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Fundraising partners from the beginning By Paul Franson In 1979, H. William Harlan was shown a failing, small country club in a private valley near St. Helena. Within forty-eight hours, he and partners Peter Stocker and John Montgomery had bought it. It was called Meadowood Resort. “I wasn’t sure what to do with it at first,” Bill Harlan now admits. The club had a small clubhouse and seven cottages that rented for $35 per night. About two months after Harlan bought Meadowood, Bob Mondavi invited him to lunch and said he had an idea for a wine auction. He thought Meadowood would be a great location, a common ground for the vintners to meet. Many local vintners were skeptical, but Mondavi persisted. Harlan, his wife, Mondavi’s assistant Robin Lail, and her husband, famed architect Jon Lail, visited Bordeaux and Burgundy, in particular the Hospice de Beaune, site of the famous Burgundian charity auction, to get some perspective. Vintner Robert Drouhin was their host there. When they returned, the Napa Valley Vintners, which had only thirty-six members then, got behind the idea. The Napa Valley Wine Auction, as it was first called, had two goals: Put Napa Valley on the wine map and raise money for St. Helena Hospital (a goal since Photo by Jason Tinacci 20 www.nAPAVA L L E Y L I F Emagaz ine. c om


NVLife_MayJune_2013
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