Napa Valley Vintners and Zachys: Direct from the Cellar Auction

Zachys Wine Auctions and Napa Valley Vintners are producing an auction of 100 “winery-direct” rare wines and experiences directly to the world’s California wine lovers.

To support the activities of the more than 550 member vintners, the auction will feature lots direct from the cellars of Napa Valley’s most prestigious wineries including Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Opus One, Shafer Vineyards. Chappellet, Thomas Rivers Brown, Freemark Abbey, Ovid, Arietta and Stag’s Leap. These are just a few of the participating wineries full listings can be found in the digital catalogue here.

All of the lots consist of “back-vintage” wines, unavailable elsewhere. Many of the lots consist of large format bottles, verticals of multiple vintages, and exclusive tastings (virtually or in person when allowed) of top Napa wines directly with the winemakers.

Why is Napa Valley Vintners hosting this auction, in conjunction with Zachys?

Auctions are an effective way to raise funds for worthy causes. The effects of both Covid-19, travel restrictions, restaurant closures and the California wildfires have been difficult on the wine industry, but the NVV’s goals are the same as they’ve been since 1944: to champion Napa as the world’s premier wine region, and to provide leadership in solving community issues in the Napa Valley.

To pursue their mission in 2021, Zachys seemed like the obvious choice.

Zachys is a third-generation wine business with offices in New York, DC, Napa, Paris, Stockholm, London, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. Zachys is also the top auction house in the world–but that doesn’t mean every bottle they sell is a collector’s item. Indeed, wine auctions are the ideal to pick up perfectly aged wines starting at under $50–and of course ranging all the way to $100,000! Every lot in this auction has a starting bid of $500 and the house won’t be charging a buyer’s premium.

President of Zachys, Jeff Zacharia, says, “it has been a difficult year for many winemakers so we are delighted to work with the NVV to bring our commercial auction know-how to such a worthy cause. And of course–there will be no Buyer’s Premium for this auction. It’s not often that wineries open up their cellars and offer gems as rare of these–not to mention the donation of the winemakers’ time with some of these amazing tastings! I’m already jealous of the winning bidders!”

Linda Reiff, President and CEO of Napa Valley Vintners adds, “Wines from Napa Valley stand for the highest quality. For more than 150 years, our wineries have balanced tradition with innovation in their quest to make world class wines and have cultivated a spirit of collaboration that is represented in this spectacular collection.”

To see a full list of the lots and to bid, visit auction.zachys.com

The auction is open for bidding on February 11 and will close with a live-streamed auction at 3pm PST on February 20th.