The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) nonprofit wine trade association announced that 25 of the lots featured at this year’s Premiere Napa Valley barrel tasting and futures auction will be offered exclusively online. Bidding for the new E-Premiere Napa Valley Online Auction opens at 8 a.m. (pacific) on February to pre-registered licensees anywhere in the world.
Produced by NVV-member winemakers in quantities as small as 60 and never more than 240 bottles, the Premiere Napa Valley portfolio showcases some of Napa Valley’s rarest and highest quality commercially available wines. Descriptions detailing the lineage of this year’s 225 unique lot offerings can be previewed online. As part of the 20th annual Premiere Napa Valley, the NVV is introducing the sale of 25 PNV lots exclusively online. The other 200 lots will go on the auction block at the sold-out event taking place at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone on February 20.
Premiere Napa Valley is open only to licensed members of the wine trade who buy these singular Napa Valley wines for their top customers and discerning wine collectors. Retailers, restaurateurs, hoteliers, club managers, and wholesalers represent the breadth of key fine wine professionals that will gather in America’s leading wine region in mid-February for what has become widely known as “the best week in the Napa Valley wine business.” The days leading up to Premiere Napa Valley are filled with education and networking events allowing members of the wine trade to spend personal time with Napa Valley winery owners and winemakers.
“Premiere Napa Valley is our vintners’ chance to color outside the lines by creating a wine we’ve always wanted to make, one time only, specifically for this event,” notes Doug Shafer of Shafer Vineyards and 2016 Premiere Napa Valley steering committee chair. “We then get the chance to share that wine with our friends in the wine trade who in turn pass these one-of-a-kind treasures to their valued customers.”
The uniqueness of each Premiere Napa Valley wine is derived from many facets of Napa Valley winemaking passions: specific vineyard, block and even grapevine row selections; the expression of particular grape varieties found in varying soil types, elevations and microclimates; the characteristics of Napa Valley’s 16 nested appellations; blends of wine not otherwise available; a particular fermentation or aging protocol; novel collaborations between noted winemakers and more. Each bottle of Premiere Napa Valley wine is hand-labeled, individually numbered and signed by the winemaker, creating additional depth to the collectability of these distinctive wines.
For members of the trade not able to attend the Premiere Napa Valley event, electronic bidding will be open to pre-registered licensees anywhere in the world from from 8 a.m. on February 19 through 6 p.m. on February 20. Wine lovers seeking to obtain these rare examples of Napa Valley winemaking innovation and creativity for their own cellars have several options to purchase: wines that have already been released from previous Premiere Napa Valley auctions are noted on the website along with the wine purveyor’s contact information. Consumers interested in purchasing futures that will be sold in February 2016 can contact their favorite retailer or other wine trade professional to bid on their behalf.
