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Napa Valley winery raises $500,000 to put low-income students through college

16 December 2022 By Eloise Feilden

Last weekend, Napa Valley wine label Vida Valiente raised US$535,000 at its first annual auction which was hosted to raise money for first-generation low-income students at California’s Stanford University.

Image of The Movement Cabernet Sauvignon: Napa Valley winery raises $500,000 to put low-income students through college

The Vida Valiente Foundation is partially funded by its eponymous Napa Valley winery’s flagship wine – a Cabernet Sauvignon blend called The Movement, created winemaker Sam Kaplan.

The wine retails for $250 a bottle, and $100 from each bottle sale directly supports the Vida Valiente Foundation.

Partnering with Stanford University, the foundation has already raised over one million dollars since its 2021 founding, which currently supports its first class of 33 low-income Stanford students for four full years.

“We are deeply humbled and gratified by what Vida Valiente was able to accomplish this past weekend,” said Susana Cueva Drumwright, CEO and co-founder of the Vida Valiente Foundation. “It was a thrill to debut not only a world-class annual wine experience, but also establish an annual cycle of giving that will have a lasting impact on dozens, soon hundreds, and ultimately thousands of low-income, first-generation students.”

The Napa Valley vintner is the first-generation daughter of South American immigrants. She and her husband Hayes Drumwright conceived both the Vida Valiente Winery and its foundation to support students of a similar background.

“Our Vida Valiente scholars are persevering through demanding schedules, leaving their communities for the first time, while, in many cases, worrying constantly about how their families will get by financially without their help,” Cueva Drumwright said in her auction welcome speech. “Our financial support is set up to make it possible for students to not have to worry about working so that they can focus on their studies.”

Husband Hayes Drumwright added: “With the $500,000 raised this weekend in addition to the self-sustaining funds from our wines, our goal is to help 100 students in the next two years.”

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