Napa auction early sell-out encouraging

This year’s early sell-out of the Premiere Napa Valley event is an encouraging sign of the market’s confidence in Napa wines.

The annual Napa Valley barrel tasting and auction event has become the most anticipated trade tasting of the year in the US and takes place this Saturday, 25 February, but was officially sold out by the second week of this month.

As many as 500 of the top retailers, restaurateurs, distributors, brokers, media and other industry professionals in the US – as well as numerous trade from Japan, China, Canada and the UK – will come together at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St Helena, CA to network, taste, and buy Napa Valley wines.

In its sixteenth year, Premiere Napa Valley has become an early market indicator of the trade’s confidence in Napa Valley wines. According to Erle Martin, CEO of Pine Ridge Vineyard and one of this year’s chairs of Premiere Napa Valley 2012, “the early sell-out is encouraging.”

Exclusively for this event, Napa Valley’s winemakers create a unique wine which is something different from their usual house style.

Hence, if a winery generally creates Cabernet Sauvignon wines, they may present a special Syrah or Petit Verdot. For those who make a Bordeaux style blend, they may present a varietal wine or an interesting twist on their usual blend. Some wineries pair up with prominent sommeliers and produce a one-of-a-kind wine. Part of the excitement is seeing the creativity involved.

These wines generally can’t be purchased anywhere else in the world, except through those buyers that purchase the lots at Napa Valley Premiere.

All wines are tasted in barrel and are subsequently bottled after further aging for the winning auction buyer. The event is a fundraiser run by and benefiting the Napa Valley Vintners’ promotion and protection campaigns on behalf of Napa Valley wineries.

We will be on-hand at Premiere Napa Valley 2012 to report on top bidding wars and winning wines of this special Napa Valley event.