Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/688647
{ SOMMjournal.com } 77 Valley's brand new facility at the south end of the Valley, near the Oregon border. There's a fire pit at the edge of a vineyard, cornhole being thrown on the crush pad and a rock band set up atop a goose - neck trailer. Walla Walla Chef Andrae Bopp carves a roasted pig while wine from Amavi, Dunham Cellars, Dusted Valley and Pepper Bridge flows freely. Later, other winemakers from the Valley appear to plunk magnums and unique bottles down among guests grilling s'mores. All this partying, and the auction hasn't even hap - pened yet. Monday morning arrives under bright sunshine. Downtown, at The Marcus Whitman Hotel, barrel tast - ing is underway and buyers have gotten serious. Each of the 38 of the auction wines has been made—or pulled from the barrel room—special and won't be otherwise available to consumers: Buy the lot and you're the only one who will have it. The wines are all 2014 vintage reds made from Walla Walla Valley grapes, and that youth makes most of them tight, yet the fruit consistently shows through. Bidders sip and spit in earnest. Yashar Shayan, somme - lier and owner of online retail wine shop ImpulseWines.com, circles the room taking notes. He may be at Reveal, he says, for the opportunity to get exclusive, limited-production wines that can't be found anywhere else, but he's also looking for value. By that he means exceptional wines that will be worth their price tag. So, he travels among the tables tasting one-of-a-kind reds he's never sampled before from win - eries he already knows well. After barrel tasting, whites and rosés and other non-auction wines appear alongside lunch at Whitehouse Crawford, then it's off to the auction. Auctioneer Ursula Hermacinski stands on a black stage surrounded by the brick walls of Walla Walla's Powerhouse Theater with gavel in hand. In the far corner a corps of buyers huddles over a planned group bid. Near the back of the room Oklahoman Robert Merrifield, chef and owner of Tulsa's Polo Grill, sits with his wife, Donna, paddle in hand. Winemakers are scattered throughout—near the front Nina Buty is a few seats away from Honorary Chairs Gary Figgins, founder of Leonetti, and Rick Small, of Woodward Canyon; Otis Kenyon's Muriel Kenyon is seated mid-theater; other winemakers lean against the balcony railing. Hermacinski explains the rules to the audience and the bidders and then she's off. The first lot—60 bot - tles of a Cabernet–Merlot–Cabernet Franc blend by L'Ecole No 41—goes quickly for $2,600, prompting "We're star ting with a homerun" from Hermacinski. Soon, a 2014 Cabernet Franc that was "discovered" in barrel in the cellar at Abeja jumps from $2,400 to $6,000 with one proxy phone call. Not all the 38 lots fair as well, but buyers say that that was to be expected. "We went thinking in we might be able to sneak some goodies out of there, and sure enough we were able to," said Merrifield. "The deals were a one-time thing I think." In the end, the Tulsa chef walked away with a whopping 11 lots, including Sleight of Hand, Pepper Bridge, Leonetti and Buty. That's a boon for diners at Polo Grill, where Merrifield keeps one list dedicated exclusively to auction wines. He has 147 unique labels from Premiere Napa Valley, nearly 20 from Sonoma's auction, and soon 11 from Walla Walla's Reveal. Merrifield is hoping to show off one of the Reveal wines—the College Cellars and Amavi collaborative lot—by hosting a joint dinner between student chefs from the Oklahoma State University School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration and the wine's makers, who are students in Walla Walla Community College's Viticulture and Enology program. Anyone eating at Polo Grill will be able to order one of Merrifield's Reveal wines, but not all Reveal wines will be so broadly distributed. Impulse's Shayan, who put together a group bid that walked away with the Woodward Canyon, Cadaretta and àMaurice lots, is still deciding how he'll distribute. He might offer all the wines in one email, or dole them out special, targeting an exclusive offer for the àMaurice to customers who have purchased àMaurice wines from him in the past, for example. Kathryn House, who runs a wine educa - tion lab out of Boise, Idaho, plans to use her portion of the three lots for education, and will pour them for special events. Reveal may have been serious business—the 38 lots sold for a combined $86,500—but it was not all work. There was Sunday's party and pig roast, and auction night closes at Dunham Cellars as winemakers and bidders mingle. At a standup table, Muriel Kenyon and Nina Buty play "name that wine" with the Merrifields, each person pouring a blind taste for the rest of the table to sample. Donna Merrifield taking notes at Barrel Tasting at Marcus Whitman Hotel and Conference Center. Auctioneer Ursula Hermacinski in action. PHOTOS: WALLA WALLA VALLEY WINE ALLIANCE/RICHARD DUVAL IMAGES