Who said money is tight? Certainly not the bidders at the 12th annual Mid-Winter Barrel Tasting and Auction at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (CIA) on Saturday.

Despite heavy rains and an otherwise gloomy day, 67 bidders at the Premiere shattered all previous records by shelling out more than $2.2 million for 200 lots of one-of-a-kind wine. Because most are young wines that are still aging, most of the winning bidders won’t even see their purchases for a year or two.

Additionally, the 200 lots represented a 4 percent increase over the 2006 number.Top price for a lot for the day was the $62,000 Susan Owens of Atlanta paid for five cases of Shafer Vineyards Sunspot Cabernet Sauvignon.

Even with the earliest-ever sellout and a number of lots that topped all previous numbers, the new earnings record was something that Premiere organizers hoped for but really didn’t expect.

“Because of the economy, I think everybody’s prepared to not have a record money-wise,” said David Duncan, a chair vintner for this year’s Premiere just before the two-hour auction began. “I hope that people are generous, but we’ll see.”

As, of course, they did.

Duncan reasoned before the auction that whether it set a new money record or not “doesn’t really matter because the wine industry here still has support from around the country and in markets around the world.”

That it had, too, with bidders from Japan and Canada as well as across the breadth of the United States. The top bidder was Gary Fisch of Gary’s Wine and Marketplace in New Jersey. Fisch’s purchase of 30 lots comprising 200 cases of wine for $429,000 more than doubled the amount committed by the next highest bidder, Mark Steven Pope, CEO of the Bounty Hunter in Napa.

. . . And Pope set an all-time personal record for purchases, spending $189,000.

“I publish the Bounty Hunter catalog and I share these great wines with consumers all over the country,” Pope said. “These people (vintners) are my business partners, the people I do business with. I love them and I love their wines.

“You dance with the girl that brung you to the dance,” he added.

Pope described the Bounty Hunter establishment as a wine bar and high-end bistro and said that he enjoys the Premiere in triplicate because he is a member of the Napa Valley Vintners, a merchant and a vintner.  

Describing his judgments on what lots he bid on, he said, “You have to love the wine, you have to know the producer, and you have to know the grapes. I don’t buy anything I don’t taste.”

A bidder from the Bay Area said he had attended nine of the 12 Premieres, missing it only when his wife gave birth, another year when he attended the Oscar ceremonies and a third year because of illness.

"This the best. In my mind nothing compares to it,” he said. “Well, OK, it’s second to the Oscars.”

It was a day in which the whole range — smallest to largest — of wineries were represented, as well as all the sub-appellations in the Napa Valley Appellation. One winery, in fact, represented all of the sub-appellations in its product.

The winery was originally named 13 Appellations, but with the addition of the Oak Knoll District in 2004, changed it to 14 Appellations. And it actually blends grapes from each appellation, sourcing fruit from more than 40 wineries.

“We put them all together so you can taste the whole of the Napa Valley in one bottle,” bragged Kristi Seitz, one of four partners in the ownership of the winery.

Jeff Hansen, owner of Amici Cellars in Rutherford, said that among the residuals of the event for vintners is “we have people coming up and saying, ‘I’ve had your wine either here or at the Napa Valley Wine Auction. Before, we were trying to get people to us.”

Hansen is attempting to double his sales from 7,000 to 15,000 cases by building a new winery.

“That’s where the good numbers are financially,” he said.

Recognition of Amici wines at the auction have been encouraging to him.

“Every year we’ve gone up in value,” he said. “Last year, I think we were somewhere around $12,000 for a five-case lot. The recognition it brings to our wines is what you always want to attract. Everybody is under one roof rather than me having to go see everybody. There are wine shop owners, baseball players, whatever.”

This last was probably a reference to the presence of former home run record-holder Mark McGwire, who was a face in the crowd of a thousand or so that also featured retailers, restaurateurs, wholesalers, media and vintners, all interacting merrily together.

“I’ve loved wine for 10 years,” the retired slugger said, but he is not just yet ready to get into the wine industry.

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