Recession hits wine auction

ST. HELENA — Auction Napa Valley was full of magic tricks Saturday night with swinging trapeze artists, colorful dancers and conga drummers.

The only thing organizers couldn’t seem to pull out of their hat was an endless supply of money.

The total raised at the auction, now in its 29th year, was $4.3 million, according to a preliminary count by organizers. The amount was less than half of last year’s record $10.3 million. During the four-day event, Napa Valley Vintners raised $5.7 million.

About 600 people gathered under the white tent at the Meadowood Resort in St. Helena, led by a parade of drummers. When paddle-raising began, it was clear there were more than a few reluctant bidders. Wade Welch, an attorney from Houston was one of them.

“If we weren’t in a recession, I would bid five times as much as I would otherwise,” Welch said before the auction. “And it would be less of an economic decision and more of an emotional one.”

Welch said he and other bidders are more conservative this year because they’re worried about financial survival. “A lot of people are concerned about whether their company is going to be around next week. ... A lot of people are wondering, ‘Am I going to have a job tomorrow?’”

Dan Lynch, a retired Internet pioneer who lives in St. Helena, decided to forgo bidding altogether this year even though he’s had high bids in the past, including one for $500,000 in the early 1990s. “I can’t drink all the wine in my cellar if I were to live to 100,” he joked. “That’s a great excuse for moderation that will last a few years.”

Lynch founded the Mountain View telecommunications company Interop in 1988, and in 1991 sold it for $25 million. “The super rich are still super rich and they’ll continue to do what they want, but the auction benefits less from them because the smaller fish won’t move the bids up,” he said.

For instance, a couple might be willing to pay $500,000 for a lot, but they could get it for $100,000 because fewer people are pumping up the bids. He added that some bidders may have refrained because they didn’t want to appear ostentatious.

One of the high bids of the evening came in at $120,000. Jim Clary and Leon Dreimann of Chicago partnered to buy the lot featuring seven bottles of Colgin Cellars cabernet sauvignon, dinner for eight and a cooking class for four. “We were at our limit,” Clary said. “Everyone is affected by this economy. We’re being a little more prudent in our bidding strategy.”

One top lot, featuring a five-day trip to the Kentucky Derby and 16 bottles of cabernet from Oakville Ranch Vineyards, went for $55,000. But bidder Rich Jones of Jones Family Vineyards in Calistoga said, “I would have gone a lot higher for the lot because I’ve always wanted to go to Kentucky Derby and because it’s for a great cause.”

Rich Frank of Calistoga’s Frank Family Vineyards said, “Some bidders actually said it looks bad to overbid in an economy like this. I don’t think so, but I can understand that some think it would be.”

“The economy has slowed everything down and everyone was trying to step it back this year,” said Frank, a former ABC executive.

He said he didn’t invite talk show host Oprah Winfrey to the auction this year. Winfrey was Frank’s guest last year and in 2005 he brought Desperate Housewives’ actress Teri Hatcher.

Frank initially offered to help the auction get an emcee this year, but organizers wanted to go a different direction, away from big names and giving the vintners more air time. The event Saturday was loosely emceed by wine educator Kevin Zraly of New York City, best known for creating “Windows On The World Wine Course,” with vintners introducing their lots.

Last year, then-“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno was the headliner. Leno was also the emcee in 2005, with “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest the headliner in 2006 and comedian Dana Carvey, best known for his work on “Saturday Night Live,” the celebrity host in 2007.

While organizers were tight-lipped about notables at the week-long auction events, sightings included Seacrest, Pierre Antinori, best known for his long-standing Italian brands and Napa’s Antica winery, and Carmen Policy, the former president and CEO of the San Francisco 49ers. Policy and his wife, Gail, are now vintners of the Yountville winery Casa Piena.

Despite the concerns of some of those attending about the slumping economy, all of the events were sold out.

While ticket sales were solid, Terry Hall, communications director of the Napa Valley Vintners, said he never expected this year to be a record-breaker in income after talking with top bidders. “People were telling us they just weren’t in a position to spend grand like they have in the past, but we reached out and welcomed them to come. It’s important to reach out in good times and bad.”

Vintners realize a charity wine auction is certainly not a place to shop conservatively, with lots going for 10 to 50 times their market value. For instance a 3-liter bottle of cabernet valued at $2,000 in today’s market might go for $50,000 at a wine charity auction.

To protect themselves from an unstable economy, the vintners adopted the “5 X 5 Community Promise” in 2007, pledging that for the next five years the auction would distribute a minimum of $5 million a year to the charities.

The auction benefits local health, children’s and housing organizations, including Community Health Clinic Ole, Boys & Girls Clubs and Napa Valley Community Housing.

Napa’s event, long the leader in charity wine auctions worldwide, had been surpassed by the Naples Winter Wine Festival, which raised a peak of $14 million in 2008 before its dipped to $5 million this year. The Napa auction still trumps Sonoma County wine auctions, with Sonoma Paradiso the most successful, raising $2 million last year. The Paradiso auction was put on hold this summer because of the poor economy.