The Vancouver International Wine Festival is pleased to announce that the wine auction at this year's Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction will include one of the most exciting collections of vintage wines ever to be auctioned in British Columbia. The auction is held during Bacchanalia on February 20, at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, and features hundreds of different wines.
Highlights include an exceptionally rare 1906 Château Latour valued at $10,000, a magnum of 1949 Château Haut-Brion valued at $7,000 and many other first growth Bordeaux wines from excellent older vintages, including the stunning 1982 vintage and superb 2000 vintage (see below). The wines include most of the famed first growth properties from Bordeaux including Mouton Rothschild,Lafite, Margaux, Cheval Blanc and Latour, as well as many other renowned wines from festival theme country Italy, such as single vineyard Barolo and the “super-Tuscans" Ornellaia, Sassicaiaand Tignanello.
The Bacchanalia Gala wine auction is the province’s premier opportunity for wine collectors to obtain rare and older vintage wines. The auction is a charitable fundraising event with proceeds benefiting the Bard on the Beach Theatre Society. Ticket information for the Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction is available through gala@vanwinefest.ca.
Auction Wine Highlights
Magnum of 1949 Château Haut-Brion: Château Haut-Brion is a first growth Bordeaux from Pessac. This is a rare opportunity to acquire an Haut-Brion from the excellent 1949 vintage, which wine critic Robert Parker classifies as one of Haut-Brion’s “past glories.” The grapes for this ultra-collectible magnum would have been harvested only a few months after the end of the Second World War! Parker notes that “these are among the most expensive and sought-after wines of the twentieth century.” (And Downton Abbey fans may recall that Château Haut-Brion was served during the Dame Nellie Melba dinner scene.) Estimated Value: $7,000.
1906 Château Latour: This may well be the rarest, and thus most collectible, wine ever auctioned in British Columbia. Château Latour, a first growth Bordeaux, is one of the most famous wines in the world. Parker notes that Latour “can be a wine of extraordinary richness, yet is never heavy.” This bottle hails from the 1906 vintage and predates both world wars, the nuclear age and all of modern technology – a rare chance to obtain a living piece of history for your cellar, almost certainly never to be repeated! Estimated Value: $10,000.
1982 Bordeaux Collection (Mouton Rothschild, Margaux, Cheval Blanc and Latour Haut-Brion.): A spectacular opportunity to acquire a “mini-cellar” of renowned wines (three first-growths!) from one of the most collectible Bordeaux vintages in recent memory. Parker notes that 1982 produced some of the “most concentrated and potentially complex and profound wines between 1961 and 1990” and “with the exception of 1990, no modern-day Bordeaux vintage since 1961 has accelerated as much in price and yet continues to appreciate in value”. Estimated Value: $9,750.
2000 Bordeaux Collection (Mouton Rothschild, Lafite, Latour and La Mission Haut-Brion). The “millennium” vintage of 2000 was hailed as the vintage of the century and sold out quickly. Here is a rare second chance to obtain four stunning wines from this ultra-collectible vintage. All three of the first growths included here flirt with perfection, according to Parker, and the La Mission Haut-Brion earned a 100-point score. Estimated Value: $10,750.
In addition to this once-in-a-lifetime auction, Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction offers the most spectacular wine and food pairing experience in Vancouver, with 10 outstanding wines from around the world matched with a five-course dinner imaginatively created by Fairmont Hotel Vancouver’s executive chef, Cameron Ballendine.
Tickets & Info:
• Gala Event Tickets: Please contact gala@vanwinefest.ca
• Gala Raffle Tickets: Download the order form for your 1 in 200 chance to win two business class tickets anywhere Delta Air Lines flies, valued at $36,000 USD ($50,000+ CAD)
• VanWineFest Tickets & Info: Visit VanWineFest.ca