Overview Auction Napa Valley is the Napa Valley Vintners' charity wine auction, where wineries donate every lot and a room of about 400 bids on them over dinner; in 2026 a set of the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay and Stag's Leap S.L.V. from the Judgment of Paris, with 60 more bottles, sold for $110,000. The weekend falls in early June and runs from vintner-hosted dinners through a Friday barrel auction to the Saturday live auction. The Vintners, the valley's winery trade association, started it in 1981 and say their giving since then has returned more than $245 million to Napa Valley. On site The Friday barrel auction fills a working winery - Hall in 2024, Robert Mondavi in 2026 - where guests taste the newest vintage from barrel and bid on 10-case lots; in 2024 about 80 wineries poured. The Saturday live auction moves to a different estate each year: Far Niente in 2024, Chandon in 2025, Inglenook in 2026. Vintners host the tables, a chef cooks the dinner - Anthony Stagnaro of The Bear at Stanly Ranch in 2026 - and the evening ends on a Fund-a-Need paddle raise, with pledges from $1,000 to $250,000. Audience Collectors travel for it: the 2026 weekend drew people from 29 states. The live auction room is deliberately small - about 400 at the gala in 2024 and 2026, against up to 1,000 at the auction's peak - while the barrel auction drew more than 1,700 in 2026, and remote bidders anywhere can bid on the live lots online through Sotheby's. Talent and Influencers Darioush, Shahpar and Sally Khaledi of Darioush Winery were honorary chairs in 2026. Jacqueline Towers-Perkins called the live auction at Chandon in 2025. Track record Totals since the auction returned: $4.8 million in 2024, $6.5 million in 2025, $6 million in 2026, of which the 2026 paddle raise brought in $1 million for the Vintners' Youth Wellness Initiative. The auction was retired after the 2020 edition was canceled and wildfires damaged Meadowood, its longtime home, and came back in 2024 with 14 lots instead of the old 50. The record year was 2014, at $18.7 million. Brand presence Brands appear through the lots. In 2024 a St. Supéry package paired three Chanel Coco Crush bracelets with 45 bottles and sold for $180,000; in 2026 a BottleRock Napa Valley experience with signed guitars sold for $300,000. The listing's three sponsor levels follow the same logic: an entry-level Barrel Bidder position, a lot sponsor that underwrites one signature lot, and a title sponsor.