Corporate Event Opportunities

Daniel Johnnes, founder

Daniel Johnnes has spent his entire career in the world of food and wine and is an avid francophile. Upon visiting France for the first time in 1974, he immediately fell in love with the language, cuisine, wine and culture. After graduating from college with a BA in French, he returned to France to work in the kitchens of Guy Savoy in Paris followed by a stint in the Landes region of Southwestern France. Back in New York, Daniel decided he was better suited to service in the front of house, and worked as a waiter at Le Regence, where a young Daniel Boulud had recently assumed the position of Executive Chef.

In 1985, Daniel joined the team opening Montrachet in Tribeca, which won a Wine Spectator Grand Award and quickly became “New York’s finest wine restaurant” according to that same publication. During that time, he began to curate wine dinners, hosting great winemakers from Burgundy and beyond. These dinners led Daniel to create La Paulée de New York - a week-long fine wine event which promotes the wines and winemakers of Burgundy through a series of specialized seminars, tastings and dinners. La Paulée has since been described as “the world’s greatest wine event” by Slate magazine. In addition to enjoying exceptional wines and superb food prepared by some of the world’s finest chefs, the celebrants have pledged over $2,000,000 for charity.

During his twenty years as the Wine Director at Montrachet and the Myriad Restaurant Group, Daniel also started an import company featuring a curated selection of French wines, some never before imported to the United States. His first discoveries were from little known appellations including Gaillac and Saint Pourçain. Today, he represents some of the most famous estates in Burgundy and beyond, including, among others, Domaine Georges Roumier, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Domaine Roulot, Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, Domaine Clusel-Roch, and Domaine de la Grange des Pères.

In 2005, Johnnes reunited with Daniel Boulud to become the corporate Wine Director for Chef Boulud’s Dinex Group. Their restaurant empire includes DANIEL, DB Bistro, Café Boulud, Bar Boulud, Boulud Sud, and Epicerie Boulud in New York as well as locations in Florida, Las Vegas, Boston, Washington DC, London, Montreal, Toronto and Singapore.

Daniel received the highest honor awarded to a wine professional in the United States when the James Beard Foundation named him ‘2006 Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year’. He was also named the ‘Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year’ by Santé in 2000 and was honored as the nation's top sommelier by the James Beard Foundation in May of 1995, receiving the ‘Outstanding Wine Service Award’. In 2016, Daniel was honored by the French Republic by being named a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole. This award recognizes people who have rendered outstanding services to the sector of agriculture, and is one of the tiers of national merit along with the French Légion d’Honneur. In 2018, Daniel received his 3rd James Beard Award when he was honored as “Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America.”

Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay, in Secrets of the Sommeliers, describe the “career paths of America’s four pioneering sommeliers (Larry Stone, Kevin Zraly, Daniel Johnnes and Fred Dame): “Stone, the wine genius; Zraly, the wine teacher; Johnnes, the inspirer; and Dame, the administrator and motivator: together they mentored a generation.”

In addition to La Paulée, Daniel created La Fête du Champagne with wine-writer and Champagne expert Peter Liem to educate consumers and promote the wines of Champagne, and La Tablée, an event celebrating the wines of the Northern and Southern Rhône Valley with sommeliers Patrick Cappiello, David Gordon, and Rajat Parr.

Johnnes’ most recent endeavor is Pressoir.wine, a consumer-facing platform that offers wine education, unique experiences, wine consulting, and an exclusive club.

Dubbed “the dean of American Sommeliers” by Jay McInerney in the The Wall Street Journal, Johnnes continues to mentor a new generation of sommeliers. He recently created the La Paulée and La Fête du Champagne Sommelier Scholarships, whose sole purpose is to offer an all-expenses-paid trip to France for young sommeliers to learn first –hand about the people, culture, winemaking, and terroir that so inspired Daniel during his first trips to France.

Edouard Bourgeois, Wine Director

Born and raised in Champagne, France, Edouard's exposure to the great wines of his home country played a vital role in defining his career in fine wine. Through the hospitality business, he learned how to communicate his passion and knowledge to others. Driven by this passion, he landed himself a position as a sommelier at the Parisian Palace Hôtel de Crillon “Restaurant Les Ambassadeurs.” Here, under the direction of David Biraud, (Best Sommelier France 2002) Edouard’s fascination with wine began to flourish. In 2005, he won first prize at the French National Trophée Mumm for student sommeliers. Lead judge and chef sommelier of the Les Crayères, Philippe Jamesse, immediately recognized Edouard’s talent and offered him a position upon graduation. Three years were spent under Jamesse’s careful eye as Edouard deepened the complexity of his palate and began his maturation as an expert in the field.

Edouard then moved to New York City in 2008 where he secured himself the role of Sommelier at Restaurant DANIEL, Chef Daniel Boulud’s eponymous culinary temple, a position he held for 5 years. He then was promoted to Head Sommelier and wine buyer for Restaurant Café Boulud, the sister property to Restaurant Daniel in the iconic Upper East Side Manhattan. After 3 years in this fine establishment, he moved back to France to work closely with the winemaking team of the illustrious Domaine Lapierre, pioneer winery in the natural wine world in Villie-Morgon for the 2017 harvest.

