La Paulée San Francisco 2026 - Gala dinner Insights

by Max Goldberg Liu
April 3, 2026

With La Paulée in the rear view mirror, it is always fun to look back at our records from the Gala Dinner to see just how much wine was opened.

La Paulée San Francisco returned to the beautiful glassed-in Conservatory at One Sansome for the Saturday events, and the room’s airy, open feel transitioned beautifully from daytime light to the evening’s soirée vibes.

173 guests joined us for the Gala Dinner, which featured over 25 of Burgundy’s great domaines and an all-star lineup of SF chefs: Brandon Rice of Ernest, Dana Younkin of Boulevard, Melissa Perello of Octavia/Frances, Stuart Brioza of The Progress/State Bird Provisions, and Sebastian Brown of Holbrook House.

Total amount of Burgundy at the Gala Dinner
106 bottles
76 magnums
13 jeroboams
2 5L bottles
…which is the equivalent of around 318 bottles or more than 1.8 bottles per person. Hats off to our amazing team of sommeliers for keeping everything organized and the juice flowing!

Vin Blanc ou Vin Rouge?
Whites represented 38% of the total amount of wine, while Red took centerstage with 62%.

Burgundian Prestige
Our guests came to play! 44% of the wines in the room were Grand Cru, 43% were Premier Cru, and the remainder were Village and Regional.

Appellation Breakdown
Chambolle-Musigny (11%) squeaked ahead of Gevrey-Chambertin (10%) and Meursault (10%) with Morey-Saint-Denis (9%) and Puligny-Montrachet (8%) just trailing.

Most Common Producers
Amiot-Servelle (6 magnums) and Dujac (2 magnums, 4 bottles) led the pack, with Rousseau (1 magnum, 4 bottles) and Bonneau du Martray (5 bottles) barely behind.
The variety this year was incredible: 93 different domaines were represented at the dinner with at least one bottle opened.

Oldest wines
1929 Meursault Charmes from Roger Caron (quite mature…)
1937 Mazoyères-Chambertin from Thibault Liger-Belair (quite alive!)
1959 Richebourg from Charles Vienot: this plot of Richebourg dated back to 1920 and was divided in 1984 when half was sold to Mongeard-Mugneret and the other to Jean Grivot.

Most common vintages
2005: 14 wines, including a magnum of Dujac Malconsorts, jeroboam of Ponsot Clos de la Roche, and magnum of Rousseau Clos Saint Jacques!
2017: 12 wines, including a jeroboam of François Carillon Folatières and magnum of Thibault Liger-Belair Richebourg
2022: 11 wines, including magnums of two of Camille Thiriet’s Côte de Nuits Villages Lieux-Dits La Robignotte and La Montagne (absolutely delicious)

Non-Burgundy
4 bottles of Framboise liqueur
2 bottles of Allemand Cornas
2 bottles of Bordeaux
35 bottles of Champagne, including the Champagne Delamotte Brut poured at the reception

If you were there with us, you know no one went thirsty!