Since debuting in 1981, the wine industry’s most lauded fundraiser has raised more than $180 million for local charities. This past weekend, Auction Napa Valley, which attracts the region’s top winemakers, raised more than $10 million to benefit Napa Valley health organizations and children’s education. An estimated 900 people attended the live auction, headlined by Katy Perry, on Saturday at the Meadowood Napa Valley resort.
Auction Napa Valley | photo courtesy
Entries at the live auction included products from local wineries, as well as high-end prizes such as bespoke getaways, celebrity chef meet and greets, exclusive dinners and tickets to Super Bowl LIV next February in Miami.
Fourmeaux 2017 | photo courtesy
The coups de grâce of the weekend was the record-setting wine Fourmeaux 2017, sold for $85,250 ($710 per bottle and $8525 per case). The 10-case lot of the latest wine from VGS Chateau Potelle garnered the highest bids — for the second year in a row.
The Bordeaux-style red wine is named after VGS Chateau Potelle proprietor Jean-Noel Fourmeaux. Fourmeaux, a French expatriate, founded the winery in 1980 and has been overseeing the production of small-batch, Bordeaux-style wines since then.
“Art is evolutionary, winemaking is, too,” he said when asked about the winning barrel-auction price. “These wines bear my name. They are what I have learned during my life and what I have become. They represent maturity and wisdom, and as well as presence and dimension. [They are] a culmination of my decades-old love affair with wine and life,” explains Fourmeaux.
The high bidders on the Fourmeaux wine were Bruce and Jennifer Adams from Louisiana.
“To contribute to the continued success of the Fourmeaux luxury brand is a pleasure and it serves a great cause, not to mention the wine is really spectacular,” said Bruce Adams.
Over the years, Auction Napa Valley has supported a several organizations in Napa County, including OLE Health, the Rianda House Senior Activity Center and local branches of the Boys & Girls Club.
For more information and tickets to the 2020 auction, set for June 4-7, visit auctionnapavalley.org.
