Fine wine for fine art

The Sun Valley Wine Auction is listed as one of the top 10 charity wine auctions in the nation by Wine Spectator and USA Today, and for good reason.

On Saturday night about 550 guests bid for vintage wines provided by nearly 90 wineries from California, Oregon and Washington.

Even the stuffiest wine connoisseur would have been in heaven Saturday night, but the auction was not just about wine.

The auction is the only fund raiser for the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities, a non-profit educational and cultural organization based in Ketchum.

In its 18^th year, the wine auction raised about $500,000 for the center last year.

This year was even better, according to Suzanne Manookian, the auction’s chairperson, who said it exceeded the 1998 proceeds by about 20 percent.

"If people have a good time and believe in the cause, then they are willing to be generous," said Gay Weake, the center’s executive director.

With fine wine, music provided by Sol y Luna and a venison feast created by a Ketchum restaurant, Cristina’s, people had a good time.

"Patrons stepped up to the plate with their checkbooks," Weake said.

The cause is for the arts in the Wood River Valley. The center collaborates with other local organizations, such as valley schools, to provide various programs in the visual arts, performing arts and the humanities.

The auction, which included a dinner with vintners on Thursday and a wine tasting on Friday, featured a tribute to Ernest Hemingway and his years in Spain.

A series of five "imperial" bottles, which were etched for the Hemingway theme, fetched the highest bid of $28,000 from an anonymous bidder.

Weake said a high point of the evening came when bidding started on a lot that included no wine but only some art-related scholarships.