USA: Napa Valley hosts its annual wine auction and raises over $10 million US Dollars

Record ID: 783244

  • Title: USA: Napa Valley hosts its annual wine auction and raises over $10 million US Dollars
  • Date: 15th June 2008
  • Summary: (L!2)SAINT HELENA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 8, 2008) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LINDA REIFF, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NAPA VALLEY VINTNERS, SAYING: "At the end of the evening last night we had raised 10.4 million dollars via our live auction, our barrel auction, and our e-auction. And how that compares to past years is that it's the second highest we've ever made. The highest year was the year 2000, and we made 10.5 million, so it's very close, and we're very surprised, and we feel very blessed, because given the economy we never imagined bringing in this much money for charity."
  • Embargoed: 30th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Industry,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA5ZPNZL9DEM6RYJXQ60P4FXEZ5
  • Story Text: Despite the weakening economy, the Napa Valley Vintners wine auction raised over $10 million US Dollars for charity.
    The Silicon Valley fortunes might not have flowed as freely at this year's Napa Valley wine auction without a Shanghai billionaire, a self-made sandwich king and some wine-loving firefighters.
    The country's most venerable charity wine auction is no bellwether for the U.S. economy but even America's premier wine region saw at this year's event that it has to work hard to keep cash rolling in during tough economic times.
    On the heels of an inauspicious 400-point plunge on the Dow Jones industrial average on Friday (June 6), Napa Valley Vintners managed last weekend to raise $10.4 million for local charity, 5 percent more than last year and just shy of the record set in 2000.

    "At the end of the evening last night we had raised 10.4 million dollars via our live auction, our barrel auction, and our e-auction,"
    said Linda Reiff, Executive Director of Napa Valley Vintners. "That it's the second highest we've ever made. The highest year was the year 2000, and we made 10.5 million, so its very close, and we're very surprised, and we feel very blessed, because given the economy we never imagined bringing in this much money for charity But there were signs of strain under the elegant white tent, most notably in what was supposed to be the top lot at Saturday's live auction -- a dinner for 95 people to honor the recently deceased pioneer winemaker Robert Mondavi that fell short of the starting bid price of $10,000 a head or $950,000.
    Were it not for the $1.7 million pieced together by dozens of donors for a farmworker health clinic, Auction Napa Valley would probably have seen proceeds decline this year.
    Organizers said more modest bidders who put their paddles up for $1,000 or $5,000 donations saved the day, but the big buyers made their mark.
    David Li, a 32-year-old Shanghai Internet billionaire who bought several lots of cult Cabernet Sauvignon, including six magnum bottles of 1992 Screaming Eagle for $500,000, roughly $7,000 a glass.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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