Here we go again!
If it’s October, that means it’s time for me to give away some rare and expensive wine to the WB community in honor of my buddy Todd Witt who is deep in the weeds with ALS and has asked his friends to help raise money for the ALS Association.
For those that are new to this, in the past two years members of the WB community have contributed $14,120 directly to the association (can you say tax deduction?) and I have sent lucky raffle winners a bunch of bottles from the likes of MacDonald Vineyards, SQN, Bartolo Mascarello, Marcel Juge, Thierry Allemand, Bruno Giacosa, and Pierre Gonon. Heck, last year one baller got dinner with the MacDonald brothers! The threads from 2022 and 2021 with the whole story are here and here.
I’m doing this because Todd is a great guy who inspires me. ALS is unrelenting but so is Todd and while there’s not much that the medical community can do for him, he is putting a ton of energy into helping them find a way to one day help others facing this. With the help of WB and Todd’s circle of friends, his fundraising tribe - the “Witt Wolfpack” has raised over $250,000 
for the ALS Association. This spring, the ALS Association decided to honor his contributions with a national award and they made a cool promo video (you can watch it here).
I invite everyone on WB to join me in another round of helping patients and families facing ALS with a “raffle three-peat.” We’ll follow the same rules and procedure as before (zero complaints received!), which I quote here:
Here’s how the raffle will work:
- Make a donation directly to the ALS Association using the donate link on my personal Walk to Defeat ALS page. (You must use the donate button on my fundraising page for the donation to count for the raffle. This ensures that your donation will be visible to my fundraising team and the other raffle participants.)
- Forward a copy of your donation receipt to jjj@winograd.net
- For every $25 in confirmed donations through the link above, you get 1 entry. All entries received will be confirmed via email within 24 hrs.
- Fundraiser closes at noon pacific Sat Oct 14.
- Drawing will be made the afternoon of closing and prizes awarded using Charlie’s process (link) (though, unless Charlie throws his insta-savvy hat in the ring, I can’t promise it will be broadcast live on the interwebs).
As before, the first bottle in the drawing will be a 750ml of MacDonald Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon from my cellar - winner’s choice of vintage 2015, 2017, 2018, or 2019. 2-day shipping anywhere in the continental US is included.
I will contribute additional prizes as we progress to the goal and have some genuine treasures lined up. You’ll have to earn it though!
Community contributions of prizes are totally welcome (contact me via PM or the email address above). Previous prize bottle donors include WB rockstars @Alan_Rath, @Steve_Anderson, @JohnCummings, and @M.Kaplan!
Thank you!
EDITED TO ADD (10/2):
One day in we are ahead of pace with $550 on the board. Thanks to all of the contributors for the support!
When the donations reach $1,000, I will add a 750ml of 2015 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot from my cellar to the drawing. CHALLENGE MET
As before, I will draw as many entries as there are bottles and each winner gets their choice of the remaining prize bottles in sequence.
Can a person win more than one prize?
Yes! While each ticket can only be drawn once, every undrawn ticket remains valid for each subsequent draw. Multiple tickets drawn that are held by the same person can get them multiple prizes.
EDITED TO ADD (10/3):
Our contributors went on a tear today, rocketing through our Allemand challenge and bringing the contribution total to $1,525. Whoo-eee!
Rolling on to our next challenge, here we have a 750ml bottle of 2013 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph generously contributed by @Alan_Rath! Alan won this in last year’s raffle and generously opted to put it back in play. Thank you, Alan!
This beauty (which Rhone Ranger @Paul_Gordon regards as “the best Gonon to date”) will go into the prize box when we reach $2,000 in contributions. CHALLENGE MET
EDITED TO ADD (10/4):
The donations total hit $2,075 this morning, unlocking Alan’s Gonon.
After those big reds, it’s time to cleanse the palate with some grower champagne. Our next bottle is a 750ml from the top tier of small-batch bubble artistes: 2020 Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Blanc de Noirs Côte de Val Vilaine. This will go into the prize box when we reach $2,500 in donations. CHALLENGE MET
EDITED TO ADD (10/5):
Fundraising total is at $2,975 this morning, unlocking the Bouchard VV! Woo-hoo!
We’ve got more love coming in for the champagne crowd today courtesy of two-time ALS donor @TGigante, who has offered to pull and ship a 750ml of @Michael_Cruse’s culty 2017 Ultramarine Sparkling Rosé Heintz Vineyard to a raffle winner when our total reaches $3,500. Bring it for Tony! CHALLENGE MET
EDITED TO ADD (10/6):
We are a hair short of the Ultramarine challenge at midday today, with the donation total sitting at $3,400. Let’s see if we can get some momentum going into the weekend with another challenge.
This one is a desert-island wine for me - the R. Lopez de Heredia Reserva Viña Tondonia Blanco. It is an ageless cipher, an eternal shape-shifter a mythological trickster, and (with due respect to the abundant talents of JM Vincent) has blown more minds than Jerry Garcia. As a result of much of the viura in Tondonia being grafted over to Tempranillo, over the past decade this wine has gone from easily-obtained to tightly allocated. When our donations total reaches $4,000, I will kick in a prize of the winner’s choice of any 750ml from my stash of vintages 2003 (link), 2005 (link), 2007 (link), 2008 (link), 2009 (link), 2010 (link), or 2011 (link). CHALLENGE MET
EDITED TO ADD (10/7):
We have crossed the LdH challenge threshold with $4,050 on the board so it’s time for another challenge.
Let’s dip back into the reds with a 750ml of 2017 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo (link) going out the door when we hit $4,500 in donations. Jeremy Holmes as usual nails this wine with quotable economy: “classic in every sense” (link). CHALLENGE MET
EDITED TO ADD (10/8):
We are rolling right along and sitting now at $4,550.
Up next is a challenge from third-time bottle donor and all-around great guy @Steve_Anderson. Steve’s plugged into west coast wine like nobody else that I know and will be dialing his hotline to Manfred Krankl to deliver a 750ml of 2017 The Third Twin Nuestra Señora del Tercer Gemelo The Third Twin Vineyard to one lucky donor when our donation total reaches $5,000. CHALLENGE MET
EDITED TO ADD (10/9):
It seems clear that the key to the heart of many in this community lies in California, with Third Twin muscling our total all the way to $5,800. Nice work!
You talk, we listen, so I’m here to bring you more red meat courtesy an OG berserker, the big-hearted @Bill_Tex_Landreth!
Bill been around the block enough to know what makes this place tick. He’s loaded his wine cannon with a 750ml of 2014 Maybach Materium (link) and will light the fuse when our total reaches $6,750. Yee-haw! CHALLENGE MET
EDITED TO ADD (10/11):
Next up, a second draw from my stash of MacDonald Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon will go into the pool when donations reach $7,750. CHALLENGE MET
EDITED TO ADD (10/12):
For the final challenge, I’m offering the key to my cellar. That means the winner can go into my list on CellarTracker and can pick any bottle they want, in stock or pending.
Everything that I have is up there and nothing is off limits but if you pick something jumbo-sized you’ll have to cover the upcharge from my 750ml shipping rate. (Do I need to tell you that there is some good stuff?)
This prize is going on the block when our total reaches $10,000. You have until noon pacific Saturday to get there. I have faith WB gonna make it happen. CHALLENGE MET
