At The Little Nell in Aspen, which undeniably flaunts the most propitious address in town just at the foot of Aspen Mountain, I wait for wine director Chris Dunaway outside the hotel’s front doors. He spots me and waves me over, proffering an indulgently packed picnic basket and a bottle (or two, if I’m being truthful) of exceptional hand-picked wine.
He’s plucked them from the hotel’s cache of some 20,000 extraordinary wines and vintages, uniquely collected from top-name producers, such as Romanée-Conti in Burgundy – perfect for a mountainside al fresco lunch. In our car, my husband (who won’t hike unless there’s a palatable reward on the other side of the venture) and dogs wait, and Dunaway helps me load the trove into our trunk.
As we drive toward our picnic spot, I wax poetic about Dunaway’s renowned wine program. It’s fueled by dozens of sommeliers of various levels but co-led by other wine-savvy sommelier colleagues, Jesse Libby, Rachael Liggett-Draper and Adam Darlington, who personify wine passion. Their combined oenophile efforts have made this mountain hamlet’s premier hotel not just the place in winter to grab fast access to the gondola or a buzzy place in summer for sun-soaked lunches on the deck mountainside at Ajax Tavern. Rather, The Little Nell’s wine cellar has made Aspen one of the world’s premier wine destinations – no small potatoes for a mountain town that is more about snow than growing grapes.
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At the time of writing, a few days ago, The Little Nell’s Element 47 was awarded the lauded Wine Spectator Grand Award for the 27th consecutive year, recognizing its contemporary but sophisticated wine standard and curated program. Exceptional and innovative, the hotel excels at offering unrivaled wine experiences for guests – including bespoke ones, such as my picnic – but also private tastings and tours.
Brilliantly glitzy Aspen, once a silver mining boomtown, now a cosmopolitan bolthole pocketed into Colorado’s glorious mountains, manages an unpretentious upscale aura. It’s a place where you can shop Prada and Gucci, but also sneak into a delicious vintage clothing store or buy socks at funky Carl’s Pharmacy, serving as a general store since 1965.
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Hosting festivals galore, it’s a town best known for its skiing – or at least its apres-ski scene – but remains popular in summer for its outdoor play and cool temperatures. Artsy, playful, active and sophisticated, the stylish town’s spirit is embodied at The Little Nell, a Relais & Chateau haven at the foot of Aspen Mountain. A ski-in/ski-out hideaway, it remains Aspen’s only five-star, five-diamond hotel.
Stay
Like a perfect poem where the poet continues to add a stanza or switch out a word that only strengthens the work, The Little Nell has a history of renovating and reimagining disparate parts of the hotel bit by bit, with each transformation harmonizing with the whole. Most recently, Luis Bustamante Interiors of Spain redid the lobby and living room; its piece-de-resistance being a sculptural reception desk that acts as a homage to The Little Nell’s history as an art hotel. Throughout the years, designers including Champalimaud Design and Holly Hunt have left their marks, ensuring an overall understated glamorousness; a place for both high heels and hiking boots.
Choose from 92 rooms and suites, six of which are categorized as “luxury suites” – though, frankly, everything at The Little Nell exudes opulence. Think heated marble floors and Bryte Balance mattresses. Spread out in the beguiling Walter Paepcke Suite, the hotel’s largest abode at 2500 sq-ft. The one-bedroom haven features a central fireplace, an expansive private balcony, stellar artwork from the likes of Maya Romanoff and John Riepenhoff, and over-the-top design, Mark Albrecht bar stools, for example.
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Dine
Any time of the year, Ajax Tavern, festooning at the foot of Aspen Mountain, attracts a crowd. Yes, it’s the ideal people-watching platform, but the restaurant boasts some of the best sexy comfort food in Aspen. Any season, go for the iconic truffle fries and the towering Ajax Wagyu double cheeseburger. In winter, you’ll see lunch noshers in their ski attire and apres-ski partiers toasting their ski runs with flutes of champagne and artful charcuterie boards.
Indoors, Element 47, a Michelin Guide-endorsed restaurant, fortified by its prodigious wine program, offers fine dining with a contemporary menu, featuring an array of delights from lobster to lamb. Captivating drinking holes beckon: The Living Room, perfect for a cozy snuggle and glass of burgundy in front of the two-side fire, and The Nest, an outdoor patio with fire pits and Adirondack chairs. For speakeasy lovers, The Boardroom awaits behind a discrete bookcase. Diminutive and intimate, it’s available for buyout dinners or cocktail parties. Weddings and events rule at The Little Nell, many of which take place atop Aspen Mountain at the hotel’s private ASPENX Mountain Club or the Sundeck restaurant.
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Relax
The Little Nell has a garden-ensconced heated pool, hot tub and sauna. Celebrating The Little Nell’s 35th anniversary, the hotel looks to France, launching a Dior Spa partnership. Adorned with the same toile de Jouy pattern as Dior’s Fall 2024 Dioriviera capsule collection, the wellness area comes to life amid a pastiche of flowers and Dior motifs, edged by vistas of the mountainscape. Guests have a choice of nine signature treatments.
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Explore
As far as outdoor activities go, The Little Nell excels at organizing VIP adventures. Seasonally, they range from fly fishing to snowcat powder tours. As noted earlier, the wine activities are among the best in the world. This summer, special events such as a cycling clinic and mountainside cinema under the stars (complete with packed picnic) exemplify the array of hotel-planned options.
Shopping, live music concerts (outdoors in summer), the tremendous Aspen Art Museum, hikes, yoga atop Aspen Mountain, trekking to the jaw-dropping Maroon Bells, river rafting and simply wandering through town like the celebrity you are define the day.
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Sustainability
Profoundly dedicated to preserving eco-initiatives, The Little Nell has sustainable gardens and embraces sustainable culinary practices. Rewarded the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association’s Hospitality Green Award in 2011, The Little Nell still pioneers eco-forward hoteling on every front. From its largest suite powered by a 5,000-watt solar panel system to an employee-run Environmental Foundation, the retreat continues to seek better ways to preserve Aspen and our world as a whole.
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