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| Wine & Spirits |
The Gavel and the Grape
Tara Weingarten
05/03/2004
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The Napa Valley Wine Auction, with its extravagant festivities and sky-high
hammer prices, is hardly the first place we think of when shopping for
investment-grade wines. And yet serious investors return year after year, quite
willing, it seems, to place bids at record-breaking levels. What draws these
savvy paddle-wielders to Napa every June?
 The auction is, first and foremost,
a charity; it raises funds for migrant workers and their families. (See www.napavintners.com.) This alone
justifies the high auction prices in many eyes. But good works return to us
in many ways, one of which is friendships that linger long after the hammer has
rested. These four halcyon days in June provide a rare opportunity for
collectors to mingle with the vintners they admire, which can bear fruit in
private invitations to wineries and access to coveted allocation lists.
Barrel Along
The auction, which will be held this year from June 3 to 6,
is a four-day fete that features barrel tastings, intimate luncheons and dinners
at lauded wineries, and a formal evening gala that draws all of Napa Valley’s
vintners and winery owners.
Saturday’s auction is divided into three parts, a
live wine auction, a silent art and wine auction and a barrel auction. While
cult wine lots continue to sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars at the live
auction, veteran bidders look to the barrel auction for the best investment
opportunities.
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