The Great Recession may not be over for everyone, but members of the aristocracy of wine demonstrated with their auction paddles that good times are here again, raising $4 million at the annual Sonoma Harvest Wine Auction.
That was almost three times the total from last year’s auction, and fully $1.6 million of it went to a “Fund the Future” auction lot to pay for an ongoing campaign to improve literacy rates across Sonoma County. Six bidders kicked in $100,000 each for that lot, including George Hamel III, whose family winery recently opened on Highway 12 in Glen Ellen.
Other $100,000 bidders were Corey Beck of Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Jackson Family Wines, Tom Klein of Rodney Strong Vineyards, Joe Anderson of Benovia Winery and the Gallo Family.
The highest Fund the Future bid for last year’s auction was $75,000.
The Fund the Future recipients include the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation for its Summer Reading and Writing Academy and Grade Level Proficiency Project, along with four other county nonprofits: Schools of Hope, Pasitos Playgroups, AVANCE and the Healdsburg Education Foundation.
The annual auction has grown almost exponentially over the last three years, after the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance partnered with the Sonoma County Vintners for a combined fundraising campaign that fills an entire weekend with wine and food events, culminating in the Sunday auction.
Some Valley attendees lamented the loss of intimacy and family fun that used to inspire wineries to produce elaborate, often silly and humorous skits for the auction, but no one bemoaned the revenue results of the collaboration. The 2013 auction set a then-record of $1.5 million, of which $735,000 went to the literacy campaign. This year’s sold-out auction audience totaled about 700 people, who tested the capacity of a large white tent in which attendees squeezed between tables, many dressed in safari garb in keeping with the theme, “From Sonoma to Serengeti.”
Several women sported elegant parasols to combat the summer heat, but only one guest came dressed as a giraffe. Danny Fay, co-founder of Envolve Winery, circled the crowd in what he admitted was a “rather warm” giraffe suit.
One single auction lot, offered by Hamel Family Wines, went for $250,000, with 25 couples paying $10,000 apiece to have a six-course dinner at the Hamel winery, each course prepared by one of six James Beard Award-winning celebrity chefs.
An $80,000 bid bought four people a tour of Barcelona and Catalonia and dinner with Jose and Gloria Ferrer in their 12th-century farmhouse.
The annual Magnum Force Lot, previewed by a corps of dancers choreographed by Suzy Fridell of Glen Lyon Winery, went again to former Trilogy Glass owner Rick Miron, who bid $45,000.
The expanded auction now funds 43 charities, focusing on early childhood literacy; mentoring, leadership and teen programs; medical and mental health services and housing support; food and nutrition programs; and arts and culture.
Sonoma Valley recipients include, besides the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley; Hanna Boys Center; the Sonoma Valley High School Agricultural Department; the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance; Sonoma Valley Teen Services; Valley of the Moon Aquatics; FISH, La Luz Center; Sonoma Overnight Support; the Sonoma Valley Community Health Center; the Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation; WillMar Family Grief and Healing Center; the Sonoma Community Center; the Sonoma International Film Festival; and the Transcendence Theatre Company.
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