Here are the delightful French wines I came home with after scoring a winning bid at the Cincinnati International Wine Festival silent auction last weekend.
It's just shy of a case--10 wines, 4 reds & 6 whites. Three of the reds were rated 90 or 91 by the Wine Spectator, and the best whites include a lovely Sancerre, a Graves (white Bordeaux) and a Macon (white Burgundy).
To me, the silent auction is the best thing about the wine festival. Sure, it's fun to try a lot of wine at all the booths, meet new people and run into friends, but that's all so transitory compared to acquiring wines I'd never have picked off the shelf at a store.
We went to the Grand Tastings both Friday and Saturday night. On Friday, I failed to win any wine, so by Saturday night I was determined to nab something.
These wines turned out to be a value--only three others bid on them all night. I think people may know less about French wines than all the California stuff in the auction. My friend had a similar experience when she placed the winning bid on a mixed case of Spanish wines.
The 10 French wines had a retail value of $175, and my bid was $125. I checked all the wines online and found that $175 was a correct retail estimate. When you add sales tax, it would be over $190 to buy these wines in a store.
What fun!
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