So here I sit at the Gare de Lyon, one of Paris’ great classic train stations, waiting for my train to Dijon. I am jet-lagged to the max (as usual upon arrival) – which means semi-dizzy and pretty spacey in general. It also means that my grasp on the French language is not in peak form – but I did manage to have a pretty interesting and intense political conversation with my cab driver on the ride in from the airport. (He doesn’t like Sarkozy, the new president, and thinks he’s about as bad as Bush!) I am apparently very lucky to have arrived today rather than tomorrow, as (quelle surprise!) major strikes are planned for tomorrow, which will shut down the train system nationwide and the Metro in Paris. I am told this is caused by Pres. Sarkozy’s plans to change the unbelievably lucrative retirement plans for all government employees (which accounts for a full half of the French workforce!)We can only hope it’s over by the time I need to leave next Wednesday…

In the meantime, it is great to be back. Just sitting here in this crummy train-station cafe and having a decent steak-frites and a glass of beer makes me very happy (and it blows away any airport or train food we can conjure up in the states.) My crazy schedule starts tomorrow – with visits to five producers, inluding a potential new addition in Mercurey, as well as Chavy, Millot, Sigaut, and Taupenot-Merme. I am praying the melatonin kicks in nicely tonite and I get a decent night’s sleep…

Continuing now from the train – I do love the TGV, what a pleasant and comfortable way to travel… I’m looking forward to tasting the Hospices de Beaune wines later this week. A few friends over here have told me that the Côte de Beaune reds this year will be very interesting, and possibly good deals as well (although with the dollar through the floor right now, it’s all relative.) Assuming quality is excellent and prices aren’t stratospheric, I will probably pick up a barrel or two at the auction again this year. I am very thankful for my continuing close relationship with the Drouhin family – not only can they do a superb job of élévage and bottling on our auction purchases, they can also place our bids for us directly on the auction floor – relieving me from having to sit through and excruciatingly-slow 7-8 hours of the auction, which is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to see it all once – the French movie stars and all – but the snail-like pace of the proceedings can be coma-inducing! Speaking of comas, I’m going to try to slip into a quick one here on the train. It’s about an hour and a half to Dijon, and with luck I can snooze for most of it….

I have now settled in at Le Richebourg in Vosne-Romanée, my annual home during the Hospices/Paulée week festivities. It really lifts my spirits to drive by my beloved Musigny and Amoureuses on the way here, or to just glance out of the window and see Clos de Beze as I’m whizzing by. (You are pretty much forced to drive crazy here by the local motorists, who to a person always seem to believe it is their god-given right, and duty in fact, to pass any car that might be in front of them. At least I don’t tailgate like the locals – a practice that can be terrifying at times…) I am officially out of gas, and am looking forward to a rockin’ good sleep in this most magical of all wine villages on the planet…

What a great Salud event this year – it was one of the most enjoyable ever. Pinot lovers from around the country came in for a fun three days of revelry and hedonistic indulgence, and a good time was seemingly had by all. We are honored to be one of the 42 wineries chosen to participate, and even more honored that our wines have been fetching strong prices at the auction. Big thanks and appreciation to all who attended, bid, and put so much time and effort into making this a very special event.

My suitcase is on the bed and my clothes are stacked up and ready to pile in. I leave for Burgundy in the morning, and I’ve got a seriously full schedule when I hit the ground. Of course I’ll be tasting through hundreds of 2006s in barrel from all of our producers, and will take a quick first look at the newly fermented 2007s as well. Extremely young Burgs are nearly impossible to judge – it really takes until after the wines are through malo and have settled in – generally about a year after crush – until any kind of picture begins to emerge that gives a clue to where the wines are really going. Thus the timing of my November trip every year. The fact that it coincides with the Hospices de Beaune auction and La Paulée de Meursault is a huge plus, to be sure. Hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, you know?

