Naples Winter Wine Festival Proves Big Giving Is Back

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jan 30th 2011 at 3:00PM

Big giving is back at one of the year's grandest wine events. The Naples Winter Wine Festival in Naples, Florida was held over the weekend. It raised $12 million for Collier County's underprivileged and at-risk children during the live auction of 70 one-of-a-kind auction lots. The total was healthily above last year's $8.1 million and over double the $5.1 million raised in economically gloomy 2009. The total nearly grazed the $12.2 million record set in 2006. The festival has brought in over $94.5 million since it began in 2001.

Approximately 580 festival guests were seated under a giant tent set on the grand lawn of The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples bidding on lots that ranged from $30,000 to $1 million. The million-dollar lot was an 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture, Reina Mariana, by artist Manolo Valdés. The 2,000-pound sculpture had traveled to the festival grounds from New York City's Columbus Circle, where it had been on display. The top wine lot, modestly called Perfection, was a total of 100 bottles of 100-point wine in a custom cabinet. It equaled the highest bid of a wine-only lot in the festival's history at $400,000. A 39-bottle collection of Sine Qua Non, many in large format and including 100-point wines, captured a winning bid of $160,000; a 25-year complete vertical of Shafer's Hillside Select and 24 bottles of the vintner's Silver Anniversary Sensation, when released in 2013, resulted in a high bid of $150,000; and four magnums of Colgin Cellars IX Estate Napa Valley Red Wine went for $130,000.

This festival always features beautiful cars. This year a 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia sports coupe went for $950,000. A fully restored 1956 Corvette, which came with a Napa Valley driving trip, was auctioned for $300,000. A trip to the 2012 Olympics in London went for $400,000. Three lots commanded bids of $240,000 each, including one that featured a private magic lesson by David Blaine, lunch with TV's Regis Philbin, and dinner with TV's Judge Judy at her home, and another that included a Los Angeles adventure for two couples with tickets to the Emmy Awards, two walk-on roles on Showtime's Californication, and dinner at Bouchon with a private tour guided by Chef Thomas Keller.

People were in a giving mood, Lunch Boxes of Love, a fund-a-need lot for on-the-spot donations, raised $656,520 to help end hunger for children in Collier County.

The 2012 festival will be held Jan. 27-29. For more information about the Naples Winter Wine Festival, visit www.napleswinefestival.com.

Tags: naples wine festival, naples winter wine festival, wine festival