Auction Napa Valley closes the book on another amazing year

Vintners, bidders, their friends, family — even members of the fourth estate — wore telltale grins as the final gavel came down on Auction Napa Valley 2008 last Saturday night.
Without even knowing the final tally, the festive crowd in the giant white tent on the Meadowood Resort fairway knew the 28th “American Classic” had been a success.

And it surely was, taking in $10.3 million, just $200,000 short of the all-time record set four years ago.

For nearly four hours, auctioneers Fritz Hatton and Humphrey Butler — with a little help from funnyman Jay Leno at the outset — had coaxed spectacular bids out of attendees, including a wealth of generous donations earmarked specifically for Community Health Clinic Ole. In a decidedly generous mood — and maybe under the sway of Clinic Ole’s biggest booster, vintner John Shafer — auctiongoers opened up their wallets to the tune of $1.7 million.

Auction regular Joy Craft told members of the media that she had come to this year’s auction with the idea of making a substantial bid on the auction’s “Fund A Need” lot, set up to funnel all donations to Clinic Ole’s operating budget. After listening to Shafer talk about Clinic Ole’s efforts to provide medical care to the uninsured and underinsured in Napa Valley, which amounted to 20,000 patient visits last year, the Woodside resident registered her top bid of $500,000. In turn, she was presented with a diamond necklace valued at $40,000, provided by Chanel Fine Jewelry. Also noteworthy was a challenge bid of $350,000 from Dana Johnson and Mark Nelson, of Ovid Winery, that was promptly met.

A total of 90 $10,000 bids were offered for a place at the table for a June 28 Copia celebration of the life of industry icon Robert Mondavi. Put together by vintners Garen and Shari Staglin, the Copia event will feature a panel of friends and family paying tribute to the renowned vintner who passed away a month ago just short of his 95th birthday (which will be celebrated at the flagship Oakville winery he built on June 18). It will be preceded by a reception where a majority of Napa Valley Vintners members will be pouring their wines. Five celebrated chefs from both coasts will prepare a celebratory dinner paired with 17 wines, including Continuum, the newest wine venture started by Mondavi, his children, Tim and Marcia, and his widow, Margrit.

A lot that also generated lots of interest featured rare wine, a walk-on part on ABC-TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” dinner with some of its stars, plus a business class flight to New Zealand and a guided tour of some of the country’s top wineries. This lot was donated by Rich Frank, owner of Frank Family Vineyards, and Steve McPherson, president of ABC-TV. High bidders Jody and Stratton Sclavos, of Saratoga, paid $480,000 for this lot. It also included magnums of Frank Family Vineyards cabernet sauvigon and a case of Promise, Frank and McPherson’s new joint venture of small lot cabernet sauvignon. (While the two men have teamed up to produce a new wine, McPherson is not a partner in Frank Family Vineyards as had been reported earlier.)

Focused on wine

A number of the bidders at this year’s auction eschewed the lots with trips, cars and parties for ones that offered prized bottles — often magnums and larger — of hard-to-come-by wine.

One of the prized lots was six magnums of Screaming Eagle from the inaugural 1992 vintage. Maintaining Screaming Eagle is “the best wine in the world,” Shanghai’s David Li coughed up $500,000 for the privilege of adding them to his cellar.

There was also spirited bidding for the lot offered by Harlan Estate, a 10-magnum vertical of the Bordeaux blend (1995-2004), offered along with a celebratory dinner with vintner Bill Harlan. Auction regular John Thompson teamed up with fellow Peninsula resident Paul Wick for the high bid of $340,000.

Hi Sang Lee, owner of St. Helena’s Dana Estates, paid $290,000 for an eight magnum vertical (1993-2000) of Bryant Family Vineyard cabernet sauvignon, and will take five friends to vintner Don Bryant’s New York City residence for a dinner paired with wines from the Bryant cellar. Lee was also high bidder for the Robert Mondavi Winery lot, at $140,000, which included a case of personally blended 2007 To Kalon Vineyard cabernet, a six liter bottle of reserve cabernet from 2005, a Picasso lithograph and dinner at Margrit Mondavi’s home for six.

Lee did not purchase the Blackbird Vineyards lot — a trip to a Chanel fashion show in Paris — as we had reported earlier. Confusion as the auction wound down led to the recording of an incorrect paddle number. The top bid was made by a resident of Champaign, Ill., who prefers to remain anonymous. The anonymous bidder will also get a tour of the private apartment of Coco Chanel and two double magnums of Blackbird’s proprietary blend. It cost him $300,000.

In addition to picking up the Chanel necklace, Joy Craft spent $260,000 for five double magnums from Colgin Cellars 2005 harvest.

A dinner party with Naoko Dalla Valle celebrating the return of Maya, a respected red blend, earned a top bid of $200,000 from David Reis, of Rye, N.Y. The lot included Maya 2005 in a six liter bottle and six 750 ml bottles.

Another anonymous bidder spent $170,000 for the Araujo Estate Wines lot — two imperials of cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc and a pair of jeroboams of syrah and viognier, plus a dinner party for 16.

Margrit Mondavi will be going to Ron and Teri Kuhn’s 10th anniversary celebration of their Pillar Rock Vineyard on Oct. 10, along with 19 others. She will take home a six vintage vertical of Pillar Rock magnums and nine couples will take away a vertical 750 ml six-pack. She paid $90,000 for the lot.

Yet another anonymous bidder spent $100,000 for Heidi Peterson Barrett’s Amuse Bouche lot, a Blue Dog jeroboam etched and painted by celebrated artist George Rodrigue, plus a five liter bottle of Vin Perdu cabernet sauvignon from the 2005 vintage.

