The money is going to Sonoma County charities focused on literacy, education, health and human services, the environment, and arts and culture.
The auction tent buzzed with excitement with two lots that tied for the top lots of the day: Lot 11 “Winner’s Circle Escape to the Kentucky Derby” donated by Barbara Banke, Stonestreet Farms, and Jackson Family Wines for $210,000 that also doubled; and Lot 23 “Everything is Better with Bette: A Hello Dolly Adventure to New York” donated by Williams Selyem, Dr. Jeffrey P. Hays, and Mrs. Carole Shorenstein Hays which also sold for $210,000 and doubled.
Always a special moment in the annual auction, the highest grossing lot of the day was the Fund the Future lot, which raised $1.8 million for literacy programs in Sonoma County.
“We are grateful to the generous bidders who attended the Sonoma County Wine Auction and enthusiastically supported our beneficiary partners,” said Banke, the 2017 Sonoma County Wine Auction Chair, and Chairman & Proprietor of Jackson Family Wines. “Improving literacy rates among children is the key to building a successful, sustainable community. Our goal is for every child in Sonoma County to be reading proficiently by the third grade and today’s support of our innovative literacy programs was a big step toward supporting that goal. In addition, our Community Grants program changes lives in the areas of health and human services, environment, and arts and culture.”
Shining a light on the caliber of Sonoma’s most highly-regarded and elusive wines, the top wine-only lot today was Lot 19, a six-bottle collection of rare large-format Kosta Browne 2014 single-vintage Pinot Noirs, which sold for $37,000.