NEW AUCTION DATE: MAY 14 & 15, 2025

Winery Registration is Closed for 2025.

ZOOM Overview: What is the Trade Auction and Why Does it Matter?

WILLAMETTE is the leading event to showcase Willamette Valley Pinot noir while helping support the promotion of this exceptional Oregon wine region. At Willamette: The Pinot Noir Auction, influencers of the wine trade get to experience what makes Oregon remarkable, exemplified in unique lots from the region’s top wineries.

We are pleased to invite you to participate in the 2025 edition of Willamette: The Pinot Noir Auction to be held on May 14 & 15, 2025, featuring lots from the 2023 vintage. After gathering extensive feedback from buyers and wineries, we have elected to move the auction back to the spring in order to accommodate everyone to the best of our ability.

NEW AUCTION FORMAT

The WVWA Board of Directors has unanimously approved the Auction Steering Committee’s idea for two winery participation options at the 2025 trade auction. Wineries are asked to select their preferred day/auction for their lot(s) and may choose to participate in one or both.

Day One
A fun, casual, high-energy event that captures the spirit of the Willamette Valley, featuring all auction lots plus culinary experiences and rotating seminars. The event includes all Day One participating wineries. Lots will be sold via a digital-only auction on Wednesday, May 14, open to both trade and collectors for online bidding. The auction will remain open online through the end of day on Thursday. New next year! Collectors can register as bidders in addition to trade, and lots can be sold in one-case increments.

• Opening bid: $600 per case or $3,000 for 5-case lots.
• Participating wineries are required to bring three-five registered bidders, trade and collectors, in person or remote.
• Wineries pay a $500 advance ticket fee that includes three Wednesday event tickets for their attendees, plus two winery spots. This pre-pay for tickets helps the staff to better plan the events and ensures spots for your bidders.

Day Two
A smaller format, elevated, top-tier trade event at an enticing venue with limited spots, featuring a live, in-person auction on Thursday, May 15. This event is open only to trade and their guests, plus winery representatives.

• Opening bid: $6,000 for 5-case lots.
• Participating wineries are required to bring two in-person trade attendees, and at least one must be new to the auction.
• Wineries pay a $500 advance ticket fee that includes two multi-day event tickets for their trade attendees, plus two winery spots. This pre-pay for tickets helps the staff to better plan the events and ensures spots for your bidders.

ABOUT THE AUCTION

The purpose of the trade auction is to put on a collaborative community event to raise the profile and prestige of Willamette Valley wines, bring influential wine buyers to the region who might not otherwise travel here, and raise critical funds for the Willamette Valley Wineries Association.

You may choose to submit a Pinot noir or Chardonnay lot from the 2023 vintage or, new in 2025, traditional method sparkling wine. Lots are 5, 10, or 20 cases for sale at the auction, plus two additional cases for samples. Wineries select their lot size.

This event is special because of the wineries who work together to create something amazing on behalf of the region, so the WVWA team and Auction Steering Committee plan these events with an overarching lens of collaboration and community through which we view all elements of the auction. 

CHOOSING YOUR 2023 VINTAGE LOT(S)

We want each winery to feel proud of the lot(s) they put forward and proud to stand in the room next to their colleagues to showcase our best wines to the country’s top buyers. We invite you to participate with up to two lots from the following, representing your most creative, interesting, and completely unique wine(s):

• Your individual Pinot noir lot, the heart of this auction and the reason our buyers keep coming back
• An individual Chardonnay lot
• A collaborative lot, either Pinot noir or Chardonnay, to showcase the camaraderie that makes the Willamette Valley special
• New in 2025: a traditional method sparkling wine lot, any vintage

More About Collaborative Lots

We invite you to craft a collaboration that illustrates the camaraderie of the Willamette Valley. A collaborative wine would usually be made by two winemakers working together, but it could be more than two, as the spirit moves you. They could be winemakers who have something in common that highlights the collaborative spirit of the Valley, such as:

• Purchasing fruit from the same vineyard
• Neighboring one another, on the same hillside
• Working together as a former intern with mentor, or with former fellow interns
• Being personal friends or relations who ski together, golf together
• Visiting each other’s cellars regularly, tasting together
• Making vastly different styles of wine, mutually appreciated

All eligible lots are from WVWA member wineries, from the 2023 vintage, made with Willamette Valley Pinot noir or Chardonnay, and of course are wines that you are proud to stand behind. 

HOW ARE AUCTION FUNDS USED?

Membership dues are approximately 25% of WVWA revenue. The Trade Auction has been the lifeblood of the marketing and operating budgets of the WVWA since the event was founded in 2016, funding:

• Year-round proactive media relations for the Willamette Valley and hyper-focused media relations for the Auction (Clive Pursehouse and Samantha Cole-Johnson in attendance at the 2023 auction events, for example)
• High performance website and CRM system. Our website www.willamettewines.com is currently the country’s best-performing regional wine association website.
• Digital asset library (photography, videography)
• Year-round digital marketing including expanded seasonal campaigns and strategic advertising
• New Willamette Valley History of Geology Map
• More trade-related activities (seminars, road trips, Pinot in the City) and assets (fact cards, maps)
• Presence at consumer-facing events (Boston Wine Expo, World of Pinot Noir, Minnesota Food and Wine)
• Lobbyist on retainer to ensure the WVWA perspective is included in industry dialogue
• Membership support through education, communication and crisis management
• Professional staff and contractors
• Administrative and leadership support of the Willamette Valley Wine Foundation