Recession Bites The Auction Napa Valley

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 7th 2009 at 7:01PM

The Santa Rosa Democrat reports from the Auction Napa Valley wine auction this weekend and reveals that the news isn't good. As expected the recession took a chunk out of the charity giving for this annual event. The big live auction event on Saturday night only brought in $4.3 million, less than half of the $10.4 million raised last year, a result that is similar to the Naples auction earlier this year. During the four-day event, Napa Valley Vintners raised $5.7 million for a variety of local charities.

The Santa Rosa Democrat article quotes several bidders who said that they were bidding more conservatively because they had either lost money in the past year or had serious concerns about their ongoing financial health. Bids were also lower because competition was less intense and some may have been concerned about appearing too showy. All of the Auction Napa Valley events were sold out, indicating that people still have interest in this event. Even though they did't spend like they did last year and it sounds like a good time was still had by all.

The Napa Valley Vintners pledged back in 2007 that for the next five years the the auction would distribute a minimum of $5 million a year to the charities including Community Health Clinic Ole, Boys & Girls Clubs and Napa Valley Community Housing.

Tags: auction napa valley, AuctionNapaValley, charity, napa valley, NapaValley, wine, wine auction, WineAuction

Filed under: Wine, Auctions, Charity

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jaysh Jun 8th 2009 6:54AM

This is sad.Things just seem to be going from bad to worse.Wonder when normalcy will return.Incidentally there is an interesting website that is specifically dedicated to recession victims.It offers help and discusses all issues related to recession- http://www.angstcorner.com. It’s worth a visit!