the young school

Napa Valley School Benefit Offers Wine Lots For A Good Cause

We like the way they raise money in wine country. The 12th annual fundraiser for The Young School in Napa Valley's St. Helena includes silent and live auctions with a wine focus. This year's event takes place on Saturday, March 12 at Failla Winery.

The winery's elaborate caves make a dramatic setting for the evening, which is called Casbah in the Cave. The evening features a Moroccan feast by Alex's Catering as well as a classical Middle Eastern dance performance. There will be a wide selection of auction lots featuring splendid adventures and truly fine wines from a variety of local wineries including Abreu, Blackbird, Colgin, Robert Foley, Harlan, Ovid, Joseph Phelps, Shafer and Silver Oak. Many wineries such as Far Niente and Smith-Madrone are offering event lots and travel lots offer getaways to Portugal, Nantucket and more.

The Young School is a private non-profit non-denominational Montessori-derived program for children ages 6 through 12 years old/first-sixth grades. The name of the school is taken from two sisters named 'Young' who were well-known Sonoma teachers several decades ago. The first Young School was founded in their home in downtown Sonoma. In 1997 the school moved from its Sonoma location to St. Helena in the Napa Valley. It operates as a 'one-room schoolhouse' in quarters rented from a church in a residential neighborhood of St. Helena and has an enviable 12-1 student-teacher ratio.

Tickets are $100 per person in advance and available at the benefit website.

Tags: napa valley, st helena, the young school, wine events

Bid On Napa Wine Fantasy Lots

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Auctions, Charity

What's your wine fantasy? A lost weekend at a Napa Valley estate with a bunch of close friends? How about spending the day with one of Napa's most celebrated winemakers? These are just two of the lots being offered in advance of Forever Young, The Young School's eleventh annual benefit fundraiser,being held February 6 at Quintessa in Rutherford, California. The evening will include silent and live auctions but some lots are being offered ahead of time www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/Browse.action

My favorite includes the chance to spend the day with vintner Ehren Jordan, winemaker both of French–style Pinot Noirs and Syrahs from Failla Wines and Zinfandels and Petit Syrahs from Turley Wine Cellars. His typical whirlwind day includes shuttling between Turley and Failla, a commute done via the cockpit of his Cessna 340. You can sit in the co-pilot's seat and get a winemaker's-eye-view of the vineyards, then land and take a walk through the rows. The experience includes a blending session, which will create five cases and one magnum of your own unique wine. This lot has an opening bid of $5,000.

Another lot is called the Bottle Shock Experience and whisks nine couples away for three nights (1/28/2010- 1/31/2010) at a Napa Valley estate where the grounds include a spa, pool, bocce court, gym and more. They stay is highlighted by a private screening at the estate's high-definition theater of the movie Bottle Shock with the movie's producers Marc & Brenda Lhormer, followed by a "Judgment of Paris"-style tasting of California Chardonnays and Cabernets 'versus' French Burgundies and Bordeaux, similar to the one in the film. Bidding starts at $9,000 for this lot.

Tags: napa valley, NapaValley, the young school, TheYoungSchool, wine, wine auction, WineAuction