Wine and Grosses

Wine, long associated with quiet dinners and dark cellars, took a jolt upside the head June 11 at the 14th Napa Valley Wine Auction. Held at the staid Meadowood Country Club, it seemed less a traditional wine auction than a sort of non-broadcast telethon where you got either wine or a trip to hobnob with a Napa winemaker if you made the biggest charitable pledge. Every time $100,000 had been raised, the auctioneers were interrupted by a blast of recorded symphonic fanfare and a couple of appointed celebrants got up and danced in the aisles. A number of the older vintners cringed at the shameless hype; a few left early.

Ah, but behind it all was the “good cause” dangled as a carrot for the bidders: the various hospitals and clinics who benefit from the funds. Of the $1.66 million raised in the auction, 90% will go to the charities in one form or another, said a spokeswoman. Another $1.3 million, derived from registration fees, was spent promoting and producing the extravaganza.