The Three-Year Partnership Will Help Create More Access to Napa Valley’s Rare and Age-Worthy Wines With Consumers, Collectors, and Connoisseurs Around the Globe
Napa Valley Vintners announced the appointment of Sotheby’s as their new auction partner, marking the first time that Sotheby’s has partnered with a wine region to help connect wine consumers, collectors, and connoisseurs to its wines.
During the three-year partnership, Sotheby’s will conduct in-person and online auctions for Napa Valley Vintners. Major endeavors in 2022 will include the Napa Valley Library Wine Auction taking place January 18-29; Premiere Napa Valley February 23-26; and Collective Napa Valley with several offerings throughout the year.
“Our international wine team [is] incredibly excited to present and promote the exceptional and unique wines from the Napa Valley Vintners to our global clients,” said Jamie Ritchie, worldwide head of Sotheby’s Wine. “[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. The three-year term gives us a long horizon to be innovative in how we jointly develop the market. 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 and CEO of Napa Valley Vintners remarked: “We’re thrilled to partner with Sotheby’s world-class wine team to strengthen Napa Valley’s growing presence in the global marketplace. We look forward to introducing Sotheby’s clientele to even more of Napa Valley’s fine wine producers through this first-of-its-kind partnership. The alignment of our two entities is a perfect fit, and we’re excited to launch this incredible partnership with our first endeavor this January.”
In addition to hosting auctions, Sotheby’s will create additional opportunities for wine collectors to discover more of Napa Valley’s celebrated wines through interaction with the region’s renowned winemakers, many of whom hail from small, family-owned wineries that make up the majority of Napa Valley’s vintner community. In total, 95% of the wineries are family-owned, and production is limited, with 65% of Napa Valley’s wineries making less than 5,000 cases a year.