I’ve been invited to be inducted into the confrèrie of the Chevaliers de Pommard this year – I expect a lot of funny hats and silver tastevins around the neck and a lot of fun. Our 2005 La Paulée Pinot will be served to all of the attendee at the ceremoniess, and I’m very honored and thankful to Aleth Girardin for the invitation and for including our wines. More from the road tomorrow…

I need to declare publicly that I have recently formed a strong new emotional attachment. It started as a flirtation, then developed into a deep admiration and loving friendship. Elements of lust appeared periodically, I tried to walk away from it, but couldn’t. The lure was irresistable. I kept getting pulled back in deeper and deeper. One reaches a point where you realize that there is something you can no longer deny, and you must face up to it. And so, I am happy to state to the world that I have fallen head-over-heels for the wines of Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier in Chambolle-Musigny.

I’ve been buying. cellaring and drinking “Freddy’s” wines for many many years, and have always had a crush on them. It finally hit me over the head at our La Paulée dinner the other night that I do indeed love them. There is an unmatched grace and purity to his wines – they are drop-dead sexy wihout trying to be. They are ethereal, nearly weightless at times, and truly unlike any others. They’re not flashy, but sometimes they let you glimpse a hint of the bare thigh above the stockings. The words finesse and elegance don’t even begin to do justice to the silken kisses these wines bestow on you. In the mouth they feel like the tenderest caress you ever had from the prettiest girl you ever knew. And then they captivate your soul. They make you just want to take off and run away together, so you can get away from daily life and just focus on the beauty. This is not an obsession, I’m not going to let this take over my life and get to the point where I neglect my well-being or responsibilities. It’s a healthy attraction, but damn they are beautiful.

Beauty of course is in the eye of the beholder. Freddy’s wines have gone under the radar of many for quite some time – usually overhadowed by the more famous Chambolle-based domaines of Christophe Roumier and Comte de Vogüé. Within the last three years or so the “secret” has apparently gotten out, and now the world-wide demand for the wines and the resulting prices have gone through the stratosphere. Ah, but what price perfection! The pendulum appears to be swinging away from the bigger-is-better school of wine, and that arc is leading many to the world of Freddy. They’re not for everyone, just as no piece of music or no poem is everyone’s cup of tea. But be forewarned, if you fall, you are liable to fall deeply. It’s a haunting melody you can’t get out of your head.

For the record, I have no business connection or interest in these wines whatsoever, I do not import them, in fact I’ve only met the man himself once briefly. All I know is that I want to live out my days savoring as much of his wines as cirumstances allow. If I could choose my last meal, I’d go for Thomas Keller’s foie gras torchon from the French Laundry, the full truffle-menu at Alain Ducasse in Paris, and an assortment of patisserie from François Payard in New York, all tied together with a perfectly mature bottle of Mugnier Musigny. (Of course we’d have to start with a magnum of ’85 Krug Clos du Mesnil for the aperitif, and then have a bottle of ’85 Jayer Richebourg for back-up, just in case!)

It was a bottle of DRC’s ’59 La Tâche that was my first and perhaps most enduring love, and the wine that lead me to where I sit today. With no disrespect to that magical wine, and without being unfaithful to it in my heart, I’ve got a new mistress. Appropriately, one of Mugnier’s best wines is the Chambolle-Musigny “Les Amoureuses”, which of course means “the lovers”…

Wow – what a night! The 2nd annual La Paulée de Carlton last night was huge fun. I am exhausted and moving a little slow today (too many good wines – had to explore them in the name of science, of course.) Huge thanks to everyone who joined us and made it the fun night it was, and mega thanks to the Scott Paul team for all of their hard work in putting this together and pulling it off without a hitch. Kelly Karr, Emily Freiler & Cheryl Rogers made it all look easy. The food from Simpatica in Portland also rocked – those guys do a great job, and they came up with the perfect menu for a cool fall evening filled with decadent Pinots & Burgs.

