Daniel Johnnes, founder of La Paul\u00e9e, La F\u00eate du Champagne, La Tabl\u00e9e and Pressoir, is transforming fine wine through immersive events, storytelling and hospitality.<\/p>\n
Pressoir Wines<\/p>\n
Daniel Johnnes is one of America\u2019s most influential sommeliers and wine-event entrepreneurs, best known as the founder of La Paul\u00e9e, La F\u00eate du Champagne, La Tabl\u00e9e and Pressoir. Through immersive events built around Burgundy, Champagne, Rh\u00f4ne wines, chefs, sommeliers and producers, Johnnes has helped redefine fine wine as something more joyful, social and accessible.<\/p>\n
That matters now more than ever. The wine industry is competing for younger consumers, attention, loyalty and emotional relevance. Johnnes\u2019s answer is not louder marketing or more jargon. It is hospitality. It is storytelling. It is food, music, generosity, education and a room full of people willing to share. At a Daniel Johnnes event, fine wine does not feel like a museum object. It feels alive.<\/p>\n
Who Is Daniel Johnnes?<\/p>\n
Daniel Johnnes\u2019s love affair with French culture began in 1974, after an 18-hour journey from New York to a small village in the Vaucluse. He woke up in a 14th-century building, surrounded by the light of Provence, the smell of garrigue, dried herbs, smoke from burning vine cuttings and the sounds of a local market. He remembers the \u201csing song cadence\u201d of people speaking Proven\u00e7al. That first encounter with France shaped everything that followed.<\/p>\n
Johnnes went on to work in French kitchens, including with Guy Savoy in Paris and in the Landes region of southwestern France. Those years taught him precision, patience, care for ingredients and the discipline required to \u201cclimb the ladder.\u201d But his career-defining turn came in New York, when he interviewed at Le R\u00e9gence at the Plaza Ath\u00e9n\u00e9e, where Daniel Boulud<\/a> had been named chef de cuisine. Asked whether he wanted to work in the kitchen or the dining room, Johnnes chose the front of house and that decision helped shape his approach to wine and hospitality for years to come. <\/p>\n Johnnes later joined Montrachet in Tribeca, a restaurant he describes as part of a New York culinary revolution where casual fine dining was born. Montrachet combined high-quality ingredients, serious wine and genuine hospitality without the stiffness or snobbery of older haute cuisine rooms. For Johnnes, it proved that wine could be world-class and still feel relaxed. This philosophy became the foundation of his career.<\/p>\n How La Paul\u00e9e Became Burgundy\u2019s Most Celebrated Wine Event In America<\/p>\n Daniel Johnnes with the Pressoir team: Edouard Bourgeois, Justine Puaud, Daniel Johnnes, Jaime Dutton, Astrid Breggia, Max Goldberg Liu, and Nikita Malhotra. Johnnes says he hires people not just for what they know, but for who they are: \u201cYou can\u2019t learn to be a nice person.\u201d<\/p>\n Pressoir Wines<\/p>\n La Paul\u00e9e is inspired by the Burgundian harvest celebration La Paul\u00e9e de Meursault, but Daniel Johnnes turned the American version into something bigger than a dinner. It is part wine festival, part cultural summit, part family reunion and part rock concert.<\/p>\n Johnnes has said La Paul\u00e9e \u201cdistills wine appreciation into the simplest, purest form\u201d and creates \u201ca community of people who truly enjoy sharing with others.\u201d He describes the atmosphere as \u201ca rock concert that builds to a crescendo of joy.\u201d<\/p>\n That may be the most important thing to understand about Daniel Johnnes. He respects wine deeply, but he refuses to let reverence become intimidation.<\/p>\n La Paul\u00e9e brings together elite winemakers, sommeliers, chefs and collectors, but its emotional power comes from connection. Producers are not distant names on a label. They are in the room. Chefs are not hidden in the kitchen. They become part of the celebration. Sommeliers are not gatekeepers. They are translators.<\/p>\n One of Johnnes\u2019s favorite event traditions captures the spirit perfectly. Toward the end of the evening, the brigade of chefs marches out of the kitchen banging pots with whisks or spoons to the rhythm of the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cSympathy for the Devil.