Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Wine Wine Wednesday: Wine Auctions for Cancer and Chancer(y Court)
Posted by Chris Chamberlain on Wed, May 19, 2010 at 11:50 AM
One of the side effects of the flood-related closing of the Gaylord Opryland Resort was the necessity to reschedule the annual L'Ete du Vin Wine Auction for the American Cancer Society. The venerable wine and charity event was originally scheduled for June 19 in an Opryland ballroom, but organizers have decided to take lemons and make limoncello. The 31st l’Eté du Vin Grand Auction has been rescheduled to Aug. 28 at the Hutton Hotel. As usual, they will offer a culinary tour of delectable foods featuring many of Nashville’s favorite restaurants. This year’s live auction will feature approximately 100 auction lots composed of rare wines, luxury travel, fine art and more. Tickets for that event are $200 per person.
Meanwhile, on the originally planned date of June 19, L'Ete du Vin organizers have scheduled five individual wine dinners starting at 7 p.m. Executive Director Collin Husbands adds, “We hope that this will give everyone a chance to interact with, and thank, our Guests of Honor while giving the city and our fellow Nashvillians a chance to get back on their feet.” The list of restaurants and wineries includes: Watermark and Torbreck Vintners; Sunset Grill and Moet et Chandon; 360 Bistro and Morlet Family Vineyards; Red Pony and Casa Lapostolle; and F. Scott's Restaurant and L’Aventure Winery. This event is $75 per person. Seating is extremely limited and reservations will be made on a first come, first served basis. To make reservations, check out their website at www.nashvillewineauction.com or call 329-1760.
In other high-end wine auction news, ace reporter Tom Wood reports at our sister website Nashville Post that bankrupt iPayment Inc. CEO Greg Daily has received about $1.4 million from the sale of his wine collection to help pay off his creditors.
According to the Nashville Post article, "The priciest item in the auction was a 6-liter bottle of 1959 Château Lafite Rothschild, which sold for $46,000. A pair of 3-liter Jeroboams from the celebrated 1982 vintage of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande sold for $5,500. Other French 1982 holdings from Daily's cellar also commanded top dollar: A total of 85 bottles of Château Mouton Rothschild from that year sold for a combined $82,400."
Daily was noted for buying deep and wide to build his cellar collection, choosing excellent California, Burgundy and Bordeaux releases and buying them by the case, including lots of large format bottles. Although Daily didn't get the full $2 million he hoped for from the sale, the sale prices were pretty impressive. Hopefully, some of Nashville's great wine collectors participated and brought some of his bottles home to the Music City.
And maybe they'll offer to share them with a few of us little people. (Hope, hope.) Otherwise, we'll have to consume our own collections, one jeroboam (or more likely wine box) at a time.
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