Speaking of the wines – there was surely one of the better collections of New World Pinot and Burgundies in one room that you’re ever likely to find. That’s the beauty of the Paulée, you never know what treats and treasures are going to be around. We’re like kids in a candy store on nights like this – every bottle offers the promise of new discovery, a new joy, or perhaps just a learning experience – any and all of which are fine by me. It would be impossible to catalog the hundred of lovely bottles flowing around the room that night, but the generosity of the guests is really overwhelming. I offer up thanks and gratitude to all for sharing their goodies. Some of my personal favorites from the evening:

2002 Chambolle-Musigny les Fuées – Mugnier, 2001 Musigny from Drouhin, 1990 Evesham Wood (in magnum from winemaker Russ Raney’s cellar), the 1996 Musigny from Drouhin, and my fave of the night, a 1985 Charmes-Chambertin from Taupenot-Merme (generously gifted by our friend Romain Taupenot.) Again, what a night. I know it’s a dangerous job, but I have to tackle a bunch of old Burgundies at the original French version of La Paulée two weeks from tomorrow. Hopefully that gives my 53 year-old body enough time to recover inbetween!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy to announce that the 2007 vintage at Scott Paul is now all in barrel! The wines have been laid down to rest in their french oak sleeping-lofts, and an entire year’s work in the vineyards has now come full circle. Kelley and I are very excited about the potential of the wines. We’ll have a much better idea what they’re all about after they’ve gone through malo, which is most likley not until some point in the first quarter. We’ll keep you up to date here on all the progress.

Now we get to focus on celebrating at our La Paulée events on Saturday. I get excited like a little kid sometimes before these big events. I’m really looking forward to it, and I’ve got some nice treasures from the cellar set aside for dinner. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll bring, but probably some goodies from Mugnier, Roumier and Confuron, and maybe an older Musigny or Montrachet or two. Stay tuned…

Well, I’m happy to say that my prediction for the end of good weather was dead wrong – we’ve had a week of the most beautiful fall imagineable, with bright sunshine and temperatures edging up towards 70 – and I’m happy to enjoy every single moment of it.

Crush is winding down to a close – Kelley will have everything drained and pressed and in barrel by Thursday, it looks like. Then we have one whole day to turn the winery from a production facility into a dining facility for 80 for our La Paulée dinner Saturday night! I have every confidence that Kelley, Samuel and JJ, along with Kelly Karr and Emily will once again work their magic and make us shine by the weekend. Please join us for the La Paulée Open House 11-4 this Saturday in our tasting room- we’ll have abunch of the new 05 Burgs open and it’s your first chance to taste and buy futures on the 06 Scott Paul Audrey & La Paulée Pinots… I leave two weeks from today for my November Burgundy trip, and I’ve just realized I haven’t come to terms with the fact it is actually just two scant weeks away. Yikes! I suppose I need to get ready, non?

Today was perhaps the most beautiful day I’ve seen anywhere in a long time (and it may well be a long time before we see a pretty day around here again). The sun was bright and crisp, the skies a spectacular blue, the bright white snows on Mt. Hood so clear and close it seemed you could reach out and touch the mountain, the late afternoon light hitting the vineyards in their perfectly bright golden-yellow post-harvest glow – it all made me pause several times today to just take the moment to truly drink it all in. We are blessed here in Oregon, and I am so happy to have the opportunity to be a part of it. Ahhhh…

Kelley and the boys have just finished racking a few more lots to barrel today, and things are moving along nicely in the cellar. I continue to be happy with the character of the new wines at this point. With a little luck we will have everything pressed off and put to bed in time for our La Paulée dinner on Nov. 3rd – but it’s possible there may still be a lot or two still in tank then.

It’s shaping up t be a great event again this year. The guys from Simpatica will be cooking up a storm, and the array of wines should be spectacular to say the least. The one piece of bad news is that the dinner is completely sold out – we can only fit so many revelers in the winery, and we’ve had to stop taking reservations ’cause we’re at the limit… I’m really looking forward to seeing you all here in a couple of weeks. If you can’t make the dinner, please plan on joining us for the open-house affair from 10-4 that day – we’ll have a bunch of the gorgeous 2005 Burgs open for your slurping pleasure…

It is just an insanely busy time these days. But then when isn’t it anymore? No complaints whatsoever – all is going well and I truly do love what I do. (Otherwise there’s no reason to do it, is there?) Kelley in the winery and Kelly in the office are both stretched to the limit with very full plates, and I seem to be the CEO in charge of keeping all the plates spinning!

We’re all looking forward to seeing you here for our 2nd annual La Paulée events on Saturday November 3rd. Our dinner that night is nearly sold-out already – so if you’re planning to join us please rsvp to kellykarr@scottpaul.com asap. If you can’t make it for the dinner, please plan to join us for the Open House from 11-4 that day – we’ll have a bunch of great 2005 Burgs open, including some new arrivals from the container that just came in last week.

