Trade auction nets more than $2 million for Napa Valley Vintners

By L. PIERCE CARSON Register Staff Writer

A sell-out crowd of some 600 retailers and restaurateurs spent more than $2 million Saturday for close to 200 lots of wine handcrafted solely for the trade attending Premiere Napa Valley.

Sponsored by Napa Valley Vintners, the auction was held at CIA Greystone, an event that supports the trade association’s worldwide marketing programs and helps fund the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies.

In a little over three hours, auctioneers Ursula Hermacinski and Fritz Hatton sold off 192 lots of wine especially made for this event — a mix of distinct vineyard blends and hand-selected barrels from some of the best vineyards in the valley.

Preliminary figures showed total proceeds at $2.16 million, a 16 percent increase over last year’s take.

Once again, the wine lot from Rombauer Vineyards — five cases of 2005 cabernet sauvignon from the winery’s Stice Lane vineyard — was top lot of the auction. Verej Jazirvar, general manager of the 1,500 member Petroleum Club, a private Oklahoma City wine club, paid $50,000 for the Rombauer lot.

A complete story on auction lots and a tasting that preceded the auction will appear in this week’s Napa Valley Register’s wine section.

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