Wine Auction Brings Record $1-Million Bid
Cheers rang out and corks popped as the Napa Valley Wine Auction set a record Saturday of $1 million for a single lot.
The winning bid came on a winemaker-for-a-year lot put up by the Napa Valley Vintners Assn., sponsors of the event, which raises money for health care, housing and youth agencies.
The $1-million lot was one of the more unusual items of the day, coming with five tons of grapes, a winemaker to make as many as 300 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon, bottles, labels and a marketing and promotion team ready to devise a sales plan.
Businessman John Gorman, visiting from Austin, Texas, had the winning bid with $320,000.
The amount hit $1 million courtesy of the Trinchero family, longtime Napa Valley winemakers.
The Trincheros had promised to match any bid up to $1 million, for a possible $2 million total.
The bidding didn’t get that high, but they raised the amount to $1 million anyway.
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