The Vancouver International Wine Festival (VIWF) announced February 26 that its gala dinner and auction raised an expected $195,000 for Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival February 22.
The gala is perennially the 36-year-old festival’s biggest grossing event and includes about $135,000 in proceeds from ticket sales.
Great Canadian Gaming Corp. vice-president Howard Blank led the live auction, which brought in more than an estimated $60,000 for Bard on the Beach.
The biggest purchase of the night was for a dinner and stay at Château Angelus, a gift donated by winery owner Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal. It sold for $10,000 to an unnamed bidder.
Another big auction sale was $8,000 for a theatrical dinner for eight hosted by Christopher Gaze and featuring a meal by chefs at the restaurant Araxi and including wines from B.C. winery Sandhill.
“This year’s gala was another smashing success, thanks to the generosity of our donors and our distinguished gala guests, who continue to surprise and delight us with their support of the arts,” said gala chair Brenda McAllister.
The festival’s director, Harry Hertscheg, however admitted to Business in Vancouver that the event has a long way to go to return to being the money-maker it was in 2006 through 2008 heyday.
In February 2008, for example, the gala fetched $293,000 largely from business executives besting each other with auction bids.
Goldcorp chairman Ian Telfer tendered that year's auction's biggest bid: $46,000 for a magnum of 1982 Petrus that was valued at $17,500 and was donated by fellow mining mogul and philanthropist Frank Giustra.
Executives at Canaccord Capital Inc. (now Canaccord Genuity Group) were also active in the bidding.
Canaccord's CEO, Paul Reynolds, bid $37,500 for a 12-bottle case of 1982 Mouton Rothschild wine valued at $20,000 and the company's chair and founder, Peter Brown, bid $37,000 for a dinner for 10 at Whistler's Barefoot Bistro. He then donated that dinner back to the festival.
VIWF officially launched February 24 and runs through March 2. Its regional theme this year is France and its theme wine style is sparkling wine.