More top lots

Over half of the 44 super lots in this year’s Auction Napa Valley brought in top bids exceeding $100,000. Here are some of them:

• $130,000 for Vineyard 7 & 8’s restored 1956 Austin Healey, barrel tasting with winemaker Luc Morlet at the Spring Mountain winery and alfresco dinner.

• $170,000 for the Napa Valley Vintners/Departures Magazine lot, offering a business class trip for two to Geneva, Switzerland, to visit watchmaker Girard-Perregaux, pick out timepieces and be outfitted by Ermenegildo Zegna.

• The African safari lot from Lokoya tickled the fancy of auction regular Jose Nazar, of Los Angeles. He paid $150,000 for a Royal Safari on the Thanda Private Game Reserve in South Africa, along with private reception and dinner with King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu and Princess Nandi Zulu, as well as four double magnums of Lokoya cabernet from Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Diamond Mountain and Spring Mountain vineyards.

• $180,000 for 26 magnums of wine from members of Oakville Growers, plus tours, tastings, lunch and dinner for eight.

• $120,000 for a custom blended barrel of Paraduxx, 21 magnums of Duckhorn wines, plus a trip to Montana’s Triple Creek Ranch.

• $140,000 for 185 bottles of wine from Cakebread, Joseph Phelps, Schramsberg, Silver Oak and ZD, plus a harvest experience for eight.

• $120,000 for 54 bottles of wine from Lail Vineyards and a custom outdoor kitchen/entertainment center from Viking.

• $150,000 for a Lexus RX 400H Hybrid filled with wine, along with a three day golf clinic and accommodations in Florida, plus one set of custom-fit Callaway golf clubs.

• $100,000 for a round-trip business class trip to Australia to visit Domaine Chandon’s sister operation Down Under, complete with accommodations, meals and tastings, plus two cases of étoile Brut.

• $100,000 for the largest bottle at this year’s auction, a 27-liter bottle of Revana Family Vineyard 2005 cabernet sauvignon, plus invitation for four to dinner at Revana Estate, including accommodations and first class airfare.

• $120,000 for four double magnums of Rubicon, a two day stay at the Gustave Niebaum mansion for four couples, plus lunches and dinners prepared by estate chef Kelly McCown.

• $110,000 for a collection of D.R. Stephens Estate Moose Valley Vineyard cabernet sauvignon, plus a three night stay at Calistoga Ranch and dinners for three couples.

• $100,000 for a strong box containing four double magnums of Bond cabernets from winemaker Bob Levy.

• $85,000 for an 18 liter bottle of Darioush cabernet sauvignon and a dinner party for 18.

• $85,000 for 18 magnums of Far Niente, Dolce and Nickel & Nickel wines, plus a golf pro coached golf tournament for 32.

The culinary angle

Wherever great wines were poured in conjunction with Auction Napa Valley, so, too, was outstanding cuisine part of the picture.

For example, noted Hawaii chef Alan Wong outdid himself with an incredible selection of passed hors d’oeuvres during the social hour prior to the start of last Saturday night’s live auction. The attractive offerings included very tasty soy-braised short ribs, vine-ripened tomatoes with li hing mui vinaigrette, chopped ahi sashimi with Asian guacamole on a won ton chip, and, the pièce de résistance — a slim jigger of chilled vine-ripened tomato soup with a miniature kalua pig and foie gras grilled cheese sandwich.

For dinner, Daniel Bruce, chef of Meritage Restaurant at the Boston Harbor Hotel, served smoked salmon ravioli with summer corn, fava beans and cherry tomatoes. Our own Ken Frank, chef/owner of La Toque, offered a toothsome ballotine of guinea hen with red wine sauce. Meadowood Restaurant chef Christopher Kostow dazzled diners with melt-in-your-mouth slow-poached beef tenderloin, porcini mushrooms and brioche gnocchi. Chef Douglas Dale, of Wolfdale’s at Lake Tahoe, tempted all with a great selection of cheese and Meadowood executive chef Vincent Nattress teamed up with St. Helena’s Woodhouse Chocolate on attractive plates of bite-sized desserts amid chocolate bonbons.

Participating vintners also pulled out all the stops as they hosted bidders, guests and media at lunches and dinners throughout the valley last weekend.

Phil Schlein, proprietor of Emilio’s Terrace, asked Michael Tusk, chef/owner of San Francisco’s Quince, to design a menu that would pair well with both current releases and library wines. Tusk, a recent James Beard Foundation nominee, came through with a trio of his signature pastas — porcini mushroom tortelloni, tagliolini with sea scallops and cannelloni of summer squash, squash blossoms and basil — along with a mix roast of spring lamb with fava bean puree and cherry tomatoes, topped off by a luscious raspberry and peach semifreddo.

Warren Winiarski, founder of Stags Leap Wine Cellar, welcomed representatives of new owner Piero Antinori and auctiongoers to a New England clambake, prepared by winery chef Jonathan Bodnar and his crew. Bodnar had dozens and dozens of littleneck clams flown in from Massachusetts so he could steam them along with baby artichokes, baby corn and red bliss potatoes. That was just for starters. As they relaxed on the bank of a beautiful pond old-timers like to call Lake Warren, invitees were also treated to spit roasted pork loin served family style, along with such New England classics as Boston baked beans and cole slaw (the recipe was his mother’s).

Like to know what TV daytime talk show queen Oprah Winfrey had to eat while she was here? On the Friday preceding the auction, Oprah attended an intimate, candlelit dinner held in the historic Larkmead winery at Frank Family Vineyards, hosted by chef Michael Chiarello. Chef Chiarello began the meal by making fresh mozzarella tableside and the five-course meal included zinfandel-soaked pasta and roasted suckling pig, paired with Frank Family Vineyards’ wines, Chiarello Vineyards zinfandel and Promise wine.