A Vintage Bash for All Things Burgundy

Barely two weeks later, and this event has not aged well. At all.

No actually. “Parallels rise” is code for just mystifying Pinot Noir from Burgundy as a local NY marketing pricing strategy. Author buying in. Reader not buying the marketing. Get real.

The Masque of the Red Death.

Whether it’s a $1,500 wine dinner that’s BYOB, a $12,000 handbag that costs $200 to make, a $100,000 luxury-label car that performs little better than one half the price or a $20 million apartment that’s worth $5 million, you can always count on the rich to overpay and keep the luxury industries going, aided by the “aspirational” New York Times. When I read stories like these, it makes me glad that I am comfortable, but not wealthy. I feel I have such a better perspective on life and the value of things, including the ability to discern the times when money would be wasted and not well-spent (or when it should go to charity and not my own pleasure). This event (BTW, also flouting all current conventions on dealing with coronavirus) seems like such a waste.

My favorite wine region in France and still a wonderful place to visit, especially in the off season. The wines are great, but the people and the winemakers there are even greater. Such nice, kind, welcoming people. Looking forward to returning there again.

Well this is all well & good, but it's hardly as if Burgundy wine was "unknown" before this PR event. Burgundy wines have been celebrated by winos high & low for a good two centuries, and undoubtedly much longer than that. The lamentable side-effect of promotional efforts such as this is that really good affordably priced Burgundy wines now become status symbols for the international elite, with the resulting skyrocketing prices. Not something to be celebrated.

I started drinking wine in the early 1980's. At the time, with the dollar over-valued against the franc, pretty good bottles of bordeaux were in the $8-10 range. I now routinely see the same bottles for at least 4-5 times more. Burgundies then were STARTING at $20 for any of the village appellations, regional "bourgognes" were $8-10. And they were quite hit-or-miss, far less reliable than other regions. Living in France for 15 years taught me that decent burgundies were still relatively expensive- and still hit-or-miss. More recently returning to France revealed the exorbitant price inflation that has occurred, even there. Burgundy wines were always more expensive, they've simply appreciated in value all that much faster- but theyd are still- to me, with a limited budget- hit or miss. But when you "hit" there is no better wine in the world. Tant pis!

Let's not forget that in spite of its progressive leanings, The Times is essentially an elitist paper. And Asimov's pieces tend to cater to to its super-affluent affluent segment. There are still affordable Burgundy wines that can easily stack-up to some of the most expensive wines mentioned in the piece.

Eric, I hope you will follow up with reporting of possible coronavirus spread at this event. I admire La Paulee and attended many of the annual events in NYC and SF over the first tens years. I sat with with you and enjoyed wonderful discussions and wine at a couple of the events. It is a singular celebration of wine in this country, no doubt. However, anyone who was paying attention knows this was the kind of event that should have been cancelled by the organizers and the "excuse" that our public officials hadn't ordered the necessary actions is absolutely no defense at all. Thanks for all you do in Wine, but please share the need to suspend these kind of events for for coming months

Don't forget, this is a FOR profit event, and all the participating wineries/wines must be approved by the organizers. It is not OPEN to all Burgundy winemakers. As an importer/distributor, I have tried to donate Burgundy bottles for this event only to be rejected numerous times. The organizers are/have been wine-directors of top NYC restaurants groups and importers, therefore they a have been promoting these wines for their own self gain. Sure they love the wines, but this event is not really PURE.

I see La Paulee as a potlatch, emblematic of what has gone wrong in the world of wine, particularly the world of Burgundy, over the past 25 years or so. My passion for Burgundy started in the '70s and I have amassed an enormous cellar by now. I’ve spent considerable time in the region, tasting, dining, walking the vineyards. Over time, I’ve watched the onslaught of wealthy tourists flock to Burgundy, plundering wine lists, seeking bragging rights; watched as cellars became overrun, as visits to the ‘blue chip’ properties became as exclusive, competitive and tightly allocated as the wines. Sadly, wine I was accustomed to buying and drinking with abandon has become obscenely expensive. Now just a few bottles pulled from my cellar can readily be converted at auction into a new car or four years’ undergraduate tuition at a public university. A hectare of 1er cru vineyard in the Cote d’Or is beyond the means of all but the billionaire class. In many ways, the great wines of the Cote d’Or have become luxury branded items for the 1% - yet another manifestation of the vast gulf between the uber-wealthy and the rest of us in this Gilded Age of ludicrous income and wealth inequality. I still love Burgundy and still drink plenty of it; but now get pleasure from well-made, honest wines from modest appellations; and I’ve broadened my horizons to explore the wines of the many other regions where excellent wine is being made; where wine is still food, not status symbol.

A community indeed. Talk about your community spread!

For 14 years living in Paris, I've attend the Salon des Vins des Vignerons Indépendants, a large gathering of small to medium sized producers from all over France. You can enter for free, taste for free and purchase wines from every region and in many cases, meet the winemakers themselves over the course of four days. I've watched in dismay at the changes that have occurred in Burgundy during these 14 years as prices have become outrageous, in some cases have even tripled, yet the quality of the wines are diminished. At the salon, you can purchase excellent wines for anywhere except Burgundy (yes, even places like Pomerol and Margaux) from 7-20 Euros but if you want even Village level cru, plan to spend 30 and up. Anything less is barely drinkable. Winemakers, smaller ones, talk mostly about low yields, hail damage, heat waves and yes, some amount of need to raise prices (as they can now ask higher prices as the larger producers are taking advantage of demand vs. supply ratio in their favor) so they can stay afloat financially. I absolutely love Burgundy but I don't buy it anymore, too expensive, too much risk of poor quality and, as so much better wine is available, why would I?

I have visited and spent time tasting in Burgundy. There are some wonderful smaller vineyards that have delicious wines in the Maconnais that are comparable to some of the greats up North. I am not wealthy by any means but I was able to have a memorable visit by walking a bit off the beaten path.

Having friends who live in Paris and they have a "subscription" for Romanee-Conti, I can attest it is a wonderful wine. I had to have my palate educated to appreciate fine wine. I am glad they could teach me, as I could not afford a bottle of many of the wines. But I understand them much better now. One of the best places to go for winr in Paris is actually Galleries Lafayette. They have an excellent selection and it is very varied also. What I have learned is that to appreciate fine wine, it really helps to have good teachers and friends you can talk about the wine with.

I hope the attendees have donated money to food banks, as well make sure our children (with school closings) have at least one hot meal a day.

"“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different." Just one of the many things Scott Fitzgerald got right. [Cf. "Spook McClintock, Fritz Crisler, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Kiski Kids."] And it's truer today than it ever was.

After this wonderful column, I wish that you would write an article on somewhat affordable, delicious red burgundies and one on white ones. I find this region very hard to understand and it seems more complex than Bordeaux and Germany. I would also have loved to know dishes you were served and the chefs who cooked them.

@ bauskern new england16m ago Either it is, as you say, or it is also an assembly of idle rich, claiming to be connoseurs of fine wines.

When a "Methusela Package" for the four dinners comes to $14,000, are we truly celebrating the "community" spirit of this region or simply flaunting the allure of the 1% lifestyle?