June 24, 1981
WINE TALK
ST. HELENA, Calif. AWINE merchant from Syracuse has purchased a 12—
bottle case of California red wine that has no name and that he has never tasted for $24,000,
the highest sum ever recorded for an American wine.
In a tense and dramatic moment at an auction here, Charles F. Mara held his bidding paddle aloft in
sweltering heat under a huge white tent and staved off all other competitors to become the purchaser of
the case of cabernet sauvignon of the 1979 vintage.
Disbelief was evident on the faces of other participants and observers as the price level soared quickly past
$10,000, with half a dozen bidders still competing. When the auctioneer, Michael Broadbent of Christie's in London,
rapped his gavel at $24,000, applause and cheers erupted, and Mr. Mara appeared shaken. The early betting was that
the wine might bring perhaps $3,000, with an outside chance that it might rise to $10,000.
The wine had aroused intense interest from dealers and collectors because it was from the first vintage of a joint wine-making venture involving Robert Mondavi, a prominent California producer, and Baron Philippe de Rothschild, proprietor of Chateau Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux.
The wine was given the provisional name of "Napamedoc"for the purpose of the auction catalogue, but Mr. Mondavi and Baron Philippe have yet to decide on a formal name. The term cabernet sauvignon refers only to the wine's variety.
In a decision that aroused controversy here, Mr. Mondavi refused to allow anybody to taste the wine prior to the auction. He said he and Baron Philippe had agreed that there would be no tasting until some future date as yet undecided. Moreover, the wine will not even be released to the buyer until the end of 1983 at the earliest.
"Anybody who would buy a wine without tasting has got to be crazy," Mr. Mondavi told a questioner just before the auction began. Mr. Mara and other bidders considered the wine extremely attractive, however, because never before had two such prominent wine makers from opposite sides of the Atlantic coordinated their talents and resources to produce what they hope will be one of the best American wines ever made. Moreover, the auction, which took place Sunday, was the first commercial offering of the new wine, so the buyer automatically became the first owner other than the producers.
The event, billed as the First Annual Napa Valley Wine Auction at the Meadowood Country Club here, was held to benefit two local hospitals and to call attention to Napa wines. Forty-four Napa producers contributed wine, but everyone knew as soon as the catalogue was published that the Napamedoc would be the focal point. Some 300 dealers, merchants, restaurateurs and private collectors from all over the country were here for the sale, but Mr. Mara knew from the beginning that he would be the purchaser.
Two years ago he established a world record price for a single bottle of wine when he paid $28,000 for a Chateau Lafite 1806 at an auction in Chicago. That record was broken a year later when John Grisanti, a restaurateur from Memphis, paid $31,000 for a Chateau Lafite 1822 at another auction.
Mr. Mara, Mr. Mondavi and other participants in the auction here are convinced that the extraordinary prices paid for the Napamedoc and other California wines Sunday demonstrated that California had arrived at a quality level equivalent to the best wines of Europe. Most connoisseurs have been aware for some time that certain California wines match the best European wines, but never before had the prices of California wines been driven to such high levels at an auction.
Some 600 lots were sold here, and prices in general exceeded expectations. In the early bidding, for example, a jeroboam of a 1969 cabernet sauvignon made by Chappellet Vineyards was sold for $6,000 to Alex Dierkhising of the Silverado Tavern in nearby Calistoga. A jeroboam is equivalent to six regular bottles, so this fell short of Mr. Mara's $24,000 for 12 regular bottles.
Michael Goldstein of Park Avenue Liquors in New York paid $3,000 for a case of the Mayacamas cabernet sauvignon 1970. A barrel, holding 20 cases, of Caymus Vineyards cabernet sauvignon special selection 1976 brought $8,160.
But most of the bidders knew that the Napamedoc would be the No. 1 item. Two thousand cases have been made, and Mr. Mondavi agreed to offer the first barrel, or 20 cases, for sale at the auction. The bidders were intent on buying the first case of the barrel, for only then could they become the first purchasers of the new wine, which would give their stores or restaurants or distributorships status.
After Mr. Mara, who is 33 years old, bought the first case for $24,000 for his store, the Green Hills Liquor Supermarket in Syracuse, prices dropped quickly for the rest of the barrel. But this did not faze Mr. Mara, who did not even bid on any of the others.
"I wanted the first," he said. "I didn't care about the others." The same was true of Mel Dick, of Southern Wine and Spirits, a distributorship based in Miami, who dropped out at $23,000, yielding the Napamedoc to Mr. Mara at the next higher increment in the bidding scale. Mr. Dick also did not buy any of the other lots of the same wine. The total purchase price for all 20 cases in the barrel amounted to $62,200, by far the most ever paid for a barrel of California wine.
Afterward, Mr. Mara was asked to explain how he rationalized paying so much. "To expose California to people," he replied. He said he would probably uncork the wine at a dinner to benefit a charity in central New York some time in the mid-1980's. The old Lafite was ceremoniously opened at such an event at Pierce's 1894 Restaurant in Elmira Heights, N.Y., last year.
How soon Mr. Mara himself will be able to sample his acquisition is uncertain. Mr. Mondavi said he and Baron Philippe had an agreement that no one would taste the new wine until its completion. It is now aging in French oak barrels in Mr. Mondavi's winery.
Mr. Mondavi himself left for a vacation in the Greek islands immediately after the auction, while Michael and Timothy Mondavi, his sons, were attempting to reach Baron Philippe in Bordeaux by telephone to ask whether Mr. Mara might have a taste. |