Auction Napa Valley 30: Coming Soon!

It’s just around the corner, and excitement is building for the 30th Auction Napa Valley. The Auction Steering Committee, led by honorary chairs Beth Milliken Novak and Mary Novak of Spottswoode, is in the final stages of planning to create an unforgettable experience for bidders and guests.

Here are some interesting numbers that underscore the amazing collaborative and generous efforts that really add up to raise funds for healthcare, youth services and affordable housing non-profit programs in our Napa Valley community:

• Member wineries have developed 275 exciting live, e-auction and barrel lots.

• The live auction on June 5 is less than 6 weeks away, but the bidding fun begins with the first of 4 weekly E-Auctions in only two weeks. These on-line auctions offer bidders anywhere in the world the opportunity to win one-of-a-kind wine collections and vintner experiences. Click here for more information on the lots and how to bid.
  

• And while you’re bidding on the E-auction, join our Bidders w/o Borders contest by posting a photo of your whereabouts on Twitter using #AuctionNV and tell us the lot you’re after. (If you don’t have a Twitter account, email your photo and a 130-character description to jcrafton@napavintners.com). Each week of the E-Auction, the public will be invited to vote for their favorite posting and the 4 weekly winners will receive Auction Napa Valley Gift Baskets.

• 500 tickets to Friday’s Taste Napa Valley sold out in record time (32 minutes!), and the packages for multiple events are moving quickly.

• Over 100 wineries will pour and 50 restaurants will serve at the Friday Taste Napa Valley festival at Rubicon Estate. A full roster of live musical entertainment performed by local bands will keep the place rocking until the last gavel of the Barrel Auction and E-Auction have echoed through the hills of Rutherford.
  

• Nearly 600 volunteers have signed up to help make it all happen, and many more are pouring in. Click here for more information on how you can make a difference.

• Auction fans are posting fun memories and reasons to attend as part of the Auction Anthology contest currently running on the NVV website. Check it out here, post your story, and help us collect more facets of our 29-year history of fun fundraising.

• A stellar collection of 18 celebrity chefs is creating daring and delicious menus to delight big bidders on Thursday night and Live Auction guests on Saturday. Here’s the incredible line-up:

Thursday’s Big Bidders’ Dinner will be a feminine feast of fabulousness prepared by:
Lissa Doumani of Terra in St. Helena & Ame in San Francisco
Nancy Oakes of Boulevard in San Francisco
Nicole Plue of Redd in Yountville
Nancy Silverton of Campanile in Los Angeles

Saturday Lunch will be prepared by a mélange of masculine culinary mastery:
Octavio Becerra of Palate in Los Angeles
Jean Joho of Everest in Chicago
Thomas Keller of French Laundry in Yountville and Per Se in NY
Lars Kronmark of the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena
Paul Lemieux of Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford
Walter Manzke formerly of Church & State in LA
Michael Mina of Michael Mina, Charles Nob Hill, and Aqua in San Francisco
Richard Reddington of Redd in Yountville
Frank Stitt of Bottega and Highlands Bar & Grill in Birmingham, AL
Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco

During the Live Auction, Christopher Kosta of Meadowood will serve spectacularly succulent snicky-snacks to keep bidders’ energy electric.

And Dinner Saturday Night will be another girls’ night of gorgeous gastronomy prepared by:
Gina DePalma of Babbo in New York
Suzanne Goin of Lucques in Los Angeles
Carrie Nahabedian of Naha in Chicago
Melissa Perello of Frances in San Francisco
Liz Prueitt of Tartine in San Francisco
Suzanne Tracht of Jar in Los Angeles and Tracht’s in Long Beach

To get you even more in the mood, click here to see a cool compendium of video clips from auctions past, and stay tuned in the next six weeks as we share behind-the-scenes coverage with lots of surprises!