When it comes to wine, the night of May 6, 2013, belonged to Frasca Food and Wine. It was that evening that co-owner and master sommelier Bobby Stuckey, wine director Matthew Mather, and sommelier Carlin Karr, crossed the stage at New York’s prestigious Lincoln Center to accept the James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Program. Stuckey (pictured) gave the credit—and the medal—to Mather, who he states, “has a more positive effect on Frasca’s clientele than anyone I’ve ever worked with.”

After receiving four consecutive nominations for Outstanding Wine Program, from 2010 to 2013, the Frasca team was genuinely stunned when the restaurant was announced the winner. Stuckey had personally pegged either the Barn at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee, or A16 in San Francisco, to take home the coveted award. “We were really surprised,” Stuckey says. “At the end of the day we felt the national awards just aren’t generally given to small-market restaurants. When they called our name we were overwhelmed with emotion.”

Stuckey, himself, was nominated in 2008 by the James Beard Foundation as Outstanding Wine Professional; while Frasca’s chef, Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, was nominated in 2006 for the Rising Star Chef award and in 2008, he received the award for Best Chef in the Southwest. “We’ve been so honored over the years,” Stuckey says, “and now—finally—enough people come to visit Boulder from all over the country to discover what we do.” In fact, to close his acceptance speech, Stuckey toasted Frasca’s diners stating, “For every guest in Boulder, Colorado, who drinks a glass of Tocai Friulano with us, bondi, grazie!”

Extra Accolades: Matthew Mather and Carlin Karr have recently picked up some individual awards: In 2012, Food & Wine listed Mather as one of the year’s best sommeliers for his work at Pizzeria Locale. And, at the beginning of May, Karr was named to the 2013 class of Eater Young Guns.

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—Photo courtesy of Frasca Food and Wine