Our first-eve, Fall Online Wine Auction was a great success. After holding a Spring Online Auction and In-Person Auction earlier this year, we wanted to see how a Fall Online Auction might fare. And many of you stepped up and clicked the BID button.
The event raised $12,490, excluding auction fees and sales tax and provided dozens of OCWS members with wine for their home cellars. We had over 80 registered bidders, 218 wine lots and experiences available and 33 winners who took home one or more lots. Wine lots sold for $40 to $157. Thank you to our TOP FIVE bidders: Pamela Howard, Matthew Hyland, Brenden Richard, Bob Soule and John Kienstra.
As part of our second-largest fundraiser of the year, the Wine Auction offers our members the opportunity to buy great California wines at a fraction of retail prices. It also helps empty our cellar in preparation for the 2027 OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition, just eight months away. Auction proceeds help cover the costs of our educational programming, Scholarship Program and the Commercial Wine Competition, which is FREE for wineries to enter. We are one of the only free wine competitions, removing the entry fee barrier and making it easier for small and new wineries to participate. In lieu of entry fees, wineries provide three or six bottles per entry, depending on their annual production, giving OCWS the opportunity to share these wines with the public at the OC Fair.
Beyond the wine lots offering in the Online Wine Auction, standout offerings included custom-etched 50th anniversary wine glasses from John Lane, an in-home tasting from Wine Guy & Wine Gal, and a tasting and wine package from Larkmead Vineyards. Thank you to our generous wine experience and specialty item donors: Wine Guy & Wine Gal Family Wines from Sonoma, Larkmead Vineyards, Booker Vineyard, Kelly Haggard, Cathy and Lee Painter, John Lane and Carolyn and Damian Christian.
The Online Auction has proven to be a successful event for OCWS and we plan to continue it in 2027. But fear not, the In-Person Wine Auction will still be held in the spring as always. Stay tuned for more details.
The Online Wine Auction, like all our events, would not be possible without great volunteers. Thank you to those who served on this small but mighty committee: Chris and Hank Bruce, Damian Christian, John Kienstra, Don Mayer, Cathy and Lee Painter, Rochelle Randel and Peter Schlundt Bodien.
Until next time!
—Carolyn Christian, Event Chair