Two Major Auctions Set for Los Angeles

Two major wine auctions are scheduled for Los Angeles later this year, and one of them is the first of a series of wine auctions on the West Coast by the English auction house of Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc.

The Christie auction will be held at the Bel Age Hotel on Saturday, Sept. 23, with Christie’s chief auctioneer, J. Michael Broadbent, at the podium. Broadbent has long headed Christie’s Wine Inc., the division of the firm that stages regular auctions in London. Broadbent was the “voice” of the first six Napa Valley Wine Auctions.

An announcement by Christie’s said that the Los Angeles auction is the first of “what we hope to be a regular series of (wine) auctions on the West Coast.”

The second major auction announced for Los Angeles is to benefit the American Institute of Food and Wine. It is scheduled for Nov. 18 at the Four Seasons Hotel. A major wine-tasting event sponsored by the Meritage Society will be conducted prior to the auction.

The auction is backed by a large committee of Southern California wine collectors. Dennis Foley, who is associated with the San Francisco auction house of Butterfield and Butterfield, will be auctioneer.

For details on the Christie auction, write to Christie’s, 200 W. Superior St., Chicago, Ill. 60610. For details on the auction, write to AIWF, 1550 Bryant Street, San Francisco 94103.

Bob Thompson, wine author for two decades, has been selected to receive the Excellence in Wine Writing Award from Wines & Vines Magazine for 1989.

Thompson, longtime editor with Sunset magazine, has written 24 books, many of them about wine, and writes a wine column for the San Francisco Examiner.

Thompson, who lives in the Napa Valley with his wife, is also one of the nation’s most respected wine competition judges.

Michael Cliff has stepped down as chief executive officer of Vintners International, and Paul Schlem, chairman, has assumed the position. Cliff remains president and a stockholder. Vintners International owns Paul Masson and other brands in California, Taylor/Great Western and other brands in New York, and imports wine from overseas.