Full disclosure: I more than briefly considered not publishing this post. I love magnums of wine. And I really love buying wine at auction—which is a near impossibility in the vino-police state that we live in. Because the thing is, the less people bidding in the auction, the better for thrifty sorts such as myself.

But I also adore the BC Hospitality Foundation (BCHF), the truly unique grassroots charity that has taken the lead in caring for and sponsoring continuing education for the thousands of people who work in BC’s hospitality industry. During Covid, it was heartwarming to see the public outpouring for our hospitality workers, but the BCHF has made sure that there’s support for this industry since its founding in 2006—and it continues to look out for the health and wellbeing of those involved in hospitality.

Clearly the Trialto Wine Group feels the same as us, because they and their winery partners have donated a cartload of magnums from some of their highest-profile labels to be auctioned off with all the proceeds going to the BCHF, which is all class. Also all class is the list of bottles up for grabs, and now that I’ve decided to favour charity over my own gain, I suppose I’ll tell you what I’m going to bid on.

Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frederic Emile 2007

I mean, c’mon. Do you have any idea how cool a magnum looks in the long, skinny Riesling bottle? Very very cool. Plus you get one of Trimbach’s prestige bottling with 15 years of age on it. This is such a awesome offering.

Margaux du Chateau Margaux 2009

Now this is a unique bottle of wine in normal size—I’ve never even seen it in magnum. It’s the rarely seen 3rd wine of Chateau Margaux from the sublime vintage of 2009. It’s going to be lovely, mature claret that oozes sophistication but while I’m on the honesty kick here—you see this wine so rarely and the label is so close in design to the Grand Vin of Chateau Margaux (2020 vintage price $1600! for a mere 750ml) that there’s a high chance that peeps might think you’ve brought a $5000 bottle of wine to a dinner party.

Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2021

I really love the Pinots from New Zealand’s Felton Road (they’re widely accepted to be the best in the country) and while they’re a smoking deal compared to Burgundy, they’re at the higher end on the NZ Pinot range so I don’t try them as often as I’d like. So it’s a perfect time to do so in the name of charity and get a double dose of the wonderfully pure, clean kiwi Pinot.

I could in reality choose 3 or 9 more: Nicholas Catena Zapata 2006, a methuselah (that’s 8 bottles, boys and girls) of Bollinger Special Cuvée, some Vosne Romanée Premier Cru from Thibault Leger-Belair… it’s just a who’s who of great producers.

The entire list is here and bidding is open until 11:59 PM on October 21. So bid early, bid often… just not on the lots that have my name beside them.

 

 

Neal McLennan

Neal McLennan