The friend I went with felt exactly the same way. He is one of those guys who always says something is the best ever. My wife who always is super positive felt the same way as well. QPR sucked even without anyone bringing wine. It sucks asking for a taste of something and being told no!
I think you are missing Robert’s point. It sounds if you guys were expecting to be showered with DRC and Musigny from all ends of the room and la paulee doesn’t work that way.
The big dinner is a chance for wealthy collectors to meet up to socialize and impress each other with rare wines. If you aren’t a wealthy collector with a group of pre-set dinner companions you may or may not luck into a good seating arrangement.
I don’t see this as a problem, it is what it is.
This event is insanity of Burgundy. The only issue is that if I had known the food was going to be so small, I’d have eaten prior. I have a huge appetite, so I left quite hungry.
Having said that, I had a lot of great luck with sampling stuff, but then again, I did know quite a few folks in the room. It was very cramped. I wish they had created bigger spacing, but outside of that, it was total sensory overload. Thank god this is once every other year in NY.
I see Roberts point, but the cards are stacked against you. I should have been told because I am not important don’t expect much. But at the very least not be told I was placed with a bunch of really great collectors. Maybe they should charge 10000 a person thereby knocking out all but the wealthy. Once again there was the on crowd and then there were the outliers.
In what social circumstance is this not the case?
Smaller crowds. Less than 20.
For Berry, this is true in any size group. Perhaps you’ve seen him before?
That sucks. Having said that, it is difficult to share a bottle of wine if there are so many folks who want to taste it as I can’t afford to bring a 3L bottle of something really special.
When I was last at la paulee I overheard a conversation between two collector-types and they were complaining about a private Rousseau dinner they had the night before because one of the attendees “came light” to the dinner.
The bottom line is that the organizers are simply putting on a big dinner. Its not their responsibility to parse out the social complexities and make sure everyone is introduced to everyone else. You went and discovered that without personal connections you were not able to experience the epic wine sharing experience you expected and thus overall the cost of the event is not worth it to you. I think that’s totally an understandable perspective. But what doesn’t make sense is to have a feeling of entitlement and actual anger at the organizers themselves.
Andrew, I don’t doubt that your companions shared your disappointment, since they likely shared your expectations. But my point was a bit different from Berry’s.
I was reacting to your statement that it’s “too much work cruising the room for tastes” - a sentiment I largely share, by the way, though it’s not the main reason I don’t much favor this kind of event.
It’s simply unrealistic to expect great wines to come to you, so you either have to (a) organize your own posse, or (b) work the room. For some people - my friend Don Cornutt being one of them - that actually adds to the fun.
What is a shame is that didn’t know what, realistically, to expect. Had you known you could have either adjusted your expectations or decided that the event was not for you.
It is in that sense that this thread should be required reading for anyone thinking about attending.
That’s why there’s the rare wine dinner for $4750.
+1 to Mr. Flemings “read this thread before attending”.
RT
I think the last line is the true message here. Ask anyone who has ever run the floor of a high end restuarant - When people want a prime grade A tabel, but you have it reserved for someone else, the night may as well be over. When you are these mega-buck events and you do not feel you are receiveing the same treatment it is hard to feel good about the evening. Some people lvoe these events - as many here did - some liek smaller more intimate one on one events - like others here. Like everyhting else in life find your speed, and stick with it. Sorry you did not have the expereince you were hoping for. I have always liked working events like this, you get to try everything, and get paid for it, and often bring home leftovers!
All good points. In SF, we were seated at a “good” table. We sat next to Jack Daniels of Wilson-Daniels who brought/opened nothing for the Gala dinner…
We shared many pours of great wines and nothing was reciprocated.
I really hope that someone destroyed all those bottles as well as the countless empties.
Saturday night I was thinking that it might be interesting to attend some day.
Now I don’t care if it even happens again.
Jack didn’t even share his Tennessee Honey bottling with you guys? For shame!
I would disagree. It’s worth going once, just don’t go hungry, that’s my only advice.
For $1500 I should not have to worry about going hungry. Just makes it worse.
Haha. Nope. Not even the Tennessee Honey.
I just found it odd and against the spirit of the event that someone with tremendous access to great burgundies at a fraction of current values would choose not to open anything to share.
That said, there were some very nice people at our table that we enjoyed talking to and sharing wine with. It is fun to be around so many Burgundy lovers. With regards to wine appreciation, I think you are much better off drinking great bottles with smaller groups of people.