The inspiration came from New York’s La Paulée, which is homage to La Paulée de Meursault, the wonderful share-fest of great bottles in Burgundy. The New York event is organized by super sommelier Daniel Johnnes.
Hong Kong’s Petite Paulée was the second time running and organized by wine collector Mike Wu for his birthday. About 50 or 60 top wine collectors from the island attended and brought some of their best bottles to share over a multi-course meal at the InterContinental Hotel in Kowloon on Saturday.
There is something super convivial about drinking Burgundy. And everyone was in a fabulous mood for the event. It made it even more special that Johnnes was in attendance. Most of the wines were from the 1980s and 1990s — vintages I actually tasted as a critic for the Wine Spectator. I lived in Paris from 1985 to 1987 and it was an easy trip to Beaune from London afterwards. I miss Burgundy.
I tried to keep up with the onslaught of wines being poured at the event, taking notes for each wine. It was finally too much! (Wine merchants Lili Ma and Marie Kim hold bottle of 1995 Henri Jayer Echezeaux.)
However, here few observations and thoughts from the event:
1. The Burgundy whites from the 1980s are absolutely amazing right now. I tasted bottles from 1989, 1988, 1986, 1983, 1982, and 1981. One of my favorite wines was a 1988 Coche Dury Corton-Charlemagne that was simply amazing with such depth and mineral, dried tropical fruit character. It lasted for minutes on the palate. I scored it 100 points. Another surprise was how excellent a bottle of Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault Perrières 1981 was (94 points) — a decent but long forgotten vintage. Plenty of Domaine Leflaives were on show. A jero of 1983 Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes (generously brought by Johnnes in his suitcase from New York City) was an eye-opener — so layered and long (97 points).
2. A number reds from the 1993 vintage were poured and they were so delicious. I love this vintage. This is the last young vintage I tasted when going to Burgundy regularly and the wines are just now coming out of their sleep. They have such gorgeous purity of fruit and linear structure with fine tannins and fresh acidity. I recommend drinking them.
3. Conversely, I was not a fan of many of the 1995 reds poured and I continue to find them dull and disappointing for the most part. The whites are also a crapshoot due to oxidation problems. But we did have a 1996 Domaine Ramonet Batard-Montrachet in magnum that was a knockout with glorious white truffle, honey and sliced apple character. I scored it 96 points.
4. Negoicant wines are still not very popular with top Hong Kong wine collectors. A few were served during the night: Joseph Drouhin, Louis Jadot, and Faiveley. But most keen wine lovers of Burgundy in Hong Kong stick to grower Burgundies — both red and white.
5. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti rules Hong Kong. This was the most poured wine at dinner and the largest number of amazing wines came from the estate. I would guess that consumption per capita of DRC is the highest in the world in Hong Kong. Here were the DRCs served:
DRC Richebourg 1993
DRC Richebourg 1990
DRC Montrachet 1990
DRC Richebourg 1988
DRC La Tâche 1988
DRC Richebourg 1985
DRC La Tâche 1983 (jeroboam)
DRC La Tâche 1982 (magnum)
DRC La Tâche 1976 (magnum)
DRC La Tâche 1971
It was a wonderful evening with an overwhelming selection of fabulous bottles of Burgundy. Of course, it had very little to do with the grandeur of New York’s La Paulée, which is an amazing event that I hope to one day attend. But it underlines the core of Burgundy lovers in Hong Kong who drink and share their best bottles on a regular basis with friends and family. The difference with the Mike Wu event (in photo above with me) is that the 31-year-old gets more of us together in the same room with bottles to share than anyone else on the island — and don’t mention the magnum of 1982 DRC La Tâche balanced on my head!
