Wine Classic Exceeds over $2 Million Donated

Termed the Rare & Fine Wine & Lifestyle Auction, it included offerings of rare wines and lifestyle packages from the Central Coast of California and other wine and culinary destinations in California, as well as around the United States and throughout the world. It also included remarkable artworks from exceptional California artists.

This year’s Live Auction raised $800,900. With proceeds from the Silent Auction at $25,515, the wine and lifestyle offerings raised $826,415. The Live Auction total includes the Annual Fund-A-Need Auction Lot, which inured to the benefit of the Children’s Resource Network of the Central Coast, located in Pismo Beach, and which raised an astounding $100,000 in just under 15 minutes!

Founder and Chairman Archie McLaren stated, “The most gratifying aspect of our proceedings was its consistency with the previous several years, particularly in view of the economic uncertainties in the United States and abroad. Our state-wide and nation-wide demographic audience is extraordinary, coming from roughly 200 California communities and 25 states, as well as several countries abroad, and they generously and altruistically rose to the occasion, as 96% of the Fund-A-Need donors were from out of the San Luis Obispo County area. That shows you the major impact the Wine Classic continues to have on tourism here.”

The most successful Lifestyle Auction Lots were a 1959 Bordeaux Dinner for twenty people at the home of Maurice and Susie Wedell at $50,000; a Relais & Chateaux French Wine Country Excursion for four people for $44,000; and a Dinner for forty-four people presented by Au Bon Climat winery and the Buellton Hitching Post restaurant to celebrate Central Coast Wine Classic Founder and Chairman Archie McLaren’s 70th birthday for $44,000.

The most successful Wine Only Auction Lots were a Groupe Duclot Collector’s case of 2008 First Growth Bordeaux from the 2008 Vintage at $12,000; three Double Magnums of Baileyana Edna Valley Wines Etched & Hand-Painted with the art of Georgia O’Keeffe at $8,000; Double Magnums of Viader Vineyard and Herb Lamb Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at $7,500; an etched & hand-painted Salmanazar (9 liter) bottle of a one-of-a-kind blend of Chappellet Winery and Brand Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at $7,500; and an etched and hand-painted Salmanazar (9 liter) bottle of a one-of-a-kind blend of Au Bon Climat Santa Maria Valley and DuMOL Sonoma County Pinot Noir at $7,500. For an artwork, the high bid was $15,000 for an original Mixed Media on panel by artist Yuroz.

Over the past eight years the Foundation has conferred grants totaling $1,883,386 to 91 such non-profits.

“This year will take us over the $2,000,000 mark in grants given to over 100 non-profits in the last nine years,” expresses McLaren. “We would have been very, very pleased to have reached the one and a half million dollar mark after 10 years.”

Grants for 2012 will be conferred in early October in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara to the following grantees:

Access for All, San Luis Obispo; Amazing Surf Adventures, San Luis Obispo; Atascadero High School Band & Pageantry Boosters, Atascadero; Conflict Solutions Center Community Mediation, Santa Maria; Jodi House, Santa Barbara; One Cool Earth, San Luis Obispo; Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation, Paso Robles; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara; SLO Grown Kids, Los Osos and Storyteller Children’s Center, Santa Barbara, and as indicated, the Children’s Resource Network of the Central Coast in Pismo Beach.

About the Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation From net proceeds, the Wine Classic, the 501(c)3 Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation funds specific projects for 501(c)3 non-profit corporations in San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County whose missions are in the Healing, Performing or Studio Arts. The Twenty-Ninth Annual Central Coast Wine Classic will take place from Thursday, July 11 through Sunday, July 14, 2013, and the annual kick-off Black-Tie Dinner at Hearst Castle will showcase extraordinary chefs from throughout California, including Napa, Monterey, Big Sur, Yosemite and Del Mar. Symposia will be presented on Red Burgundy Wines and Champagne of France, Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County Chardonnay and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The Annual Barrel Tasting and Reserve Tasting will take place in Avila Beach at the Avila Lighthouse Suites and the Avila Beach Golf Resort respectively. The Official Hotel venue of the 2012 Central Coast Wine Classic will be the Avila Lighthouse Suites, and the Official Auction venue will be the Avila Beach Golf Resort.

The full Schedule of Activities will be available in October and may be seen by visiting the Central Coast Wine Classic website. Further information and reservations may be obtained by calling (805) 544-1285, or by emailing archie@slonet.org.