Raj Vaidya, Director of Operations

Raj Vaidya joined Daniel Johnnes and the La Paulée family in the spring of 2020 with an impressive history of experience in fine dining restaurants that boasts some of this country’s most celebrated wine lists and wine service. His stellar resume includes positions at restaurants such as New York’s Cru and Per Se, as well as Gary Danko in San Francisco and Seeger’s in Atlanta. From 2009 to 2020 Raj ran the lauded wine program at Daniel Boulud’s eponymous restaurant and from 2016 till the end of his tenure served additionally as Chef Daniel’s International Wine Director.

In addition, Raj has earned some of the wine world's most respected diplomas, including the Certificate Course of The Sommelier Society of America (2004), the Wine and Spirits Education Trusts Advanced Certificate (2004) and Diploma (2009). Raj also has spent time in California, working with Robert Sinskey Vineyards, a biodynamic estate in Napa. Raj has also consulted for a host of companies in the hospitality and banking fields in a wine capacity and managed the cellars of many of the country’s top private wine collectors.

Raj is a graduate of Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and philosophy. He was born in New Jersey but grew up in his family’s native Bombay and in Singapore.

Raj attributes his early passion for fine cuisine to his family and their obsession with food and drink. While he began learning about wine well before he was legally permitted to drink in this country, he truly started to refine his knowledge at what he calls his first serious restaurant job, working at New Jersey’s Ryland Inn with a chef who had a natural affinity for pairing food and wine. That early experience has evolved into a particular love of Burgundy, Champagne and the Rhône Valley, making him right at home working with Daniel Johnnes overseeing operations of La Paulée’s events celebrating these very regions. His expertise in curating wine collections for individuals, collectors and investors allows a tremendous amount of access to fine wine experiences that he brings to the company.

Jaime Dutton, Executive Director

In 2007, Jaime joined Daniel Johnnes to grow La Paulée de New York and La Paulée de San Francisco and dedicate herself to her passion for Burgundy.

Since then, she has collaborated with Daniel and the team to build on the success of La Paulée, as well as create new brands and festivals with La Fête du Champagne, Pressoir.wine and La Tablée. Her commitment to these brands and the fine wines that they represent have allowed for long standing relationships with clients, winemakers, partners and sommeliers.

Jaime’s journey to where she is today started in France at the age of 11, that first sip of wine stuck and guided her to a lifetime relationship with the world of wine.

A BA from University of Pennsylvania in French took her back to France where she studied abroad in Paris at La Sorbonne and subsequently spent a year teaching English in Nice at a Public Elementary School.

Her tenure in France continued with an opportunity to bike and dine her way around France working with Butterfield and Robinson where she honed her hospitality skills as a bike tour guide. This experience took her through the most beautiful and remote corners of France, visiting vineyards and choosing wines with sommeliers at the top tables in France.

The opportunity to be based in Beaune, the heart of the Burgundian vineyards, completed a Masters Degree in the International Wine Trade from the University of Dijon. After receiving her degree, she was hired as the Export Sales Manager of Maison Champy, one of the boutique negociants of Burgundy to establish the brand in the New York market as well as other export markets in Europe and Asia.

Attending her first La Paulée de New York in 2001, she was introduced to the serious Burgundy collecting scene in New York through the relationship with Daniel Johnnes who was the New York importer for Maison Champy at the time.

Branching out from Burgundy, she enjoyed 2 years in Madrid as the Export Director for Bodegas Riojanas (Rioja) and Bodegas Torreduero (Toro). Discovering these wines and the emerging regions of Spain was exciting as these were hot categories in the retail and dining scene.

In 2006 she moved back to the US and while based in New York, reconnected with Daniel and happily joined him to promote Burgundy and be a part of La Paulée allowing her to get as close as possible to Burgundy without moving back to Beaune.

Max Goldberg Liu, Director of Communications and Operations

Max Goldberg Liu has been working with Daniel Johnnes since 2012. Their relationship began much earlier, however - Max grew up friends with Daniel's eldest son, and it was a trip to Burgundy and Alsace at 13 years of age with Daniel that helped cultivate a deep passion for French language, culture, and ultimately wine.

Since entering the industry after receiving a BA in French from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and spending a year teaching English in France, Max has worked two harvests in Burgundy, traveled and tasted all over French wine regions, and helped organize countless successful wine events in the US, most importantly seven editions each of La Paulée and La Fête du Champagne.

He manages Daniel’s prestigious portfolio of French wine estates for well-respected wine importer and distributor Grand Cru Selections, having developed deep relationships with top winemakers in Burgundy, the Rhône Valley, Champagne, and the Loire.

He particularly enjoys teaching beginners, giving an overview of the world of wine without pretense and pushing them to trust their palates.

In Daniel’s words, “I rarely meet people with such natural talent as Max. He is Brooklyn born with the soul of a French man. Maybe even a Burgundian. After one or two trips he quickly understood the intricacies of Burgundy but even more important is his understanding of the culture and nuances of language. He has a razor sharp palate and can be trusted managing the most delicate details. Additionally, even without formal training, Max has surpassed what many people achieve after years of study and this is largely due to his limitless passion and motivation”.