Napa Valley Vintner’s Wine Auction tickets have just gone on sale, so if you want a place at the table act fast. The Auction will be held on Saturday June 2, 2018 at Meadowood Resort. There are single event tickets for the barrel auction, which is being held this year at Charles Krug on Friday, June 1, 2018, and for the live auction celebration on Saturday. On the website, auctionnapavalley.org, all the events, lots and bidding processes are carefully described in detail. May 27, Sunday noon begins the E-Auction bidding for 200 lots of Napa Valley wine and experiences. The live event kicks off on Thursday with early barrel auction bidding beginning at noon and welcome parties personally hosted by the owners of some of the valley’s best-known wineries on their estates that evening. Each of these gatherings will vary in personality, formality, format and number of invitees, but each party is compelling and unique in its own way featuring some of the best wine the Valley has to offer. On this night and the next, which is a dinner hosted by other owners and vintners on their estates, California hospitality is in full display as elaborate décor and menus are created, places set and flowers arranged to showcase more of the best wine in Napa Valley.

Inglenook Estate

Last year I attended the auction with the “complete package” which includes entrance to all the events and dinners. The week-long auction follows the same format again this year, so you can expect an experience similar to mine if you go. After registering for the event in early February, it was late May when I received my invitation revealing which of my three choices had been granted for the vintner hosted evenings. I would be visiting Shafer on Thursday and Diamond Creek Friday.

Barrel tasting inside the caves at Inglenook

The Coppola Family played honorary hosts of the Auction in 2017 entertaining 2000 guests at the Barrel Auction on their Inglenook Estate from 11-3 pm on Friday. Over one hundred yet to be released barrels of wine lined the inside of the ivy-covered Victorian structure housing the caves. Winemakers and owners pulled tastes from the casks for bidders to sample while they chatted and discussed the wines. Each of the ten highest bidders would receive a case of wine shipped to a destination of their choosing.

Outside, under tents around the grounds, local chefs from Angèle, Brasswood Bar+Kitchen, Ciccio, Galpao Gaucho, Morimoto’s and Mustards served their distinctive California cuisine in small plate batches so you could sample the myriad offerings. Bidding closed promptly at 3 pm to the cheers and sighs of the winners and losers.

Serving tents at the barrel tasting at Inglenook

That evening took us to an intimate dinner party of sixteen guests hosted by Boots Brounstein at her home overlooking the vineyards of Diamond Creek. Boots welcomed us as we drank Mumm Napa Valley sparkling wine and became acquainted with one another on the balcony. We munched passed hors’d oeurves as we listened to Karen Cakebread talk about the good works the auction supports. No longer a part of the famous Cakebread wine family, she recently launched her own wine label. Boots’s son, Phil Ross, told stories about the winery’s founder, Al Brounstein, going to France to work in the vineyards to learn about the vines and the craft of growing and winemaking. He told of Al flying his plane to pick up the initial rootstock that had been sent from France to Mexico for Diamond Creek. We watched a promotional video about the creation of the winery; then dinner was served. Boots entertained us with stories about her husband’s adventures in the wine business and beyond while we ate grilled free-range quail with oven-braised faro and herb-seasoned corn paired with Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 Red Rock Terrace. This was followed by spiced lamb loin served with creamed spinach and ragout of mushrooms paired with Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 Gravely Meadow and 2008 Volcanic Hill. The winemaker discussed the glasses of wine as he poured for us.

During the dinner chatter, I became aware that my suspicions during the champagne hour were correct: our party of four were the only paying guests at the dinner. Our fellow diners were members of the press, an auction donor, a charity rep, the winemaker, his wife and our hosts and family. Maybe a little too much wine, for upon learning my friends now live in Texas, the charity rep and a journalist adopted condescending tones and attempted to draw them into political discussions. Thankfully, dessert and coffee arrived, individual warm chocolate molten cake with English cream and raspberry sauce and the evening quickly concluded.

The vineyards of Diamond Creek from Boot’s balcony

The gathering on Friday contrasted with our welcome party the evening before at the Shafer winery. Chamber music played as we convened under the open sky on the terrace overlooking the vineyards with John and Doug Shafer at a casual gathering for forty guests. John, the winery founder, welcomed us and gave several accounts of how people in the Valley have benefitted from the Auction proceeds. We enjoyed passed hors d’oeurves followed by a buffet dinner of sliced steak, grilled vegetables, fettuccini Alfredo and a salad to be eaten at round tables scattered about the lawn. Doug welcomed us and spoke about the actual founding of the winery when his father, a former bomber pilot turned businessman, moved the family from Chicago to this Stag’s Leap hillside he had purchased to plant his vineyard. He spoke of the difficult, rocky hillside terrain that had to be tamed and nurtured into what would come to produce their notable Hillside Select Cabernet. Attendants gave generous pours of both Shafer red and white wines as our hosts and family made the rounds chatting with every table. A calypso band picked up the beat after dinner for lively dancing under the stars.

