The First La Paulée at The Lobby
Some ideas travel well. La Paulée de Meursault began in Burgundy, France, then made its way around the world, and last week we brought it to The Lobby Fizeaustraat for the very first time. The tradition is simple: after harvest, winemakers gather with friends, bringing bottles from their own cellars, often large formats, often rare, and share them over a long, unhurried meal. It’s about celebrating wine as it was meant to be: opened, enjoyed, talked about.
At The Lobby Fizeaustraat, we set two long tables, each seating twelve. Around them sat sommeliers, collectors, suppliers and friends of The Lobby. People who live and breathe wine, and who are happiest when there’s something new (or very old) in their glass.
A Table Full of Glasses
From the first course, the room came alive. Guests opened bottles and moved around, making sure each neighbour tasted what they had brought. Within minutes, every placemat was crowded with glasses. Every wine came with a story: about a vineyard, a winemaker, or simply the memory of when it was first tasted.
The beauty of La Paulée is the chaos. At any moment, you might have six or seven wines in front of you, and the challenge is not to keep up, but to enjoy the conversations that flow with them. Suppliers reconnected with chefs they hadn’t seen in months and collectors compared notes on vintages.
Food That Carried the Day
The kitchen matched the spirit of the afternoon. Five courses, from delicate canapés to rich plates that grounded the wines. Each dish was designed not to overshadow, but to create space for all the bottles at the table. By the evening, after seven hours of tasting, we brought it back to something simple: steak frites. No frills, just comfort, and a perfect way to close the circle.
Bottles Worth Remembering
Meursault Poruzots was compared against Palladius of the Sadie family, 1989 Cos side by side with 1988 Mission Huat Brion, Sine Qua Non ‘Mr K. The Noble Man’, an ultra rare cult American wine, compared against Dageneau’s Jardins Babylon 2008. Vietti’s Roche di Castiglioni, La Rioja Alta 904 and a magnum of the ultra rare Ernest Loosen Erdener Pralat GG Reserve en Magnum. These plus many many more ultra rare wines, shared with people who live for our industry. A day for the memory books.
More Than an Event
By the end of the night, the tables were messy with empty bottles and scattered corks, but the mood was unmistakable: this was something worth doing again. Wine is not made to gather dust in a cellar, nor to intimidate with long descriptions. It’s made to bring people together, to turn an ordinary day into something memorable.
That’s what La Paulée is about, and why we wanted to bring it here. Not just for collectors or sommeliers, but for anyone who believes wine is at its best when it’s shared.
This was the kick off of wine events at The Lobby — and it won’t be the last.
