Wines by the block narrowing the vineyard marketing field

Wines & Vines, August, 2005 by Deborah Grossman

Like Zachareas at Bacar, Alexander welcomes the winemakers' dissection of the vineyard. But the questions he hears from customers remain basic: "Where it is made (appellation)? What is the style? Perhaps, who's the winemaker? And most importantly, is it good?"

Yet for vintners like Hendry, the block designation is a key winemaking--and marketing--tool. "Labeling by the block keeps our focus on the vineyard. This generates the right dialogue with our customer," he believes.

RELATED ARTICLE: Revamped Auction Raised $10.5 Million

Napa Valley Vintners' Auction Napa Valley 25, retooled to raise more money and increase community attendance, raised a record $10.5 million to benefit local charities.

Festivities started on Thursday, June 2, with intimate tastings and dinners at wineries throughout the valley. On Friday, more than 3,000 visitors attended the first Friday Auction & Festival at Trinchero Family Estates. Tickets for the event, nominally priced at $150, were sold to members of the local community for $75. In addition to an e-auction utilizing touch-screen kiosks with giant screens to project the bids, 64 purveyors and 134 Napa wineries catered a Pride of Napa Valley tasting. The Friday barrel auction earned a total of $1,132,100 in five hours. The top bid went to a lot from Staglin Family Vineyards, which collected a record-crushing total of $221,000 for 11 barrels.

The high-ticket traditional Saturday auction--priced this year at $5,000 per couple--was held at Meadowood Resort in St. Helena, and opened with a monologue from Jay Leno. Live auction lots were topped by No. 454, four double magnums of Colgin Cellars 2001 Cabernet and a dinner for eight, which went for $650,000. Second highest winning bid was $550,000 for Lot 457, 625 assorted bottles from Cakebread, Chateau Montelena, Joseph Phelps, Schramsberg and Silver Oak plus a dinner for 10. Lot 414, an historic reunion of brothers Robert and Peter Mondavi, plus 60 bottles, two barrel tastings, two lunches and dinner for 16, brought in $401,000. Other offerings from BOND, Quintessa and Harlan Estate each earned $400,000.

For more information, visit napavinters.com.

(Deborah Grossman is a Bay Area journalist focusing on food and wine. She is a food columnist for Diablo magazine. Her articles have appeared in Food Arts, Sante, California Homes, The Wine Report, Wine Business Monthly, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Baltimore Sun. Contact her through edit@winesandvines.com.)