La Paulee de New York 2005. Wow. I went to La Paulee in 2001 and 2003 and I was wowed then, but I was really, exceptionally wowed in 2005. As John Kapon, President of Acker Merrall Condit, wrote of the recent, magestic event, "...Daniel Johnnes... brought the glory of La Paulee back to New York City earlier this month with a weekend of decadence, excess and camaraderie unsurpassed in the wine world." I couldn't agree more. For me, the camaraderie I felt with the producers and the collectors was special and genuine, but the friendships deepened in the back room, the "wine staging room", where 50 of the nations best sommeliers pulled corks, sniffed rare bottlings, and decanted double-magnums of legendary wines. In fact, many of the Vintrust sommeliers were there, and surely they remain as stary-eyed as I do about the event. Likely, there will be more than one entry on this site about La Paulee de New York. Even if we all wrote about it, we couldn't possibly convey its true glory.
In a sea of VIP collectors, producers and foodies, more than 300 of them, the Cadets de Bourgogne sang their hearts out while guests tasted some of the finest Burgundies in the world. (Daniel brings over to NYC not just the producers, but the celebrated, Burgundian mens singing group.)
At my table alone, I pourred wine for Dominique Lafon, Daniel & sally Johnnes, Robert Parker, Pierre-Antoine Rovani, Anne Colgin & Joe Wender, Eric Asimov, Greg Linn, and many, many others. In fact, they all brought such epic wines that mt sommelier team never stopped moving for a minute. Thank goodness I had super-star sommeliers Richard Betts (The Little Nell, Aspen), Patrick Cappiello (Tribeca Grill, NYC) and Tim Kopec (Veritas, NYC) to pour from all of the large format bottles at our grand table. In addition to pourring our own large table, we were constantly directed to go and pour a taste for the likes of R.W. Apple, sitting across the room, or Allen Meadows in the middle, or Jim Clendenon, on the other side of the room, or for Jean-Pierre de Smet, who, when the Cadets de Bourgogne sang their well-rehearsed rendition of "New York, New York" got up on his chair and sang right along with them. As did nearly every other person in the grand ballroom; it was a sight to see and hear!
And the wines...? Too numerous to mention. Just try to imagine every great vintage from every legendary vineyard from the world's sui generis wine region: La Bourgogne.
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