Part of the 10,000 cases of Kluge Winery & Vineyard wines up for sale at a Saturday auction in Madison County, a case of Patricia Kluge’s 2006 Simply Red went for as little as $2.
The auction followed the foreclosure sale of the Kluge Estate Winery & Vineyard, bought by Farm Credit of the Virginias, which holds the lien on the property, for $19 million with no other bidders.
The auction was only open to persons with valid ABC licenses or in possession of a permit to sell alcohol in the state of Virginia. With prices so low, the 30 or so people, in attendance—including George Benford, owner of Siips on the Downtown Mall; Robert Harllee, owner of the Market Street Wineshops; and Richard Hewitt, sommelier at Kewsick Hall, and representatives from First Colony Winery—stocked up on Kluge’s wines.
Bidding got so furious, and so low, that Bill Shmidheiser, attorney trustee representing the bank, had to stop the auction and put a minimum set price per case. What went for $2 a case at the beginning of the auction was then upped to $15. Shmidheiser told bidders that it would be costing the bank money to keep the bidding at that level.
“We were not being fair to the market, or to the debtor or to the bank, to be selling wine at just silly prices,” he told C-VILLE. At a rate of $20,000 in rent per month to keep 25,000 bottle in the warehouse, “we’ve got to get the stuff out one way or another,” said Shmidheiser.
The most expensive bid of the day was $70 for one case of 2005 New World Red. A case of 2005 SP Reserve went for $25 a case, while the 2009 Rose, by far the most popular (Siips secured at least 55 cases and Market Street Wineshop got 40), began at $20 a case and the last bid was recorded at $4 a case. The retail price is $13 a bottle.
For wineries, the auction was a chance to fill the gap in types of wine offered to customers. “We don’t make champagne, so we are going to use some of the sparkling wines at weddings,” said Mike Canney of Sunset Hills Vineyard in western Loudoun County. The reds and roses will be sold at the winery at a special price.
For others, the cases were bought for personal use.
The auction took place in a chilly warehouse in Madison County.
