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40 / the tasting panel / april 2014 EVENT WRAP-UP The 2012 Vintage Shines in Napa A MILESTONE FOR PREMIERE NAPA VALLEY by Deborah Parker Wong The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone hosted the Premiere Napa Valley Barrel Tasting and Auction. T wo hundred twenty-five lots of wine—90 percent of which were from the 2012 vintage—propelled the 18th annual trade-only Premiere Napa Valley wine auc- tion, held at the Culinary Institute of America's Greystone campus, to a record- breaking take. Preceded by a week-long parade of preview parties, events designed to give potential bidders the opportunity to evaluate auction lots at their source, Premiere Napa Valley 2014 raked in $5.9 million. The lauded 2012 vintage propelled the average wholesale bottle price to $283, and the enthusiasm of the 73 winning bidders nearly doubled the $3.1 raised at auction last year. Scarecrow Wine was the top lot of the day, going to Los Angeles retailer The Wine House for $260,000. David O'Day, Wine Director and buyer for Dallas-based Del Frisco's Restaurant Group, was one of only a few restaurant buyers among the retailers and wholesal- ers holding a paddle that afternoon. O'Day scored the winning bid of $20,000 for a 60-bottle lot of Mount Brave Cabernet Sauvignon from Mount Veeder. "Cabernet is king at Del Frisco's," said O'Day, "and this is our way of giving back to a winegrowing region that plays such an integral role in our wine program." Though he won't receive delivery of his Mount Brave Premiere lot until the fall of 2015, O'Day's best customers will receive advance notice of the wine's availability in stores, so they'll be able to purchase on a first-come, first-served basis. "There are so many wonderful lots and bidding is always fierce," said O'Day, who attended his first auction in 2012, "but everyone gets to have some fun with it." Save the date for Premiere Napa Valley 2015 which will be co-chaired by Michael Scholz and Emma Swain of St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery on Saturday, February 21. PHOTO: BOB MCCLENAHAN, COURTESY OF NAPA VALLEY VINTNERS The Napa Valley Vintners launched a new program at Premiere this year developed specifically for sommeliers. Twenty sommeliers from across the country convened for a week-long total immersion in Napa Valley wine culture. Some, like Desiree Napolitano Leja, a sommelier at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House in Chicago, earned the right to participate by winning a two-part essay contest sponsored by the Guild of Sommeliers that asked candidates to compare the wines of Napa Valley and Bordeaux. Designed to shed light on the Valley's history, terroir and winemaking, Sommelier Napa Valley brought these curious gate keepers face-to-face with hundreds of winemakers, educators and industry executives during hands-on sessions that included sensory training, blind tasting and a deep dive in to the Valley's geology and geography. The Guild of Sommeliers' Matthew Stamp, MS helped NVV Education Director Michael Cooperman with candidate selection and for many of the participants it was their first visit to Napa Valley. Bay Area Master Sommeliers Geoff Kruth, Larry Stone, Emily Wines, Chris Blanchard and Yoon Ha led seminars that included a behind-the-scenes discussion of business management practices and the diverse roles that sommeliers are called upon to play in today's on-premise world. On the final afternoon, the program culminated in a Spectrum tasting, held at the Hudson House at Beringer Vineyards, that demonstrated the evolution of Napa Valley wine styles across the decades from the 1960s through 2009. The tasting was moderated by Andrea Robinson, MS and presented by a panel of Napa Valley's most influential winemakers, including Tim Mondavi, Anthony Bell, Cathy Corison (who poured her first vintage, a 1986 Kronos from magnum), Drew Johnson, Heidi Barrett, Tony Biagi, Andy Erickson and Celia Welch, whose Scarecrow Wine lot would set a record at auction the following day. Master Sommeliers (left to right) Yoon Ha, Chris Blanchard, Emily Wines, Geoff Kruth and Larry Stone led seminars. PHOTO: DEBORAH PARKER WONG Sommeliers' Scene C M Y CM MY CY CMY K d-TGr-prt-TastingPanel-April2014-fullpgAd-v1.pdf 1 3/17/14 5:08 PM TP0414_034-71.indd 40 3/21/14 2:41 PM