The charity auction we held to raise money for carers, which closed on the 7th May, raised €134,626. This will all go to the Protège Ton Soignant collective. A result surpassing all expectations!
Times of need really can bring out the best in people. We are so pleased to share the result of our charity auction with you. The generosity of many properties, some of whom are our partners, as well as several clients who donated, alongside the bidders who pulled out all the stops, meant that we reached a grand total of €134,262! The money will be sent to the ProtègeTonSoignant collective in the upcoming days.
At the heart of the confinement period, launching a project of this kind was quite the challenge. As you’ll remember, shipping options were limited around Easter weekend, France has come to a halt, with many people furloughed or working from home. The vineyards, however, were taking their natural course, needing particular care as usual around springtime. And it was perhaps for this reason that we nonetheless received donations from over 100 properties in record time!
This exceptional selection of wine, counting over a thousand cuvées ranging from half-bottles to a Salmanazar, got wine lovers around the world excited. Confined across the four corners of the globe, bidders showed up until the very last minute to get their hands on a double-magnum of rosé, or a jeroboam of champagne, a Bordeaux grand cru or perhaps a vendanges tardives from Alsace.
In some cases, the bidding wars took on epic proportions towards closing, and there is a link to the full results at the end of this article. We want to thank all of you, the generous donors of such magnificent wine, who responded so quickly and enthusiastically to Karine Valentin, Mathilde de l’Ecotais and the iDealwine team. As well as the properties themselves, we were also delighted by the spontaneous contributions from some of our partners, such as the Association des Sommeliers de Paris and the Maison du Whisky. Some domains discretely donated bottles up to the very last auction day.
As for our team, we were mobilised from the beginning putting everything together, from contacting properties and opening the warehouse to accept deliveries, to preparing the catalogues and writing up the information on each bottle. All in all, a wonderful project that began (in retrospect, rather modestly!) with a lot from our stock that we wanted to sell in aid of charity. This lot, which went for €5,983 in the end, was the first, little drip that led to such a generous flow of donations.
Several of our partners facilitated the organisation of this auction, including the collecting of bottles in Bordeaux, sending them, and then of course the shipments required after the closure of the sale. Without the hard work of Dartess and Gamba & Rota, none of this would have been possible!
The entirety of the sum raised will be sent to the France Eco Sociale Tech association that organises the collective. The ProtègeTonSoignant collective has been working since the 24th March to help hospitals in the fight against Covid-19 by responding to their need for medical materials. This means the money raised will be spent in whichever way is best according to the current situation. We should also note that hospitals will still be in great need of equipment even as the crisis slows somewhat. So, if you didn’t get a chance to place a bid or you wish to support the movement in your own way, they are still collecting donations here.
At iDealwine, we know that wine is a symbol of sharing and generosity, and this charity auction has been proof of just that! A big thank you to everybody involved.
Link to the full list of final bids
See our current auctions and fixed price sales here
