It is so rare in our world these days for reality to actually exceed one’s expectations. My expectations for the Paulée in Beaune every year are impossibly high, yet the event manages to blow me away every time.

Lunch was again this year prepared by Michelin 3-star chef Jacques Lameloise from Lameloise in Chagny. It was quite simply superb – most notably his preparation of foie gras and duck breast, the scallops with truffles and potato purée, and the grilled venison dish was nearly orgasmic.

In attendance as far as vignerons were the Mugneret sisters from Mugneret-Gibourg, Jean-Nicolas Meo from Meo-Camuzet, Louis Liger-Belair, Jean-Luc Pepin from de Vogüé, Louis-Fabrice Latour, Dominique Lafon, François de Nicolai from Chandon de Briailles, and of course our hostess Véronique Drouhin. Burghound Allen Meadows and a group of serious Burg-geeks rounded out the room of 50 for a nice little 7-hour lunch.

A partial view of the line-up of bottles for the Paulée

Oh yes, there were some wines. In the order they crossed my table –

The Whites

2004 Montrachet - Drouhin

1996 Puligny Clavaillons - Dom. Leflaive

1972 Chassagne Morgeot - Ramonet-Prudhomme

1995 Chevalier Montrachet - Dom. Leflaive

1976 Vosne-Romanée Pinot Blanc - Meo-Camuzet

2000 Meursault Bouches-Chères - Roulot

1971 Puligny Combottes - Ampeau

1992 Chevalier Montrachet - Latour

1995 Bienvenue Batard Montrachet - Dom. Leflaive

1993 Meursault En la Barre – Jobard

2005 Meursault Charmes – Colin-Morey

1970 Chassagne Morgeot – Ramonet-Prudhomme

1949 Clos des Mouches – Drouhin

1992 Chassagne Ruchottes – Ramonet

1982 Montrachet – DRC

2003 Montrachet – Amiot

1992 Montrachet – Drouhin

1999 Montrachet – Drouhin

1993 Montrachet – Ramonet

1983 Montrachet – Lafon

1989 Montrachet – Remoissenet

1996 Montrachet – Lafon

1992 Meursault Genevrières – Lafon

1989 Corton – Chandon de Briailles

1989 Chavalier Montrachet – Geo. Deleger

Somewhere around the time the ’82 Montrachet came by, Jean-Nicolas Meo announced softly, in his heavily accented English – “I am starting to be happy!”

A view down our table in the ancient Drouhin cellars

And then a few Reds…

2000 Musigny – Mugnier

1988 Griotte Chambertin – Ponsot

2000 Nuits-St. Georges Murgiers – Meo-Camuzet

1976 Chapelle Chambertin – Trapet

1972 Echezeaux – Mugneret-Gibourg

1993 Musigny – de Vogüé

1996 Corton Bressandes – Prince de Merode

2000 Chambolle-Musigny 1er – de Vogüé

2000 Clos St. Jacques – Rousseau

1993 Amoureuses – Mugnier

1990 Corton – producer unknown

1996 Chambertin – Bretagna

1999 Clos de la Roche – Ponsot

1978 Bonnes Mares – de Vogüé

1990 Griotte Chambertin – Ponsot

1990 Chambertin – Rousseau

1987 Chambertin – Bourée Fils

1993 Echezeaux – Henri Jayer

1999 Corton Dr. Peste – Hospices de Beaune

1999 Vosne-Romanée Brulées – Meo-Camuzet

1966 Romanée-St. Vivant – Marey-Monge/DRC

1966 Corton – LeRoy

1993 Nuits-St. Georges – Henri Jayer

1983 La Tâche – DRC

1971 Bonnes Mares – de Vogüé

1988 Chambolle Fueselottes – Mugneret-Gibourg

1964 Clos Vougeot – Mugneret

1937 Richebourg – DRC

1974 Musigny – de Vogüé

1985 Au dessus de Malconsorts – Noblet-André

1952 Echezeaux – Emile Mugneret

1947 Bonnes Mares – de Vogüé

1942 Latricières Chambertin – no producer indicated

1961 Puligny-Montrachet Rouge – Chartron

1937 DRC Richebourg

Some amazing rarities here.  The ’42 Latricières – there was very little wine produced that year, as they were still in the middle of the war and all of the men were away. This was probably made by a group of women and girls in the village, but from whose property is not known. I have never seen a Puligny Rouge – the ’61 was actually quite nice. The ’85 Au dessus de Malconsorts was then a village parcel, is now classified 1er Cru, and was made by the short-lived domaine belonging to M. Noblet (winemaker for DRC) and his wife. Also notable for rarity was the ’76 Pinot Blanc from Vosne-Romanée by Meo-Camuzet – all the blanc has long ago been pulled out there, but this wine was rockin’! Nose of petrol like a reisling, and a complex and rich palate like an old Meursault. Great stuff!

