Primo Vino

If you’re serious about your wine education, the most priceless experience you can have is going to cost you.

There are times when drinking wine demands all of your intent. Such was the evening I contemplated a few swallows’ worth of 1949 Romanée-Conti, doing my best to block out the bustling hotel dining room around me and focus on what was in the glass. The wine is one of the rarest and most expensive in the world when new, and I could only imagine the worth of these 59-year-old sips that someone had generously poured me. I brought the glass to my nose—a cloud of cherry blossoms, raspberry, smoke and mushrooms. The taste? I can only describe it as divine.

The Romanée-Conti was only one of dozens of priceless wines I would get to sample that March night. I was at La Paulée de San Francisco, the West Coast version of what is, for Pinot Noir lovers, the most highly regarded wine event in the country. Staged by Daniel Johnnes, the acclaimed importer, sommelier and wine director of Restaurant Daniel in New York, La Paulée brings in top-flight Burgundian producers for a grand afternoon tasting. Later that night, an enormous dinner is thrown, and every guest brings a bottle of great Burgundy to share. The craziness starts with the big collectors and producers, all of whom arrive with cases of the finest, rarest wines in the world. Inevitably, that bounty is passed around, and you’re bound to taste a revelatory wine—or 10—before stumbling home.

Opportunities like this don’t come along often, which is why you have to pay a lot of money for them when they do. For La Paulée, a ticket to the afternoon tasting and the evening dinner comes in at a whopping $1,400. This might seem a steep sum for a day of Burgundy swilling, but when you consider that two cases of a decent, mid-level Burgundy will cost around that price, what you will undoubtedly taste at La Paulée may make it seem like a bargain.

This is why one of the best investments you can make in your wine-tasting pleasure and education is to attend one of the country’s top wine events. The up-front cost can be steep, but the value is incalculable. If you’re a fan of Napa Cabernet, for instance, you might consider attending the Napa Valley Wine Auction in June. A full, four-day package will set you back $2,500 (without lodging), but it includes a private, wine-soaked dinner at a top Napa winery, an invitation to an exclusive barrel tasting, dinners and lunches at other Napa wineries and dinner under the tent at the glamorous Napa auction itself. July’s Central Coast Wine Classic, held at the exquisite Dolphin Bay resort in Pismo Beach, is a more laid-back version of the same, featuring wines from all over the world, cooking demos, lectures and, of course, lots of eating and drinking. Individual events range in price from $40 for a barrel tasting of 50 California wineries to $2,000 for a special 1982 Bordeaux dinner.

Of course, the wine you get to taste is not the only reason to attend these events. You also get to hobnob with great winemakers, chefs, importers and sommeliers, who all come to these get-togethers to relax and have fun while promoting their brands. And while doing that, you might just find yourself face-to-face with a wine older than you are that tastes better than anything you’ve ever had in your life.

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