette Wines (2.0) early in 2023.
For a new company, Liz has a small yet stacked portfolio that includes some greats from throughout Europe, including Chavy-Chouet, Domaine d’Henry, and Pernot in Burgundy, Jean-Louis Chave in the Rhône, and Egon Muller and Unterlind in the Mosel. She also has some impressive Italian wines, but I’ll leave those to my colleague Audrey Frick! In addition to the flagships reviewed here, there are also some real gems and values that should be sought out by savvy readers.
Thanks for reading, and happy hunting!
Jeb