Jordan, Jason, François et Véronique

My wines of the day were the ’66 RSV, the ’64 Echezeaux, and the ’49 Clos des Mouches – but many many more were right up there. What an amazing afternoon!

This all ended at about 7:30pm – so of course being hungry and thirsty a bunch of us headed to Ma Cuisine for dinner and Champagne. A light meal of Foie Gras and duck breast, washed down by a nice bottle of Selosses Brut, and we finally called it a day.

Needless to say, it’s on my calendar already for next year. Huge thanks and deep appreciation to Véronique Drouhin for putting it all together, and to everyone who came and shared these magnificent wines – I am honored to be among you all.

A piece of history in every bottle...

Another full day of tasting up and down the Côte today – starting at Anne & Hervé Sigaut in Chambolle-Musigny. I guess this is as good a time as any to reveal the big news – for the first time ever there will be a Scott Paul wine produced in Burgundy! One single barrel of 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Les Bussières is now resting in barrel (a twice-used Remond barrel from Tronçais, btw) in the Sigaut cellars, awaiting bottling in December 2009 for release in early 2010. You might know that I’m a confirmed Chambolle freak, and to have the first Scott Paul Chambolle is very exciting. It has lovely red fruits, a nice perfume to the nose, and rich sweet fruit all the way through the lingering finish. Watch this space for more details as things develop.

The whole range of 07s at Sigaut was gorgeous – today I thought the Chatelôts and Sentiers showed exceptionally well. I hope that soon the Sigauts will get the recognition they deserve as one of the top-level producers in Chambolle. The wines are simply drop-dead gorgeous.

Ditto for the sublime 07s at Jean-Marc Millot. What can I say? There may not be  prettier examples of Echezeaux, Grands Echezeaux and Clos Vougeot elsewhere. There is simply such a fine, beautiful line running thru these wines – purity of flavor, transparency of terroir, and laser-like minerality. As they say over here – Miam-Miam (their version of yum-yum!)

Double ditto for the 07s at Thierry Violot-Guillemard. The most elegant expression of the great terroirs of Pommard you will ever find. His tiny monopole 1er Cru Clos de Derrière St. Jean continues to blow me away. Being that a swimming pool is smack in the middle of the clos, it was suggested today we should call it a mono-pool!

I wound up the day with a great tasting and dinner at Taupenot-Merme in Morey. They have also done well in 07 – tonight the Mazoyères Chambertin was one of the most attractive young Grand Crus I’ve tasted in a long time. The entire family hosted me to a delicious dinner in their lovely home, followed by hours of lively conversation – which in France always turns to politics. It is exciting to see how excited they are about Obama. The world is truly wishing him and all of us well. We have the goodwill of the world right now – it’s wonderful knowing he won’t waste it like the last guy.

Tomorrow is my favorite day of the year – La Paulée! I’m off to bed to rest up for a day of serious tasting (tough work, I know!) I’ll leave with a shot of the Sigaut’s kitty “Phoebus” (god of the soils) romping in their cellar in Chambolle…

Phoebus in the cellar at Sigaut

Dinner Friday night was at l’Auberge de Vieux Vigneron in Corpeau – a tiny little hamlet just below Puligny. They do great grilled meats right in the fireplace in the middle of the dining room. I split a huge Côte de Boeuf with Jordan Mackay – it was grilled to perfection and very tasty…

Saturday morning kicked off with a walk around the Beaune market (which they moved out of the center of town this weekend due to the auction tomorrow and the massive human traffic in the village), where I ran into Dominique Lafon buying some oysters. Dominque will be joining us at the Paulée on Tuesday, with perhaps a good bottle or two in tow…

I joined up again with Jordan and his sommelier buds from SF – Jason & Mark – and we partook of the killer street food on offer around the Place Carnot in Beaune.

Here’s Jordan with his oysters and a tumbler of Chablis –

Wine writer Jordan Mackay in Beaune

And here’s the real character who was frying up plates of frogs-legs and hollering “à la Grenouille, à la Grenouille” (to the frog, to the frog!) They were deliciously garlic-y and lip-smacking good.

