At the Hospices of Sonoma Auction on Saturday, the spotlight was on a woman
swinging from a trapeze. And, of course, on the pinot noir.
The auction’s theme was ”Pinot Rouge,” and organizers sought to transform
the Kaiser Air hangar at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport into Wine
Country’s version of the Parisian cabaret Moulin Rouge, built in 1889.
Aside from the trapeze artist, there were dancers, an accordion player, ice
sculptures of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe and French-inspired
appetizers: Andante Minuet tartlets and the Gougere pastries.
About 500 pinot noir followers converged to sip barrel samples of the 2007
vintage, but they apparently weren’t as enthusiastic about bidding. Early
tabulations revealed the auction — with its new silent bidding format —
raised about $224,000, down from last year’s take of $450,000.
Jane Young, the auction organizer, said she had some regrets about the new
format. ”It didn’t yield the results we expected,” she said. ”We thought
there would be more activity this year.”
The intent was to give the event broader consumer appeal by allowing people
to bid on lots as small as one case, down from last year’s five-case minimum.
”We’ll have to give this some serious consideration, and we’ll probably go
back to the live-auction format,” Young said.
The event is billed as America’s largest pinot noir barrel tasting and
auction. It featured 35 Sonoma County producers and tickets cost $150.
Asked if she thought the location hindered bidding, Young said, ”I think
it was the date more than anything. We had a lot of competition from other
Wine Country events.”
Lauren and Garnet Kanouse of San Francisco said they weren’t put off by the
setting.
”It wouldn’t have mattered where it was,” Garnet Kanouse said. ”It’s a
great concept for a great cause.” Lauren added, ”My only complaint is that
it was difficult to follow how the process worked.”
The bids were tracked on big white boards at the front of the room, and the
top lot was from Kosta Browne Winery of Sebastopol, which raised $10,000 for a
five-case lot and a high of $2,000 a case for its remaining lots.
There was a brief live-auction segment involving four lots. The highest bid
was $4,600 for 35 magnums from all the boutique producers pouring at the
auction. Jim Hofmockel from Glenview, Ill., bid on behalf of Ray Brown of
Highpointe Consulting in Chicago, one of the event’s sponsors. ”It’s a
bargain for this great wine,” he said.
The magnums were produced from rich pinot appellations — the Russian River
Valley, Sonoma Coast, Green Valley and Sonoma County’s Carneros region.
Hospices of Sonoma, celebrating its fifth year, is the brainchild of Brice
Jones, vintner of Emeritus Vineyards in Sebastopol. The event — which focuses
entirely on pinot noir — is modeled after Hospices de Beaune in Burgundy,
France, which also showcases the latest vintage of pinot noir. The historic
auction raises money for the Hospices de Beaune hospital, which was founded in
1443.
The money raised at Hospices of Sonoma will be funneled to local charities
such as the Children’s Village of Sonoma County and the Okizu Foundation, a
Novato-based nonprofit that provides support to families affected by childhood
cancer.
Peg Melnik can be reached at 521-5310 or at peg.melnik@
pressdemocrat.com.
Dining and Cooking