2/16/2015 - St. Helena, CA—More than 700 top wine trade and media guests from around the world are gathering in Napa Valley for a week of educational events and professional tastings organized by the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) nonprofit trade association. The highlight of the week is the 19th annual Premiere Napa Valley Barrel Tasting and Auction taking place on Saturday, February 21 at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.
"The people who can take the message of Napa Valley and its wines to their customers and readers think of Premiere week as a unique opportunity to meet with winemakers, forge new business relationships and expand their knowledge of Napa Valley and its wines," commented Linda Reiff, president and CEO of the NVV. "We consider the many retailers, restaurateurs, wholesalers and wine media who will be joining us as part of the extended Napa Valley family and we look forward to warmly welcoming them during this beautiful time of year."
Saturday’s main event sold out in early January. Other signature programs and events comprising Premiere Napa Valley week include:
The Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood Napa Valley
Heading into its second distinguished decade, The Symposium for Professional Wine Writers is the standard-bearer for the art and craft of wine writing. This year's roster of speakers and faculty includes a highly regarded group of writing voices across wide range of media outlets, including Jancis Robinson and Will Lyons from the UK and former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. During the four-day conference, more than 60 faculty and attendees will dig deep into the craft of wine writing and will build their knowledge through workshops, tastings and seminars.
Sommelier Napa Valley
The NVV's Sommelier Napa Valley program returns again this year, immersing a highly select group of 21 sommeliers from around the country in the wines, culture and history of the region. The curriculum includes educational workshops on Napa Valley’s soil and terroir, the science of taste, and the fundamentals of the wine business and the sommelier profession.
Multi-Vintage Perspective & Retrospective Tasting
This tasting is Friday, February 20 from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the RUDD Center at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and is open to qualified members of the wine trade and media giving them the chance to form their own perspective on Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons from the 2010, 2011 and 2012 vintages from a dozen producers presented side-by-side and a library tasting of Cabernet Sauvignons from between 2003 to 2009. Wines featured at the Perspective Tasting were selected blind at a pre-tasting by a jury of winemakers and industry trade last December.
Premiere Napa Valley Preview Parties
Nearly 200 Napa Valley wineries will host tastings of current release wines, library selections and barrel samples from their Premiere Napa Valley lots during the week. Several of these Premiere Preview Parties are presented by groups of vintners with similar attributes, like sub-appellation organizations, small producers, family-owned brands, women winemakers, valley floor and hillside wineries and more.
Local Restaurant Wine Promotions
Because of its mid-winter timing, Premiere Napa Valley also helps to build business during a traditionally slow time of year and more than two dozen of Napa Valley's renowned restaurateurs are getting in on the action by featuring Napa Valley wines by the glass throughout the week. Some are even pouring Premiere Napa Valley wines, providing a unique opportunity for Napa Valley locals to join in the week’s excitement.
19th Annual Premiere Napa Valley Barrel Tasting and Live Auction
Saturday’s grand finale, which sold out again in record time, will showcase 225 lots of some of the rarest and highest quality wines produced in Napa Valley. Top winemakers create unique offerings made exclusively for this event in micro-lots of as few as 60 bottles and never more than 240. Each lot is sold to only one bidder and proceeds support the NVV's mission to promote, protect and enhance the Napa Valley appellation. More than 90% of the wines featured this year will be from the highly-anticipated 2013 vintage.
For more information about the Premiere Napa Valley portfolio of wines, to place absentee bids and to experience the action as it unfolds, visit premierenapawines.com. To join in what promises to be dynamic social media conversations throughout the week, follow #PNV15, #WWS15 and #SommNapa.
About the Napa Valley Vintners
The Napa Valley Vintners nonprofit trade association has been cultivating excellence since 1944 by inspiring its more than 500 members to consistently produce wines of the highest quality, to provide environmental leadership and to care for the extraordinary place they call home. Learn more at napavintners.com.
Contact: Cate Conniff, Communications Manager 707.968.4229 cconniff@napavintners.com
Contact: Cate Conniff, Communications Manager 707.968.4229 cconniff@napavintners.com
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