As Reported by Wine & Spirits Daily -

HART DAVIS HART WINE ACUTION REALIZES OVER $11M

In the Chicago this weekend Hart Davis Hart Wine Company sold one of the largest single-owner wine collections to date. The Fox Cellar, whose pre-sale estimate was $6.8-$10.2 million, exceeded expectations with $11,160,583 realized, becoming the fourth largest wine auction in history, and the largest cellar sold so far in 2008. 100% of the 1746 lots on offer sold.

An "unprecedented" selection of Château Lafite-Rothschild realized $1,819,627 against a pre-sale estimate of $1,067,200-1,598,700. The price achieved by the first lot of a seven case parcel of 1982 Château Lafite-Rothschild beat the world record for the wine. It sold to a Chinese bidder in the room for $54,970 against an estimate of $20,000-30,000. A case of 1982 Lafite sold for $46,000 (aggregate $54,970).

Large selections of wines from Haut-Brion, Latour, Margaux, Pétrus, and Domaine de la Romanée -Conti all soared over their respective pre-sale high estimates. The average lot value in the sale exceeded $6300 per lot over 1746 lots.

Bidders traveled to Chicago from 40 states as well as Australia, Europe, Canada and Asia to attend the acution which took place at Tru restaurant.

"During these times of uncertainty in the financial markets, the relationships that we have built over decades with buyers from all over the world are invaluable, and the results bear this out," said chairman John Hart in a statement. "I am thrilled for the consignor, and so proud of our team at Hart Davis Hart."

Team Chateau Julien raised $8,324.00 for the Best Buddies program through donations raised by our team. The most money was raised by our Manager of Wine Collector programs, Melinda Klescewski. The bike run was from Chateau Julien Wine Estate to Hearst Castle - a 100 mile trip. All ten of the group participated in the run.

Well, the father and son team from Chateau Julien Wine Estate worked together at Max's Restaurant in Fresno for a wine magazine event. Son, Bobby, is a student at Fresno State studying Enology.

The fourth annual German Roadshow was held from September 8th through the 12th. We visited Koln and stayed at the local Hotel Lyskirchen - then on to Wiesbaden to stay at the Hotel Hansa (don't stay there) - then on to Stuttgart and the Hotel Maritim (great) and finally on to Muchen and the ACHAT Hotel and back to Frankfurt. As in the past, old supplier friends got together to share notes and enjoy the show. I began to call the show the 24 hours of Roadshow, as we poured wines for 4 days in 6 hour increments. Thanks to Mike and Gunda (our importers - Pacific Wine Company) for putting on the show and we will be back next year for another adventure.
ps - The beer was so heavy it required two hands to lift!

Any Guess on where we are going?

On August 21st, 2008 I had the privilege of appearing on Les Kincaid's Lifestyles show. As some of you remember, in September of 2000 he started a unique wine show with Americas first wine show that has a live audience and tastes wine during the show while interviewing the winery owner (me), winemaker, wine writer, sommelier or master sommelier. I brought our 2007 Reserve Chardonnay, 2005 Reserve Merlot and 2006 Black Nova. The wine and food was a great experience.

I thought I would post a picture taken from last weeks Ocean Avenue Concours by a fan of the wine estate. Next post should be from the Les Kincaid Radio Show in Las Vegas. I look forward to pairing our Chardonnay, Merlot and Black Nova with the restaurant that Les has selected for the event.

Car week on the Monterey Peninsula is 9 days of pure enjoyment for car enthusiasts (no time to post to the blog). From the pre-historic early weekend with FXX and Formula Clienti to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance the week was full of great historic automobiles and just plain fun. I participated in the Ocean Avenue Concours and the Concorso Italiano. In the later, a double podium finish for third overall and Platinum (Best of Class) award. Now for the deserved rest! - forgot - back to work!

While on family holiday - some really good news on Chateau Julien Merlot - our Hallmark product.

It takes a cast of all of our current and past employees to put on the Jamboree. From the days of Edna (past employee) to the newest employee, we all had a great time. Our guests enjoyed fine wine, great food, hat making and music from the Dennis Murphy band!