à la Grenouille

I took the crew on a vineyard tour up and down the Côte – stopping off to walk thru Montrachet, La Tâche, Romanée-Conti, La Romanée, La Grand Rue, Richebourg, Romanée-St. Vivant, Musigny, Amoureuses, and all of the Gevrey Grand Crus. Here’s a shot of the Drouhin parcel of Musigny…

Musigny

Then it was a snack of some Comté and a foie gras mousse from Moron in Pommard, my favorite charcuterie shop here. Just a little something to tide me over until dinner! Good thing, because no food hit the plate until about 9:15 last night at the “Souverain Bailliage de Pommard” dinner and ceremonies. This was where I was inducted into the confrèrie last year. It was fun to be back as a returning member. This was a special anniversary edition of the event, which was started 25 years ago by one of our great Pommard producers, Aleth Girardin. They did a special powerpoint presentation during dinner, with photos of highlights from past years, including the attendance of French cinema giant Gerard Depardieu at the first dinner in 1983.

The food was great, the singing of Burgundian drinking songs was spirited, and a good time was had by all. Especially the gentleman sitting across from me, who specializes in getting inducted into confrèries all over France. (Every region, village, wine, foodstuff or special ingredient has its own festival and confrèrie in this country.) Here he is during the induction process, wearing the ceremonial costume from the Royal Order of the Haricot de Saucissons (A large, big as your thumb bean that they like to eat with small sausages - I kid you not!) I recorded some of the songs and merrymaking during the course of the evening for a future podcast – should be good stuff…

Monsieur Haricot

I was the first one to leave at about 1:15 am – they like for their dinners to run late here – and I crashed back in Volnay until about 10am.

Today was overcast and cool, but warmed by the thousands of people descending on Beaune for The Auction – otherwise known as the Hospices de Beaune. I met up with wine biz heavyweight Raj Parr (wine director for the Michael Mina group of restaurants) for a great lunch at Bistro de l’Hotel – mesclun salad with shaved parmesan and a blanket of fresh Burgundy truffles, followed by an awesome grilled ribeye and frites. We had a ’99 Clos du Chateau Des Ducs from Lafarge that was inspiringly excellent, and a killer ’06 Chambolle les Feuselottes from Mugneret-Gibourg that was showing absolutely beautifully for a youngster. I’m looking forward to seeing the Mugneret sisters at the Paulée…

I’m back in Volnay now resting my stomach for the next assault – dinner tonight at Michelin-starred Le Benaton with Thierry & Estelle Violot-Guillemard. In the meantime, here’s Aleth Girardin’s daughter Anne-Charlotte, one of our sommeliers last night…

Anne-Charlotte

OMFG, as the denizens of the boards have been known to say. The 07s at J-J Confuron are mind-blowingly beautiful. From the Bourgogne Rouge to the unbelievably elegant Romanée-St. Vivant every wine was singing with lovely red fruits, a texture of the purest silk, and beautiful length. It’ll be a year from now until they’re in the market, but make your plans now to get in on these babies. Here’s Alain Meunier & Sophie Confuron-Meunier outside the cellar on this gorgeous sunny morning…

Alain & Sophie - J-J Confuron

Had a great lunch with a nice group of Burg-hounds from Atlanta and NoCal at Le Chambolle in Chambolle-Musigny. They were part of a group touring and tasting here with our friend Kim Gagné. The food rocked (especially the salt-caramel ice cream), and the 01 Roumier les Cras and 00 Mugnier Musigny were both in nice form. I just so happen to have another bottle of the Mugnier with me, which I’ll bring to the Paulée on Tuesday along with other goodies.

Here’s a shot from the top of Les Amoureuses taken on the way back from lunch…

Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses

Then this afternoon was the 136^th annual Fête des Grands Vins de Bourgogne – literally thousands of wines to taste at a huge walk-around tasting. I got a good look at a bunch of 08 barrel samples from Chambolle (Roumier, Barthod, Sigaut), Puligny (Chavy, Carillon, Leflaive) Meursault (Coche-Dury, Roulot, Jobard) and Gevrey (Dugat, Humbert) – coupled with the 08s I’ve tasted in our producers cellars I can say that the wines seem very very nice – lovely big fruit, good balance, and I look forward to tasting after malo a year from now. Tasted a jillion other wines from around the Côte from 04 & 06, and then my palate was shot and I retuned to the house in Volnay.

