Vintage Affaire, the popular Peninsula wine auction and fundraiser, ushers in its 25th year this Saturday by celebrating the event’s original organizers at an estate garden in Woodside.
In the last 24 years, the event has raised more than $5 million to help fund programs for the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Palo Alto.
Before bidding begins, attendees enjoy sampling wines and hors d’oeuvres prepared by top Bay Area chefs while listening to the sounds of a live string quartet at sunset.
To celebrate Vintage Affaire’s silver anniversary, attendees are honoring many local residents who helped make the event possible since its 1972 beginnings.
Among the eight honorees are four Los Altos Hills residents. Mona Armistead will be honored for her work in envisioning, organizing, and chairing the first Vintage Affaire. Steve Hicks will be recognized for chairing the wine advisors committee and is principal in selecting the wines that Vintage Affaire features. The event will also pay tribute to David and Marilyn Pratt, who have been supporters of the event since its inception. Marilyn Pratt has chaired the event twice while David Pratt contributed his knowledge of fine wines by recommending wines to feature.
The event began when Armistead developed the idea and asked locals such as Hicks to get involved. Hicks has donated many fine wines over the years and one of his favorite memories was when Vintage Affaire raised over $1 million in a year “when Silicon Valley was red hot,” he said.
Mary Johnson, chairwoman, hopes the auction will approach a similar figure this year.
According to a Vintage Affaire press release, this year’s committee selected wines to auction from “hard-to-find California vintages, first-growth French Bordeaux and emerging vineyards from ‘Down Under.'”
Some of the grand auction items include a dreamy “Great Gatsby” style garden party for 100 people in a private Atherton garden and a trip to Paris.
“I’m very excited about the incredible wines and travel that we have this year,” Johnson said. “I’m also very proud of the volunteers because we really believe in the services Vista Center provides.”
All proceeds benefit the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, which serves Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo and San Benito counties. Vintage Affaire’s contributions comprise 19 percent of Vista Center’s total budget.
Organizers said the event is usually sold out and they expect full capacity at approximately 550 people. The auction is the second-largest wine benefit auction in California, behind only the one in Napa.
For more information, visit www.vintageaffaire.org. For more on the Vista Center, visit www.vistacenter.org.
