The Naples (Florida) Winter Wine Festival will offer an unprecedented auction lot of 100 bottles of 100-point wines at its annual event in January.
Among the wines in the ‘Perfection Lot’ are a 1955 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion, a 1989 Chateau Petrus, and a 1985 Domaine Romanee-Conti valued at more than $11,000.
The wines were rated by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and U.S. magazine Wine Spectator.
‘To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that one hundred 100-point wines have been offered in a single lot at a charity auction or at any type of wine auction,’ said Bruce Sherman, co-chair of the event.
‘The idea germinated between myself and a friend. I viewed it as an engaging challenge, and it was especially meaningful because of the cause – auction proceeds go to help underprivileged and at-risk children.’
Some of the vintners who contributed to the lot and who will attend the event are Ann Colgin, Bill Harlan, Paul Hobbs, Doug Shafer and Christian Moueix.
‘The process of tracking down these special wines was extremely educational,’ added Sherman, a trustee of the Naples Children & Education Foundation, the festival’s founding organization.
‘We learned all about cellaring and took great care that every bottle was perfectly cellared in excellent provenance and perfectly rated so that any re-ratings by wine experts continued to award the wine 100 points.’
Over the last decade, the Naples wine event has raised $82.5 million for local children’s charities.
Written by Janice Fuhrman