\u201d The entire room stands to applaud them. Johnnes calls it a deeply emotional moment.<\/p>\n It is theatrical, but it is not gimmicky. It reminds guests that great wine only becomes memorable when it is shared with great food, service, people and feeling.<\/p>\n The Burgundy focus is also commercially significant. The United States remains Bourgogne\u2019s leading export market<\/a> by both volume and value. In 2024, Bourgogne exports to the U.S. reached 20.9 million bottles, up 15.9% from 2023, generating \u20ac369.6 million in revenue, up 26.2%. Bourgogne wines also represented 12% of French AOC wine export volume to the U.S. and 17.2% of revenue.<\/p>\n Why Daniel Johnnes Wants To Take The Pretension Out Of Wine<\/p>\n Daniel Johnnes takes the stage with Peter Liem, co-founder of La F\u00eate du Champagne, celebrating the producers, stories, and shared joy that have made the event one of Champagne\u2019s most dynamic gatherings.<\/p>\n Pressoir Wines<\/p>\n For decades, wine has had a communication problem. It promises pleasure but often delivers anxiety. Consumers are told to enjoy themselves, then confronted with dense technical language, unfamiliar regions, vintage hierarchies and the fear of ordering the \u201cwrong\u201d bottle.<\/p>\n Daniel Johnnes has built his career by moving in the opposite direction. Asked how to get younger generations excited about wine, his answer is simple: \u201cTake the pretension out of wine enjoyment. Teach people to trust their own palate.\u201d For young sommeliers, his advice is just as direct: \u201cTaste, taste, taste and develop your own vocabulary.\u201d<\/p>\n The wine industry is facing real pressure. Silicon Valley Bank\u2019s 2025 State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report<\/a> warned that the wine category continues to face weak demand, negative volume trends and growing competition from substitutes including spirits, beer, cocktails, ready-to-drink beverages and low- or no-alcohol options. <\/p>\n At the same time, younger consumers are not unreachable. They simply need a different kind of invitation. Wine Market Council\u2019s 2025<\/a> U.S. Wine Consumer Benchmark Segmentation Survey found that Millennials are now the largest U.S. wine-drinking cohort at 31%, surpassing Baby Boomers at 26%. Gen Z\u2019s share rose from 9% to 14%, even though only part of that generation is currently of legal drinking age. <\/p>\n This is exactly where Johnnes\u2019s philosophy becomes powerful. He is not asking younger drinkers to memorize wine. He is inviting them to experience it.<\/p>\n Storytelling Is The Real Luxury<\/p>\n Johnnes believes storytelling is central to making wine accessible. Technical information has its place, but most people do not fall in love with a wine because they hear the percentage of new oak or the age of the vines. They fall in love because someone brings the place, history and family behind the bottle to life.<\/p>\n Johnnes describes storytelling as \u201cputting color on a white canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n That is the secret behind his events. A great bottle may impress someone for a night. A great story can shape how they think about wine for years.<\/p>\n Johnnes insists that the principals of each Domaine or house be present at his events because authenticity matters. He does not want importer-driven sales conventions. He wants guests to meet the people who make the wines. That direct contact gives the experience emotional weight and gives the wine an extra dimension.<\/p>\n In a world where luxury can feel overly produced, this kind of direct human connection feels increasingly rare.<\/p>\n La F\u00eate Du Champagne And The Rise Of Champagne As A Food Wine<\/p>\n If La Paul\u00e9e is Daniel Johnnes\u2019s love letter to Burgundy, La F\u00eate du Champagne is his argument that Champagne<\/a> deserves to be understood as wine, not just as a celebration cue.<\/p>\n Johnnes says he saw similarities between Champagne today and Burgundy 15 to 20 years ago\u2014greater attention to terroir, more interest in organic and biodynamic farming, and a stronger focus on site expression. He also wanted to emphasize that Champagne belongs with food and can be enjoyed on all occasions, not only at weddings, parties or New Year\u2019s Eve countdowns.<\/p>\n