Auction of Washington Wines Reaches Out to Retailers and Sommeliers
By Seattle Business Magazine August 13, 2015
In the Auction of Washington Wines’ annual barrel auction at Chateau Ste Michelle Winery, it’s usually consumers competing to bid on wines now still in the barrel that will come available in two years time. In this evening’s Picnic and Barrel Auction, several well-regarded wines were getting actively bid up by eager connoisseurs.
But earlier in the afternoon, for the first time in this region, a group of sommeliers and retailers had the chance to bid on something particularly special: unique wines specially produced for the occasion by eight of the region’s leading wineries.
Ted Baseler, CEO of Chateau Ste Michelle Winery, says he had some butterflies before the auction started, but once it got going it was a smashing success. “People were really bidding aggressively.”
Baseler says a grenache and syrah blend by Quilceda Creek produced specially for the event, was auctioned off for $1,800 a case. A Leonetti wine did almost as well.
Megan Clubb, the owner of L’Ecole No. 41, which put up for auction a Bordeaux blend with many of the grapes coming from the winery’s award-winning Ferguson vineyard in Walla Walla also did well. “We wanted to do something different, something special,” says Clubb, co-chair of the Auction. Although making a special blend for a single auction takes some time and effort, she says, “It’s for the Childrens’ Hospital.”
Baseler sees the event getting far bigger in future years. “We put this together pretty much at the last minute and we still got $50,000. Next year we’ll have three times as many people.” He says the event could eventually raise millions of dollars as a similar event does in Napa Valley.”
What makes the event special, says Baseler, is that “it’s a way to engage the trade.” Retailers and sommeliers get excited by this auction because “they can get a case of unique wine.” That unique wine has special value to the trade because “what people are looking for today are special experiences.”
As with the other money raised at the auction, the money raised at the special barrel auction will go to benefit Childrens’ Hospital and Washington State University’s Viticulture and Enology program.