This is also a good time to mention the 2007 SALUD auction and tasting, held this year on November 9th and 10th. We’re proud to be a part of the select group of Oregon producers who are invited to make a single barrel of special wine for this event, which is available only at the annual auction. All proceeds raised go to funding healthcare programs for the vineyard crews, truly a worthy and wonderful cause. I believe tickets are still avaialble – check at www.saludauction.org

Speaking of events, don’t forget we open early at 10am the Friday & Saturday of Thanksgiving Weekend for our annual Open House celebration. The inside tip is to come before noon to beat the crowds and the traffic – it can get quite crazy in the afternoon. Don’t miss your shot to taste and purchase futures of the 2006 Audrey and 2006 La Paulée – there is an exceptionally small amount of the Audrey, and it will disappear quickly…

And most importantly, the wines. Fermentations continue nicely on the 2007s in the winery. Maresh and Ribbon Ridge are the standouts so far, but across the board the quality is looking pretty nice…

Whew – all the fruit is in the barn! We brought in all the remaining parcels at Momtazi and Zenith vineyards on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and our 2007 harvest is now done. It’s always a great feeling to have all of the vintage in house, until you look in the winery and realize we have 64 separate fermentations to deal with now! We are packed to the gills in there, and have definitely maxed-out the capacity of our new facility. (It’s some kind of law, isn’t it – that you will always expand to fill whatever space you’ve got?) Kelley & the crew are doing a great job staying on top of it all. It’s quite an exercise in logistics, with a number of fermentations now finished and needing to be drained and pressed, others soaking and waiting to get started, and others mid-ferment and needing constant monitoring and attention.

The good news is that we’re going to have some really nice wines when all is said and done. Alcohol levels should be in the 13-13.5% range across the board, which we feel is the sweet-spot for our style. The native-yeast ferments have been behaving very nicely, and the early lots from Maresh, Ribbon Ridge and Shea are showing signs of being outstanding at this point.

Sadly, the press will probably seize on the rain we had off and on during harvest, and use that to cast a negative pall over the vintage. Then, when the wines come out in 18 months-2 years from now, they’ll remind everyone again that it was a “weak” year. There certainly won’t be any of the 15-16% alcohol big-boy pinots that much of the press seems to love, so it can’t be agood vintage, right?

Did the rain affect the vintage? Absolutely. The rain and cool weather the last couple of weeks slowed down ripening, created varying amounts of rot at different sites, and probably diluted flavors – all site-specific and dependant on when you picked. Will the wines be tremendous across the board? No. Will there be some excellent wines from 2007 in the Willamette Valley? Absolutely. Only time will tell the complete story, but as always it will be a complex story with a thousand different facets, not easily summed up as simply “good” or “bad”. Rating a vintage can only be the broadest of generalizations at best, with the possible exceptions of those rare vintages like 2005 Burgundy or 2002 Oregon, when virtually everyone made excellent wine. At the end of the day, the old adage remains true – there are no great wines (or vintages), only great bottles…

First of all, we are honored to have once again been selected by leading Burgundy/Pinot critic Allen Meadows as producers of two of the top wines of the vintage! In the new 4th quarter issue of Burghound.com we received a 91 for the ’05 Audrey and a 90 for the ’05 La Paulée (Allen is notoriously stingy with scores – anything over 88 is a big success in his system). Kudos to a couple of our favorite Oregon winemakers – Steve Doerner at Cristom and Russ Raney at Evesham Wood – they grabbed the two top scores of the year (93 and 92), but hey, we’re #3 (and we try harder, or something like that…)

We’re bringing in fruit from our remaining blocks at Momtazi today, in fact the first load is on the truck and headed our way as I write. Kelley and the crew have pressed off and barreled down a couple of the early lots from Maresh over the last two days, and the juice is really really nice. The sunshine has returned, so we should have perfect days for bringing in the last of our 2007 fruit. I’m fighting off some kind of virus/flu (nice timing, right in the middle of crush,eh?) – at this point I’m just hoping to make it through the weekend. More from the trenches as it happens…