America’s largest and most prestigious Pinot Noir barrel auction, Hospices of Sonoma, set a new record Saturday night, raising more than $450,000 for charity. Winning bids at this year’s auction were up an average of 30% over the 2006 event, which earned $350,000.

The top three wine lots were Kosta Browne at a record $24,000 for 10 cases, followed by Freeman Winery at $15,000 and Siduri at $14,300. Rounding out the top five were Emeritus Vineyards and Rutz Cellars.

More than 500 people attended the auction, which was officially sold out for the first time in its four-year history. Held on the Shone Farm Campus of Santa Rosa Junior College in Forestville, the 2007 event featured 38 exclusive half-barrel Pinot Noir blends from the 2006 vintage. Four additional lifestyle lots rounded out the auction. The wine alone raised more than $410,000 of the auction total.

Hospices of Sonoma is modeled after the centuries-old, world famous Hospices du Rhone wine auction in Burgundy, France. The event focuses on premium Pinot Noir produced by the finest winemakers in the Sonoma Coast, Russian River Valley, Green Valley and Sonoma Carneros wine regions.

This year’s beneficiaries are The Okizu Foundation, The Children’s Village of Sonoma County, Barry Zito’s Strikeouts for Troops Foundation and the WCC Charitable Foundation, which organizes the Hospices of Sonoma event.

To be put on the mailing list for the 2008 Hospices of Sonoma, please contact jane@hospicesofsonoma.org. Web site: www.hospicesofsonoma.org.

Posted: 04|24|07 at 8:52 am. Filed under: Press Release.