Sotheby’s teams up with Napa Valley Vintners

Napa Valley Vintners has teamed up with Sotheby’s auction house on a three-year partnership to boost collector’s access to Napa’s fine and rare wines.  

It marks the first time that the auction house has teamed with specifically with a region to better connect wine consumers and connoisseurs with wines.

The collaboration will see Sotheby’s conduct auctions for the Napa Valley Vintners, both in person and online. Project already scheduled for 2022 include the Napa Valley Library Wine Auction in January, Premiere Napa Valley auction in late February and Collective Napa Valley.

The auction house will also make it easier for wine collectors to discover Napa Valley’s celebrated wines by hosting events and interaction with some of the region’s renowned winemakers.

Around 95% of Napa’s wineries are small and family owned, with 65% of its wineries making less than 5,000 cases a year. However, the region punches above it weight, accounting for a third of the value of California’s wines, despite contributing only 4% of its grape harvest.

Interest has been growing in Napa’s wine on the secondary market Sotheby’s said, as well as the range on offer. Since 2010, the number of different wines offered from Napa has increased by more than 250%, rising by more than 65% in the last year alone. Value sales have also increased, rising 25% in the last year, or  more than 500% since 2010 and by 25% in the last full year. The majority of buyers in these wines came from North America.

Jamie Ritchie, worldwide Head of Sotheby’s Wine, said the international wine team was incredibly excited to present and promote the exceptional and unique wines from the Napa Valley Vintners to its global clients, and that the three year time-frame gave a “long horizon to be innovative”.

“[We] look forward to working together throughout the year to create new relationships between these inspired family vintners and our global collector base, and new consumers for the wines from Napa,” he said.

“At Sotheby’s, we have seen increasing demand for the wines of Napa over the past ten years, illustrated by the rise in number of wines sold and the growth in overall sales by value.”

Linda Reiff, president & CEO of Napa Valley Vintners, added that the move would strengthen Napa Valley’s growing presence in the global marketplace.

“The alignment of our two entities is a perfect fit, and we’re excited to launch this incredible partnership with our first endeavour this January,” she said.