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Online bidders compete for Napa Valley wines

"The wine industry is sexy. The dynamite thing is, the better we do, the more money goes to charities."

Rick Barsotti, Groove Eleven creative agency staffer

Bidders from as far away as China and Australia are competing online for Napa Valley wines and personal lessons from vintners as the Internet turns a local charity auction into a global event.

The showdown in the Napa Valley Vintners Association auction was scheduled to take place yesterday, when wine-lovers were to gather at Trinchero Family Estates to test their wills and their wallets against those participating online.

"The vision is to combine the technology of Silicon Valley with the elegance and beauty of Napa Valley," said Rick Barsotti of Groove Eleven, the California "experimential creative agency" behind the technology for the event.

"The places aren't really that far apart. It is exciting. The wine industry is sexy. The dynamite thing is, the better we do, the more money goes to charities," he said.

The association dabbled with an Internet component to the auction last year.

This year, it shifted to a Web-based focus that pits local bidders against competition worldwide.

Within six hours of the launch of the "E-auction" at www.napavintners.com on May 25, bids arrived for each of the 75 lots and 1,200 people were bidding online as of Thursday, Terry Hall of the vintners association said.

"You get that global feel," Barsotti said. "When we show the leader board you might see someone from St. Helena [California] leading on one lot and someone from Tokyo leading on another."

"E-auction" bids tallied approximately US$210,000 and were expected to surge as people at Trinchero vied with online rivals in the final phase of bidding, which ended yesterday.

"We are using audio visual and everything to generate excitement here about what's hot and what's jumping," Barsotti said.

"You'll have people bidding from home in their pajamas or from work," he said.

Bidders at Trinchero will have the advantage of tasting wines.

Online bids have been made from Shanghai, Tokyo, the UK and Australia, Hall said.

"The online auction continues to gain momentum," Hall said. "It is a great way to engage people from around the world that normally wouldn't come to Napa Valley in the first week of June."

Proceeds from the annual event go to an array of local charities including youth services, affordable housing, and medical care, Hall said.

"It is cool that people are picking it up around the world," Hall said.

"Even though charity auctions aren't necessarily a place to get bargains, it is a trusted source for wine because you're buying it from the vintner," he said.

Wine lots being offered at E-auction have been spiced up with additions such as "boot camps" with vintners, mud baths, a helicopter tour of Napa and cooking lessons from the Cakebread Cellars culinary director.

The bulk of money raised will come from an offline-only auction a day after the E-auction lots are sold, Hall said.

Live auction lots include private jet trips with Napa vintners to international locales.
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