La Paulée at Blackberry Farm

Daniel Johnnes

03/08/2023

La Paulée at Blackberry Farm

Coming to Blackberry Farm has always been a dream of mine.

This idyllic 4200 acre paradise nestled in the great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee invited me and Jaime, under the banner of La Paulée and the Sommelier Scholarship, to host three days of Burgundy, lunches, dinners and seminars with two winemakers.

Since the reputation preceded the invitation, it was easy work convincing Nicolas Rossignol from Domaine Nicolas Rossignol and Loic Dugat-Py from Domaine Dugat-Py to make the journey.

Both contributed significant quantities of wine from some of their best appellations to accompany the meals and to present at the seminars. The most notable wines from Nicolas were the Volnay Caillerets 2018 and Pommard 1er Cru Epenots 2017 for the first meal and Dugat-Py’s Gevrey-Chambertin Evocelles 2018, Gevrey 1er Cru Petites Chapelle 2018.

In addition to those stunners were fascinating comparative tastings of the 2017, ‘18 and ‘19 vintages from Nicolas’s Pommard Petit Noizons and Volnay Santenots. I’m still a big fan of 2017!

Not only were we treated like royalty but Blackberry made a significant pledge to our Sommelier Scholarship from the event’s proceeds, and hosted an additional auction fo the non-profit’s benefit. The auction lot was for a couple to spend a day in the most prestigious cellars of Burgundy on the next Sommelier Scholarship trip in 2024. Bidding was fierce and came to a tie where we agreed to satisfy both by taking a second couple on an additional trip.

All in all we raised $80,000 which will fund 4 or 5 trips over the next year or two, enabling us to bring up to 15 young scholars to France with the hope of having an impact on their career and introducing them to the culture and traditions of viticultural France.

To top it off, one of the attendees made an separate contribution today.

We are completely exhausted after La Paulée de New York and then 3 days at Blackberry but in spite of the fatigue, I feel completely energized by the new contacts and knowing the Scholarship is thriving.

Cheers,

Daniel