Wine Auction for Haiti

The tragedy unfolding in Haiti is incomprehensible. The poorest nation in the western hemisphere has been struck by a natural tragedy most of us can not conceive, in the midst of defenseless poverty we can not imagine.

Damon Winter/The New York Times

For the first time ever, Brother, can you spare a bottle? will team with Palate Press: The online wine magazine to encourage the wine-loving world to contribute to a cause outside our own.

Brother, can you spare a bottle? Can you pull something special from your cellar, a bottle you've been saving? Perhaps you will contribute the bottle you were saving for Open That Bottle Night. Or maybe next time you're at the wine store you will pick up an extra for us.

The auction will be held on line, in the comments section, in this post. Palate Press: The online wine magazine will auction the wine in cases, as they arrive. David Honig, Publisher of Palate Press: The online wine magazine, will start the ball rolling with a 1976 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese, retail value $139.00.

Please promise your contribution in the comments, and then contribute your bottle for the auction. Then come back and bid, bid, bid.

The process might be a bit unweildy, but the goal is to get the wine in, and the money out, as quickly as possible. As soon as I have the first case, the auction will start. As soon as I have the second case (or we'll give it two days if the wine floods in), we will close the auction on the first case. We will do it until the wine runs out. Other management suggestions are welcome, indeed invited.

All the money will go to the American Red Cross (click the link to contribute money right now). Palate Press: The online wine magazine will cover costs of shipping and handling to the winner (in the United States - international shipping will be negotiated with individual auction winners). We request that you ship to us at your expense. Thank you. OH MY! I thought I'd be shipping a case or two and this is really taking off. Fortunately, nobody has bid on anything yet, so nobody has relied on that offer. I'll tell you what. Palate Press: The online wine magazine will contribute what it would spend on shipping to the American Red Cross if winners pay to ship their own wine. How does that sound?

Bottles should be sent to:

Wine for Haiti
Palate Press: The online wine magazine
9425 Meridian #201
Indianapolis, IN 46260

Here is how the auction will work. As we create individual lots, they will be posted here (look down, there's one now), with a link to the individual lot. Just place your bid in the comments. We will not close any of the bids for a while, but once we do, the auction ends when we go 24 hours without a bid. If we get into a bidding war between two or three people at the end we won't make everybody wait a day, we will schedule a bid at a set time the contestants (and anybody else lurking and waiting, but interested) agree to.

Please direct all inquires to WineForHaiti@palatepress.com.

Thank you all for your generosity in this time of need.

The entire Palate Press Team.

LOT 1- 6.0L etched bottle Cornerstone

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LOT 2- 6.0L Rockaway