I did not go this year, but expected to enjoy vicariously some notes, photos and hear about some really special bottles of Burgundy. It’s Monday, and nothing, not a word.
If we promise to yell at anybody who piously writes that they would prefer to enjoy a bottle at home with their spouse rather than wastefully taste several bottles of 1940s Rousseau, or you had to pour away a Mugneret Gibourg to enjoy some 1971 La Tache, would you please step forward and tell us what happened.
^ what mark said.
jon, brad, ray t., howard c., doug, bill,… - what’s up gents? i know if roger was there we’d get the play-by-play 
cheers!
An Instagram picture of the DRC dinner at EMP looked pretty amazing.
Guess this is what happens when the haters win.
Fight Club
Agreed. I for one would really like to see a TN for one of those 1978 Romanée Conti bottles that were opened. That’s pretty much my #1 unicorn wine that I’ll most likely never taste. Great vintage, my birth year, Romanée Conti. What more could one ask for?
Possibly no notes yet because some may not have woken up. After the dinner many went to Rebelle and continued the evening. As I was leaving at 2am there were others still arriving. I believe the sun was up before things quieted down.
Oh yes, the gala. My second time, and what a great treat. We sat with Christian Moreau who brought a couple of 3 liters, an 09 Les Clos and an 02 Valmur, both were exceptional. The selection of wines obviously varied dramatically from table to table, so everyone’s experience was quite different.
I was somewhat disappointed that in our realm I did not find any examples of exceptional aged white burg. Several bottles were premoxed, including my 1996 Gagnard-Delagrange Montrachet. We had a very nice 2002 Dauvissat Les Clos, and a 2003 Bouchard Montrachet from 3L. An 04 Leflaive Batard was also quite nice.
By the time the reds were arriving it was already becoming a bit of a struggle to keep up, I have no further notes. I can remember a delicious 2010 Rousseau Chambertin. Other high points, an older Faiveley Beze, a Vogue Moose from the 1970s, a 1971 Leroy…I need to get in touch with a friend who was snapping label photos!
I was very happy to have had my reds show really well. A mag of 1993 Arnoux RSV was in excellent shape. Just for fun, I brought a 1964 Hospice de Beaune Savigny les Beaune Cuvee Fouquerand from Domaine CAV, a wine I picked up in a larger lot and expected nothing from. It was in truly excellent shape, and I was able to share with Ludivine Griveau of HDB who could tell me a little about the history. She wanted to keep the empty bottle, I’m happy it went to a good home.
I did not attend but received this shot from someone who did. Looks pretty epic.
^^^^^^ That’s not from the Gala Dinner, but yes, epic.
That is correct, that was a special dinner the night before.
Very fun weekend for me and I didn’t attend the Gala dinner which has been the case for a couple+ years now. The best for me was the Thursday night BYO at Zachys dinner and my lunch Friday at Marea - there was plenty of fun bottles being shared. That’s the best part of the Paulee weekend - the generosity and smiles are coming from all directions! I took some notes - mostly tried to enjoy 
.
What a waste. Blah. Blah. Blah.
I’m still waiting for your notes from SF Paulee?!?!? 
I’m on my cell phone, so hard to type–excuse my brevity.
Some highlights. 92, 96, 02 coche perriers were all really great. 86 ramonet montrachet was epic. Some of the reds were a bit variable due to provenance, i suspect. A round of 91 drc at an after party, RC, riche, and rsv were great. 76 dp mag and 89 cris jero were very good. Especially the dom. Sadly a 66 Rousseau chambertin was oxidized, and one of my contributions, a 78 mugneret g mag was corked. 82 dpr mag also delicious.
Many more i am omitting. I’m sure I forgot some good stuff too. The consumptipn takes a toll on memory at some point and i wasn’t writing notes.
What flies at the big tables over the years is certainly an interesting barometer of the wine world. Definitely lesser wines overall than years ago, understandably.
Thanks Patrick.
It’s interesting that the couple of times I went, the interest was in old wines (1950s and earlier) irrespective of producer. From your note, and a couple of PMs it seems like the wines were considerably younger, great producers of course, but those oddities were fewer. Was that your impression?
Yes absolutely. Personally, my interpretation is that we have simply been drinking down the stocks of old wines, as a community, over the past decade. I don’t think there are too many real old bottles of great burgundy left. There are still some terrific, authentic collections out there, but real bottles of old great burgundy simply aren’t as widely available as they once were.
I feel about paulee the way many feel about berns. Still fun, but not what it used to be. (I don’t feel that way about berns. I still love berns and the staff there.)
That is an interesting observation, and probably worthy of its own thread. There is certainly older Burgundy available, particularly in Europe and especially the UK, but prices have rocketed, and it has become increasingly difficult to import them. I agree with you that we will see very few in subsequent Paulees if these trends continue.
The other thought I had was that the conversation of this pre Paulee was about bringing really good wines to share and not trying to show the length of your manhood. It probably explains why people have been reluctant to share their experiences, as the the sheer amount of great wine brings out the Puritans on the board.
I couldn’t even keep up with taking photos of the bottles at the Zachy’s BYO dinner…nevermind taking notes.
This was my first time at the gala dinner and I must admit I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of great wines that passed my lips. I’ve never experienced anything like that before. The one thing that made an impression on me was the tremendous generosity of the attendees. At one point I had 4 glasses with all different vintages of Coche-Dury Meursaults in them. The 2 that made a lasting impression were the '91 DRC Richebourg and a 1953 Maison Leroy Pommard villages that may have been the best red of the night for me. It was amazing to be in the company of so many fellow Burgundy fanatics and the conversations I had with both winemakers and collectors was priceless. The big regret I had was not being able to sit and contemplate each wine slowly over a period of time, which was obviously impossible in the setting. Incredible night.
To Mark’s point about the paucity of La Paulee discussion here, it’s interesting that my Instagram feed was virtually exploding all weekend with La Paulee photos. And while I would agree that picture after picture is way different than detailed tasting notes and typing impressions, lessons and observations, the way wine geeks communicate about wine and wine events has shifted considerably.
My fourth La Paulee and once again epic, I dd Zachy’s BYOB (best one yet!) where a 1996 LT stole the show, although a Coche village 1985 shockingly crushed a 2000 CD Perrier. Verticals was great, followed by a private dinner of Roumier BM’s (1998 WOTN), then the Grand Tasting of the 2014 vintage and finally the Gala. At the gala, literally dozens and dozens of amazing wines come from all directions, there is barely time to snap photos, let alone taking notes. I do have some great photos I have posted on FB. Just too hard to post here.
The concept of La Paulee is sharing on a grand scale, its not so much about the appreciation of wine in the glass, I find this both awe inspiring in terms of generosity, but also can be off-putting to purists who want reflect and contemplate a wine. Thus the pictures and lack of good notes.