2008 "l'ete du Vin Grand Auction"
Last night, some of the world's greatest wine makers, connoisseurs, and collectors gathered in Nashville to attend the 2008 l'ete du Vin Grand Auction. This annual event is the oldest charitable wine auction in the country and is currently the second largest charitable wine auction in the United States. Proceeds from the event go to several cancer research and service organizations in the Nashville area, including Gilda's Club, Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Camp Horizon, the Dan Rudy Cancer Center, and Make a Wish Foundation. We have produced the organization's major events for the past 10 years, and they are among my favorite clients. Each year, several internationally known wine makers are invited to be featured guests of the auction. In return, these wineries donate all of the wine served at the week-long series of tastings and dinners, culminating in the grand auction. They also contribute a significant number of valuable wines from their vineyards' collections to be auctioned at the event. Several hundred thousand dollars were raised during the dinner and auction.
For the past few years, the Grand Auction has been held at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel, a favorite destination for Nashville's leading social and charitable events. The Gary Musick Company handles all event design, decor, and audiovisual production for the auction. Centerpiece designs were created by Elle's Marche des Fleurs.
Here are several photos taken from last night's event. Congratulations to the Nashville Wine Auction on another fantastic year of events! Special thanks to Executive Director Mike Haney and Director of Events Torrey Barnhill, our key contacts from the auction staff. Also, a big thanks goes to our entire GMC team, especially Brandon Thomas who helped me produce the event, and Jonathan Yeaworth who coordinated the technical aspects of the show.
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Sean Yeaworth on camera capturing all the bidding activity. The show was video directed by Jonathan Yeaworth, with Johnny Jones handling audio production. Bradfield Lighting provided stage and scenic lighting.
The theme of the auction was "From Vine to Glass". We portrayed the progression of wine making with giant banners featuring photos of workers in vineyards, traditional wine presses, French wine cellars, and of course, a glass of beautiful French wine.
When UPS lost part of our backdrop in shipping from the printer, Eric Cardwell and Blair Binkley from our scenic department jumped into action the morning of the show to build a new backdrop of faux wine barrels for the stage. It looked awesome! Thanks, guys!
Here are representatives of the outstanding guest wineries for 2008,
Chateau Palmer, Louis Jadot, Hulgel Fils, and Pol Roget.
These are 4 of the top French wine makers.
These are the silent auction tables where guests perused wines, trips, jewelry, and other auction items up for bid.
The stage backdrop was painted by Dean Tomasek and our team of scenic painters. Graphic artist Keith Brogdan did a great job of designed posters that featured each of the guest wineries.
Floral centerpieces were created by our new friends at Elle's Marche des Fleurs.
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