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

Temecula Valley Wishes for Children

Wishes for Children Foundation is an organization that collaborates with all local charities. Our only commitment is to raise money that will help children right here in Temecula Valley. To accomplish this goal, we seek many avenues, ventures, and projects and the involvement of the community and its businesses. Wishes for Children Foundation allocates nearly 100% of every dollar raised to assisting children in the Temecula Valley.

Wishes for Children is hosting the 6th Annual Wishes for Children Classic Golf Tournament on Friday, September 18th, 2009. The tournament will be at The Journey at Pechanga.

Wishes for Children is actively seeking wine donations for this event. To donate, please contact Gina Scott or Charlie Pate.

The children of our community greatly thank all who can contribute!

Send a blogger to Summer Camp! WBC Scholarships Announced

Reposted from BrixChick with permission from Liza:

Last year, even though I was practically handicapped by jet lag, I met so many interesting people who have become sources of fun, wisdom and inspiration that I am counting the hours until this year's events. I am extremely lucky that while 2009 is not going to win any gold medals, everything is going pretty smoothly over at Chez Liza.

I know that is not the case with everyone. But the WBC is such an important event for wine bloggers, as soon as I found out about the scholarship program I jumped in with both feet to help. Even volunteering to act as treasurer and getting all crafty cobbling together blog badges and T-shirt decals. Why? Because helping someone who might otherwise have to sit out this year means someone with a lot of passion around wine, writing and adventure gets to come. Different perspectives are an invaluable aid in learning about how the moon looks on the other side of the world. Someone not like me can bring a fresh perspective to the most tired topic. I am very much looking forward to seeing friends at the WBC, but am just as excited by the prospect of meeting new people.

Our committee spent quite a bit of time focusing on what donations can provide back to the community. One reason is that by helping to sponsor someone to attend we help ourselves too. The wineries and business focused contributors might fund someone who will someday make a vital connection for them, become an invaluable employee someday or just be their biggest booster. Connections are important. And in the world of one-to-one marketing enabled by social media, everyone is more than important. We're necessary!

So, if you are able to give, please click and contribute. Maybe you can sell something on eBay and repurpose an item sitting around gathering dust so that a deserving blogger will get a chance to brighten us all a little. Keep in mind, no amount is too small, and, in doing so , you will earn the privelege of getting to iron on your very own t-shirt patch. So whether you are planning to be a "Naughty Wine Minx", say "Screw it More Wine!" or delicately advise eBob, plan to enhance your T-Shirt statement with a lovely I Donated! patch. Hand made with love by a BrixChick! Or if you prefer, a handmade WBC Wine Charm by LusciousLush Thea!

PS: If you are a blogger in need of a scholarship, please click HERE for the rules and to apply!

Bottle Requests

Are you involved in a charity that needs wine for a silent auction? Is the charity in any way (even a tiny little bit, stretch if you need to) related to the wine industry? If so, please post a comment here with information about the charity, the date, and a link if there is one, as well as a contact e-mail. Thank you.

Sisson Family Fund Raiser

The Sisson Family Fund Raiser will be held on May 8, 2009, at Bedell Cellars in Cutchogue, New York. Ben Sisson was a pioneering Long Island vineyard manager and his passing is a loss to the wine community. He died at the far-too-young age of 49, and leaves behind a wife and two young girls. At the fundraiser website it says:

The Sisson Family Fund has been set up in our friend Ben Sisson's memory to help financially support his wife Alice Wise and their children Ethan and Emma during these difficult times. Our primary goal is to enable Alice, Ethan and Emma to remain in their family home as the children mature and to allow the family to maintain a continuing quality of life within their community of family and friends. Our enduring friendship and love of Alice, Ben, Ethan and Emma will help Alice raise her beautiful children. Providing supplemental financial support is greatly needed over the next few years. We encourage all friends and family to attend our annual fundraiser in Ben Sisson's honor and to continue to tithe whenever possible. The joy Ben Sisson gave all of us in life, we can give back now, in love.

Even if you can't attend, you can contribute through a secure link.

Call out to wine afficianados. Can you contribute a bottle for a silent auction basket? If you can, send it to Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours, at:

Sisson Family Fund
c/o Lenn Thompson
39390 Main Road
Rt. 25
Peconic NY 11958

Welcome to Drink Charitably

The impetus behind this was the timing of two different wine-blog-related fundraisers. The first was this past weekend, when Michelle Lentz of My Wine Education used her website to promote a fundraiser in honor of her dear departed sister. Wine Bloggers and Wine Twitters contributed a room full of wine for silent auctions, a very common way of raising money at events of that sort.

The next is an upcoming fundraiser, the Sisson Family Fund Raiser to help support Ben Sisson's family after his untimely loss. Ben was vineyard manager for McCall Vineyards in Cutchogue, and Bedell Cellars will be hosting a fundraiser and silent auction for him on May 8.

That got me to thinking- how many events like this are held each year, and is there a way to coordinate them? Can we, as wine bloggers, wine twitters, wine makers, growers, collectors, drinkers, be a little more organized in how we help out? Ergo, Drink Charitably.

The first event will be the Sisson Family Fundraiser, and I will update this soon with an address to send bottles.