E-Auction Daily Bytes
Uncle Fritz & Auntie Urs's
(Almost) Daily Byte
Welcome to our online color commentary for this year's E-Auction, featuring
And welcome to Auction Napa Valley 2007!
"Uncle" Fritz Hatton and "Auntie" Ursula Hermacinski
Ursula:
June 8: You Guys (and Gals) Rock!
Wow, what is there to say? It looks like the E-Auction - all of you wonderful bidders, that is - raised $379,000! You've won some incredible offerings, but the best part is: you're not the only winners today! There are dozens of Napa County health, youth development and housing non-profits who are cheering today, as your generosity will go a long way to providing services that touch all in our community. So on behalf of the members of the Napa Valley Vintners, the beneficiaries of Auction Napa Valley and the Napa community in general, a huge hug and a from-the-bottom-of-our-hearts thank you to all of you!
And be sure to check all the weekend's results and the photo gallery from the weekend. And maybe consider joining us in person next year for this incredible fundraiser/party to beat all parties.
Fritz:
June 7: E-Auction Closes Tomorrow
Hard to believe this is already coming to a close tomorrow! It's nice to have the E-Auction online now, so that wine lovers from around the world could take part in Auction Napa Valley. But my advice to all of you is to make sure you've got your maximum bids in, because when E-Auction opens tomorrow morning, there will be potentially 3,000 people at the Taste Napa Valley event who'll throw their bids in the ring - and there's nothing more heartbreaking than losing at the last minute. If you want to watch your bids close tomorrow, they're closing in three waves (all times are Pacific time):
1:00 pm: Lots 101 - 126 close
1:30 pm: Lots 127 - 152 close
2:00 pm: Lots 153 - 178 close
Hope to see your name as the successful bidder on one or more lots. Thank you all for participating!
Ursula:
June 4:
Hey, Fritz, we had a sold-out crowd at The London Hotel on Friday: two rooms filled with wine lovers enjoying hors d'oeuvres by Gordon Ramsey, sipping some excellent
Fritz:
June 4:
We had a great time in
June 1: Off to LA for the Bidding Party
Well, I'm off. Look forward to meeting all of you SoCal wine lovers that have RSVPed. For those of you not able to make it, I'll report back on Monday.
Ursula:
May 31: Off to NYC for the Bidding Party
Okay, all you New Yorkers, I'm headed your way. See you tomorrow evening for some intense duel by bidding, some incredible Napa Valley wines, some delectable nibbles and for one lucky bidder, a Viking wine cellar and plenty of Napa Valley wine to stock it with... hmmm, wonder if I'm allowed to bid?
Ursula:
May 30:
I'd like to extend an Auction Napa Valley welcome to all those bidders, who are bidding from as far away as across the US heading east, and as far away as Shanghai and Japan heading the other direction. Top lots right now are Sherwin Family Vineyards, Kongsgaard, and Franciscan.. It'll be interesting to see how things change with the bidding parties this coming Friday, Fritz, when we'll add a few hundred bidders in LA and New York to the mix.
Fritz:
May 29: No Holiday for the E-Auction
Good advice, Urs - for those of you who have bid on ebay, it works just like that. And checking in on the bidding action yesterday before firing up the barbecue, and wow! But there are still some good deals out there.
May 25: And They're Off!
The Auction is only a few hours old, but we've already logged over 200 bids! Here's a little bidding tip for those of you haven't yet raised your e-paddle: the easiest way to play is to take advantage of the "maximum bid" system. Rather than placing a bid, going back and checking, rebidding...just determine what your maximum bid would be, put that in, and the system bids on your behalf, one minimum bid at a time. So it bids only enough to keep you the successful bidder - or until someone else's higher bid knocks your maximum bid out of play.
Ursula:
May 23: Absolutely
Fritz:
May 22: From Weeks to Only Hours!
Tick tick tick...only 72 hours to go until bidding opens online (10AM PDT this Friday). Watching online last year, there were multiple bids on every e-auction lot within a matter of hours of the auction opening, with bids from every corner of the US and as far away as Japan. See you online when the bidding begins, Auntie Urs?
Ursula:
May 15: A Third Way, Part II: Even if You Don't Win a Lot, You Might Win a Full Wine Cellar
And don't forget, Uncle Fritz, Viking is offering the evening's top bidder at each event their choice of a Professional or Designer series, full-height Viking Wine Cellar, which the Napa Valley Vintners thoughtfully have already stocked - instant wine cellar! Either model stores up to 150 bottles. How's that for sweetening the deal?
For those interested in attending a Bidding Party click here.
Fritz:
May 15: A Third Way to E-Auction
Everyone probably knows they can bid online or attend Auction Napa Valley and bid on the E-Auction lots at the event, but there's a third way people can experience the E-Auction…at least for those of our readers who are in the Los Angeles or New York City areas: the Napa Valley Vintners, and their partner for this event, Viking Range Corporation, are hosting Bidding Parties in both cities on June 1.
Auntie Urs will be at the NYC event, which will be held at Gordon Ramsay in The London NYC. There will be kiosks for bidding, screens for watching the action, vintners personally pouring the evening's libations and chef Gordon Ramsay and his crew will be whipping up some hors d' elights. And at the LA event, at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, the executive chefs from six Ritz properties will prepare the evening's hors d'oeuvres for moi and the other partygoers.
Ursula:
May 8: Eat, Drink and Live La Vida Vino
Well, that's a more G-rated analogy than I was thinking, but i'll go with it for the sake of this online shared journal we'll do for the next month.
You know, as I looked through these again, there's really something for every kind of wine lover: for the wine geek, there are wine collections by sub-appellation and variety, large-format bottles, verticals and every other sort of configuration possible; for those who like the idea of living la vida vino, there are all sorts of stays at wineries (from overnight to a week), taking part in harvest and creating your own wines, and private dinners (from casual to elegant) with some of the Valley's movers and shakers; and for the thrill-seekers, there are special tours, a private photo workshop, a hike, cooking classes, an outdoor movie viewing and even a shopping spree (love it!). And, of course, no matter which lot you pick, there's plenty of Napa Valley wine included in the deal.
Fritz:
May 1: What a tease...
I don't know about you, Auntie Urs, but having the preview for the Auction Napa Valley E-Auction open today is at once exciting - in that we're finally able to unveil the lots - but also feels like being a kid in a candy store with allowance still days away. But check it out: there are photos to for you visual people and lot descriptions for the more detail oriented. Click here to press your nose against this veritable candy case!
