Anyone ever donate wines to a charity auction?

WINE TALK
1

Does anyone have any stories or experience to share regarding donating wines to a charity auction?

I’m in charge of procuring wines for a silent auction event this winter. I’ve coordinated charity wine auctions before, but not with the benefit of asking the Berserkers board first. [berserker.gif]

To those who have coordinated or donated to similar events before, what kind of wines/producers were popular with the “average” auction-goer?

Background info, if it helps:
– The event is a “resort casual” concert and dinner with silent auction. It’s the second one for this charity. I was not the coordinator last year, but I donated from my cellar.

– About 800 people are expected to attend. Lots of deep pockets. Some wine geeks will be there, too, but they’ll be in the minority.

– Last year, most of the wines were Cabs and/or Californian. Nearly all sold at or above fair market value, so it might be good to expand a bit but not stray too far from the winning formula. The average FMV was $100, with a high of $225 and a low of $45. The most popular wines last year were a Kapcsandy Cab Grand Vin and a Pride Cab Reserve (sorry, Steve Saxon and Bob Wood!).

It’s not necessarily an event where people are expecting First Growth Bordeaux or Grand Cru Burgundy, but I’d still like to compile a nice collection of about 50-75 wines.

Thank you!

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I have donated to charity events many times. For the average event, known names such as Silver Oak, Silverado, Mondavi usually do well with the average auction participant. I am surprised that Kapscandy when high at your auction. So I suspect that there are some geeks present.

3

Thanks, Harry. Of the “Old Guard,” we’ve fared well before with Silver Oak, Montelena, and Beringer PR. Will have to add Mondavi and Silverado.

Have you tried donating foreign wines and if so, were those successful? Italian wines have done well in my area before. I’m wondering if it’s worth trying to find some moderately priced Bordeaux, or maybe some CdP or German Riesling … or if that would just be a wasted effort.

I, too, was surprised that the Kapcsandy went for full value. I didn’t see who won that bottle, but it was likely one of the geeks. [tease.gif] On the other hand, I did speak with the woman who paid full value for the Pride, and she bid on it without knowing a single thing about the producer or the wine. Good for the auction results, but kinda [scratch.gif] otherwise.

4

At my kid’s recent school auction, they aggregated all the wine donations into one “cellar” of, IIRC, something like 80 wines. Very California cab heavy. Nothing obscure. Similar to other silent auctions I’ve seen. I agree that you should probably stick to well-known labels for maximum exposure.

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I’ve donated to and attended many. The key is the audience. When its the local school charities, the attendees are mostly parents and aren’t going to bid above retail price and try to get any “known high end” wines dirt cheap. Many high end wines aren’t even recognized by the attendees. I walk away with very good wines at reasonable prices just to get the bids up. Setting an appropriate minimum bid helps to eliminate the non-bidders.

Will it be all silent auction or a combination of silent and live for the grand lot?

At a couple events with silent auctions, I walked around and wrote tasting notes on some of the bid sheets. Those wines went for the higher amounts, so some info/salesmanship will generally increase interest and bid amounts.

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I have found two strategies to be really successful at raising maximum $ for charity. 1. big bottles sell! 2. An aggregate that lets the buyer sample wines sells i.e. 6 high end California pinots ( we did 1 bottle of Kistler, Kosta Browne, Rhys, etc)

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A few tax considerations (thanks, maureen!):

The donor can only write off the lesser of their cost basis or the fair market value (FMV). So if I get all noble and donate my last bottle of 1982 Mouton, I get a tax write-off of $60.

The buyer can only write off what they pay above the fair market value. So if my donated '82 Mouton sells for only $950(i.e., less than the FMV), the buyer should not claim any tax write-off!!!

As a frequent donor to charitable wine auctions, I have focused on auctions where the bidders will go well above the FMV, but it’s really too tax inefficient to make sense for a charitable donor of modest means.

8

Randy,

It’s a silent auction. In general and going by past experience, the guests do like the known, big producers but also buy outside their familiarity level. Most of them are just looking for good wines, period. It’s the type of crowd that knows the Silver Oaks and Caymuses and may not know the Kapcsandys and Maybachs – but are interested in trying the latter and will bid aggressively if they know the wine is good (i.e. by reading tasting notes displayed with the wines).

Should I stick to all/mostly domestic wines?

I’m just trying to ensure that I procure what people want and not simply what my own palate prefers.

9

I donate 2-3 times a year to our local high school band fund raiser and local “Make A Wish”
The high school fund raiser is a Wine and Jazz fest so many of the bidders are also the local winemakers.
I’ve usually donated “birth year” wines of the 4 classes (this year 1994, 95, 96 and 97) Napa cabs. What sold well were Ch Montelena, Spottswoode, and things like that which have good recogntion and nice tasting notes. The Montelana got the most action, someone got a great deal on a 94 Fisher and 95 Pine Ridge.

I’ve also done flights like old world samplers: A BDX, A Brunello, a Port and Reisling. The last sampler I did hammered at over $550 so I was happy, had a 95 Lynch, 98 Brunello, 85 Fonseca, 04 JJ Christoffell *** Auslese.

Big bottles and highly recognized wines do well. I try to keep it below 75-100/bottle.

I also use it as an excuse to invite a few friends to hear my kids play jazz, sponsor a table and bring a few bottles to share.

10

As others have said, “know your crowd”, I recently organized a silent auction for my kids school in Houston. The wines were mostly Cali cabs and all sold above their high estimates. I was amazed how well they sold.I wrote detailed tasting notes, cepage info, drinking window, market price and photos for all the wines and I think it helped. It was a full page per wine. Fairly large font mind you!

If you want to do something non Cali Cab I would suggest a mixed case ( or half case) of something like 2000 bdx. Well known and a great year. Good Luck

Brodie

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I donate quite often. I have found that wines with high scores from Parker or Wine Spectator do very well, but at these events, unless there are knowledgeable wine enthusiasts, people don’t want to pay even retail value for wines – they tend to be looking for a deal. So, I usually over estimate by about two times the value of the wines I donate and that usually ensures that the people to whom I donate will get about retail value.

I do not donate prized aged wines because you can pretty much guarantee that someone will walk away with it for a fraction of its value.

Some of the people who run these auctions fail to place the reviews and scores next to the wines and then unless it’s a very well known name, bidders won’t know what to make of your wine.

I want to donate, but I don’t want to give away highly valued wine and watch them get a fraction of its value.

So, my experience is that high point/low dollar wines work best.

You donate a Parker or Spectator 95 point Cab for which you paid, say, $50 and you claim the value as $100.

They’ll probably get $50+ for it.

Doesn’t have to be a we’ll known name.

Just make sure to place a review with the score next to the wine.

Last time, among other things, I donated a Parker 95 point CdP for which I paid $50 and I claimed the value at $75.

It went for $45.

Was not a well-known name.

I emailed the woman running the auction the Parker review with score and asked her to print it and place it next to the wine.

She replied, “that’s a good idea – I never thought of that.”

I’d rather donate three $50 dollar bottles and see them get $150 in proceeds than to donate a $500 dollar bottle and see them get $150 in proceeds.

Been there, done that, learned my lesson.