Off to dinner with friends old and new – more soon…

What a great first full day on the Côte. Picking up where I left off, I tasted thru the just-bottled 2007s at Huber-Verdereau. Another lovely line-up as always, though very different from Pascal Bouley’s. The H-V wines are always more dense and concentrated, but not as approachable out of the gate. They even up over time, but it’s very interesting to see two very different winemaking styles from the same village and similar terroir. Here’s Thiébault in his “tasting room”/office in the winery in Volnay. (I recorded much of our conversation while tasting, for use in a future podcast…)

Thiébault Huber

Thiébault desended into the cellar and returned with a 1943 Pommard Rugiens (his mom’s birth year), and a 1961 Volnay – but both were shot for various different reasons (the ’43 was simply past its prime – no fruit left, but a lovely nose. The ’61 was totally oxidized due to a bad cork, but was more interesting on the palate.) Merde! Well, it’s always a roll of the dice with the old ones…

Then we were off to dinner at Ma Cuisine – fabulous as always (the côte de Veau was exceptional.) A killer bottle of Selosse Brut to kick it off, and an early look at the 2005 Les Amoureuses from Lucien Le Moine were the wines – the Amoureuses was obviously way too young, but it continued to open in the glass over the course of the meal and was showing impeccable balance and all the stuffing to be great in the years to come. Nice grape juice indeed…

Back now after a good night’s sleep – I slept thru ‘til 7 this morning. If you’re ever in a Burgundian village, you’ll notice that it seems they REALLY want you to get up by 7:00 – the church bells ring non-stop for about 15 minutes at 7 o’clock in some wild pattern, as if to say “if you weren’t up already, you’re getting your butt up NOW!” You get used to it after a while, in fact you don’t even hear the bells after a couple of weeks, but at the beginning it always seems like those bells are directly outside your window!

A nice run thru the vineyards in Volnay & Pommard again this morning, and I’m looking forward to tasting today at Confuron – always a highlight of every visit. Also today is the “Palais des Congrés” tasting – the gigantic annual expo of damn near every wine made in Burgundy. There’s a special session for the trade  this afternoon – I’ll check it out and report back in a bit…

Je suis arrivée! I’m here, I’ve made it in one piece yet again, everything went smoothly, and for the first time in my adult life I managed a litle sleep on the flight from Chicago to Paris. I stopped in to Beaune yesterday afternoon to pick up some food for the fridge (and some chocolates at Bouché, of course), settled into Thiébault Huber’s guest house in Volnay, and then had a quick dinner with him and the family at their house in Pommard. It is great to be back.

I was immediately struck by every magazine cover in the Paris airport and train station - they all have Obama on the cover, I mean every one! It sems the french are as fascinated and excited as we are, and they share our hopes for a brighter future under his new and dynamic leadership. The economy is in recession over here too, but not yet as bad as at home. Let’s hope both Obama and monsieur Sarkozy can pull us all through this mess…

Woke up this morning at 5:30 and took a nice run thru the hills of Volnay, then over to Pommard and back, before grabbing a pain-au-chocolat from the Boulangerie and the morning paper from the one commercial enterprise in Volnay (open only two hours a day, and seemingly randomly at that.)

The first tasting of the day was at Pascal Bouley’s - and suffice it to say his ’07s are achingly beautiful. Tender, elegant and refined, it’s oneof the most beautiful ranges of Volnays I’ve had the pleasure to taste. We then walked across the street for lunch at Le Cellier Volnaysien - a classic Burgundian resto where the menu hasn’t changed in at least 100 years. I go there every year with Pascal & Réyane, who always carefully study the menu and then order the same thing everytime (Escargots and Oeufs en Meurette, for those who asked.) The entire Burgundy world is here for the upcoming festivites - I ran into NY Burg-heads Doug  Barzelay & Michael Rockefeller at lunch, along with Benjamin Leroux (Comte Armand, and his own new label Maison Leroux), Jean-Pierre Charlot (Joseph Voillot), Hubert de Montille, Mike Stephens, and a host of others.

Le Cellier Volnaysien

I’m off to taste Thiébault’s 07s in just a bit, and then to dinner at perrenial favorite Ma Cuisine with our friend journalist Jordan Mackay, who’s flying in from Italy this afternoon to join in the Burgundian bacchanalia for a few days.

