“Napa County, once the producer of many different crops, is known today for its regional wine industry, rising to the first rank of wine regions with France. Napa Valley is widely considered one of the top American Viticultural Areas in California, and all of the United States, with a history dating back to the early nineteenth century. In addition to large scale wineries, Napa Valley’s boutique wineries produce some of the world’s best wines. Today Napa Valley features more than four hundred wineries and grows many different grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Zinfandel, and other popular varietals. As many as five million people visit the area each year.”
Sometimes you don’t need some new take on an item, such as Napa Valley. Wikipedia says it quite well above. Wineries in Napa Valley have produced over 250 perfect wines according to Robert Parker and his Wine Advocate publication. Bordeaux (the birthplace of modern fine wine) has about half as many; Burgundy about 55. Italy, the entire country, only has about 25. Worldwide, Parker has bestowed his lofty “perfection” label on less than 950 wines, meaning that Napa alone accounts for over 25% of those heavenly beauties!
Now, you may ask, why am I going on about Napa and its fame. Well, because come May 31st, you have an opportunity to sample some of the finest offerings available from this renown region. On the weekend of May 31st to June 1st, you can attend the Collective Napa Valley Barrel Tasting and Auction on Friday, break bread that evening with vintners at several exclusive wineries, then go to the gala Napa Wine Auction on Saturday.
A unique aspect of the Barrel Tasting is that the guests can actually bid on a case (or cases) of their favorite wine. Each winery donates ten cases of the wine they are pouring. This is how Sotheby’s (the auction house conducting the auctions that weekend) describes the process:
“Each lot on offer is divided into 10 standard cases of wine, each to be won at increasing increments, and with a leaderboard displaying the top 10 paddles. Bidders must maintain a spot on the board in order to win, but with each increasing bid, they are pushed one spot closer to the brink of the leaderboard. If pushed off completely, one must bid the highest increment to get back onto the board, pushing each paddle down a spot and forcing a competing bidder into the same situation.”
So, this is better than going to a wine store. You actually get to sample what you are considering buying before you do so. And, then, you can try to buy it for what you (not the store) feels is a fair price. With many Napa Cabernets going for $400/bottle or more, you will find many available and the chance to get these at $100-$200, which is a relative bargain.
And, on top of all of this, you are helping a community address some of the challenges its youth face. Since its beginning in 1981, the Napa Wine Auction (in its various iterations) has raised and invested more than $230 million toward this laudable goal.
Jeff Smith, this year’s Auction Chair, is a true rarity – a Napa native (almost – he moved to the Valley as a mere child). He owns the well-regarded Hourglass Winery. He extols all of his fellow winemakers (who, for the Barrel Tasting/Auction, number more than eighty) for donating their time and their wine. But they are not simply good Napa citizens (although they are that). They all recognize that the Barrel Tasting attendees are their target buyers. And they can each potentially gain the valuable bragging rights that their wine went for the highest bid.
Come join me on May 31st and June 1st in Napa. You can buy tickets at https://www.collectivenapavalley.org/.
© Carl J. Kanowsky
