Premiere Napa is perhaps the most important wine trade event in America.  Over 200 of Napa Valleys wineries presented their best wines.  Approximately 900 retailers, restaurants, distributors, and wine professionals from all over the world attended.  Every winery donated at least five cases of a unique wine for this event held annually at the Culinary Institute of America in St Helena, California. 

A trade only auction followed tastings of these fantastic wines and a tremendous lunch provided by the CIA staff.  For this event, Philippe selected to present a wine from particular block located on our upper Conn Valley Parallel Estate.  Five cases will be bottled from the selected barrel, and the rest of the barrel will be blended with other selected barrels to create our first Parallel Estate bottling.  Philippe’s selection was a huge success.  People really loved the wine and the ensuing auction bore out this observation.  Paddles were hoisted when Parallel was offered and the last paddle standing was held by Gary Fisch, (paddle #1), owner of Gary’s Wines and Marketplace, New Jersey - $20,000 for five cases of a special edition of 2006 Parallel Estate!  Thank you, Gary.  $4,000 per case was the 9th highest per case amount generated among the 200 participating wineries!  We were also pleased to read Alder Yarrows account of the Premiere Napa and his review of the wines - he placed Parallel in the 95 points category.....

For the details and a great review of the event and the wines visit:

Details: http://www.napavintners.com/trade/tm_3_release_detail.asp?ID_News=260

Review: http://www.vinography.com/archives/2008/02/the_best_cabernet_in_napa_tast.html