It’s about 25-26 hours door-to-door from Portland to Volnay. No matter how you slice it, it’s a bit of a safari. I go stir-crazy on 12+-hour flights, so here’s how I usually slice it: A 4-5 hour flight from Portland to Chicago or Atlanta, and then a 7-hour flight to Paris. I’m at the gate at PDX right now, waiting to board a United flight to Chicago. Then it’s a 2-hour layover there, then the flight to Paris.

After getting the bags in Paris (1-hour minimum, it seems), then it’s a taxi to the Gare de Lyon (another hour in Paris traffic), then the TGV to Dijon (a blissful 1:45), then grabbing the rental car and a cruise down the Côte to Volnay. I’ll get there at about 4:00pm on Wednesday France time, or about 7am back home. It’s basically like pulling an all-nighter back in college days. I’m just a bit older, however!

I’ll be staying in the guest house above the Huber-Verdereau cellars in Volnay, which is very warm and cozy. I look forward to the church bells just outside my window, marking time every 15 minutes, and settling into the flow of life in the winemaking villages.

Here’s a great shot of the sunrise over Vosne-Romanée - more to come from the other side of the pond soon!

First light over the most valuable vineyard land on the planet...

First off, thanks to everyone who made this year’s Salud auction a huge success. At last report we had raised over $736,000 over the two day event, all of which goes directly to health care for Oregon’s vineayrd workers and their families. Here’s a shot of some revelers at the gala dinner Saturday night -

Linda & Lloyd Towne at Salud

I’m off in the morning to Burgundy, for 10 days of tasting with all of our producers, and of course the festivites surrounding the Hospices de Beaune auction and the amazing Paulée. It is truly my favorite time of year (and as I’ve often said, the Paulée is my favorite day of the year, period.) As much as I dread the travel itself, my November trip is always the most joyous of the year.

I’m looking forward to getting a good look at the 2007s, now in barrel for one year, and I’ll also take a first glimpse at the just fermented 2008s. I’ll be reporting back as often as the irregular internet connection in Volnay allows, hopefully with photos and all sorts of scoop from the motherland. More soon from the road!

… and I’m just the guy to do it! Tasting, dining, drinking, charity auctions - that’s my life for the next few days. It’s a busy time for us, but totally wonderful to be involved with Salud - the Oregon Pinot Noir auction that supports health care for vineyard workers. It kicks off tonight with a small dinner for the folks who bought our wine at last year’s event (it just happens to be Bill Sweat and Donna Morris of Winderlea VIneyard in the Dundee Hills) - and then then the big tastings and auctions at DDO on Friday and the Black-tie event in Portland on Saturday night. Martha and Kelley and I look forward to seeing you over the coming days. Don’t miss our 2007 Audrey wine - it’s a single barrel from our old vines at Maresh, and it’s really showing beautifully right now…

I have not fully processed yet that I leave Tuesday morning for Burgundy! I’ll be tasting in all of our producers cellars of course, as well as going to the Hospices de Beaune auction and the Paulée as I do every year, and I’ll be reporting back with all the details and updates as everything unfolds. Stay tuned for all the hedonistic decadance to come!

In the meantime, here’s a shot of a few old soldiers ready for action at the Paulée last year…

So much wine, so little time...

A good time was had by all last night at our 3rd annual “La Paulée de Carlton” dinner & celebration in the winery. A total of 60 of us - vintners, growers, friends, customers & neighbors - chowed down on a decadently delicious meal from the crew at Simpatica in Portland, with an avalanche of great wines that everyone had brought to share around for the evening.

Some of the best bottles that crossed my table for the night were the ‘88 DDO - pure silk and elegance now, the ‘90 DDO and ‘94 DDO in magnum, a nice ‘03 Amoureuses from Freddy Mugnier, a killer ‘97 Musigny from Mugnier, a very interesting ‘75 Pinot from Martini in California, a mag of ‘88 Clos Vougeot from Rene Engel, and another bottle of the ‘66 RSV from DRC (I opened a previous bottle at IPNC this summer - that one was better, but this one did not suck!)

In all, a bunch of great wines and great people!

Happy campers at table 6

Bella & Emily get their groove on

Dewey & Robin Kelly of Ribbon Ridge Vineyard

Scott Paul interns Graham & Miguel with revelers

Thanks to everyone who helped make it such a success - especially Kelley Fox and crew for getting the winery magically turned into a dinner venue right in the middle of harvest, and  Kelly Karr and Emily Freiler for making it all run so smoothly.  And thanks to my wife Martha for all the great photos. Cheers!