The State - News from June 20, 1988

About 1,300 wine lovers, merchants, restaurant owners and collectors spent more than $440,000 during the eighth Napa Valley Wine Auction in St. Helena, an event that also commemorated the 150th year of winegrowing in the valley north of San Francisco. The money will be donated to two valley hospitals and a clinic. Robert C. Powell, a business executive from Sacramento, was the top bidder for a single lot, paying $13,000 for a 20-case barrel of Domaine Mumm champagne. The highest bid for a single bottle, $12,000 paid by a Kansas executive, went for a salmanazar of 1985 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon. The huge bottle holds the equivalent of 12 standard wine bottles.