Saturday morning could be for sleeping in, a restorative run, leisurely breakfast or one of several structured Auction events: a hike, bike tour, picnic or guided vineyard walk.

Saturday afternoon at 2:30 pm promptly, the live auction celebration reception and lot preview began under a very large white tent at Meadowood Resort, the host venue since the event’s 1981 inception. A jazz band played as we strolled past vignettes previewing of some of the more extraordinary packages up for live auction. We munched delightful finger food and sipped cool crisp wine as the cloudless day grew warm.

We were ushered into the big tent of the live auction about 4:30 pm where our paddles awaited and excitement filled the air. The tent was decorated to evoke a 1930s nightclub atmosphere.

Inside the live auction tent

On behalf of our honorary chairs, Eleanor and Francis, Roman, Sophia and Gia Coppola, Roman welcomed us all and thanked everyone for their generosity and support. He began, “It was an honor for our family to chair this year’s Auction Napa Valley. Napa Valley is our family’s home and we’re grateful for the generosity of our bidders, fellow vintners, partners and donors, local chefs, volunteers and every member of the community that comes together to make Auction Napa Valley a success year after year. The funds we raise this weekend will help strengthen families and make the seemingly impossible possible for tens of thousands of our neighbors.”

Founded in 1981 by a small group of winery owners including Robert and Margrit Mondavi, the Auction’s purpose has always been to give back to the Napa Valley community that made their success possible. Today the auction provides Community Support Grants to nonprofit partners supporting community health and children’s education, including a six million dollar grant for a new hospital.

With the spirit of charity, enthusiastic bidding began. First up was an experience donated by the Coppola family: Three couples to be treated as extended family at their Inglenook, Napa Valley estate for three nights. Stay in the Victorian mansion with vineyard views, gather for meals and enjoy private tastings. The Coppola Falcon 7X jet will then fly the three couples to the newly restored nineteenth century five-star boutique hotel, Palazzo Margherita, in Southern Italy. Enjoy the private gardens, courtyards, swimming pool and delicacies of the region until the jet returns each couple to a city of their choosing.

The crowd went wild and bid and bid and bid. There was so much interest they sold this package three times.

The true Napa wine community distinguished themselves by their banter across tables, shouts and the extreme vigor of the competitiveness of their bidding. At times, pride was at stake and rivalries laid raw. The live auction packages were very generous and unique and the crowd appreciated each and every one of them.

After the business of bidding came our reward. Papa Coppola himself oversaw the execution of the family style menu he created and helped prepare. The sun was setting as heaping antipasto platters began arriving at our tables set picnic style on the fairway lawn.

Oversized steaks on the grill for the live auction dinner

We watched as the grill-masters set humongous steaks on massive grills to feed our hungry crowd of more than nine hundred. Bistecca alla fiorentina, hand rolled gnocchi, colorful garden salad and soft bread knots surely tamed the hungry beast in us.

After dinner, desserts and coffee took us back into the big tent for music, dancing and private performance by soul singer-songwriter, Leon Bridges. The crisp clear night grew cool and the moon shone brightly illuminating our path back for the ride home.

Sunday morning brunch at the Charles Krug estate would bring the four day fete to an authentically Napa close. The multi colored flowers lining the walkway to the entrance waved in the soft morning breeze. Hostesses offered champagne and a drink station at one end poured any variety of wine, juice and infused waters. A tremendous copper coffee machine took front and center spot with a table all its own. No doubt, it would be the most visited this morning. Buffet stations were set up along the walls of the second floor of the barn-like structure, thus allowing us to stand at the very large windows in between to look out over the estate. We had flaky pastries and breads, cheeses, eggs, bacon, sausage and fresh fruit galore. There was even a man slicing cured meats to order at a high table by the cheese display.

Array of cured meats at the Charles Krug brunch

Some guests toured the vineyards, others bid fond farewells to old friends and to new ones they had made over the past few days. We had been wined and dined by some of the best in the Valley and none of us would soon forget it.

The 2017 Napa Vintner’s Wine Auction raised $15.7 million dollars.