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A Rare Find Helps A Wonderful Cause

Princeton, New Jersey – A rare bottle of wine, a Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 1904, will be offered at the 112th Anniversary Gala of The Children’s Home Society Auction to be held June 3, 2006.

The 1904 bottle of wine is almost as old as The Children’s Home Society, which was founded in 1894. “We hope to find a special bidder or group of bidders who will appreciate the extraordinary opportunity this donation has to offer,” states Colleen Gehring, Director of Special Events for the charity organization, adding, “Our auction is an important element to the evening’s fund raising event. The 1904 Chateau Lafite Rothschild adds a new level of excitement for our bidders.” This year, The Children’s Home Society is accepting private bids from people who may not be attending the gala event. “Anyone can bid privately for this unique auction item,” continues Ms. Gehring. “Simply by calling or emailing me directly, we can set up an anonymous opening and final bid.”

Bob Levine, who taught the Princeton Adult School courses in Wine Appreciation for 30 years, is offering his very rare bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild from the vintage of 1904. The bottle is particularly valuable because it was tasted, re-corked and re-capsuled by the Lafite cellar master in 1989 after being tasted by Mr. Levine and the cellar master and adjudged drinkable. Before re-corking the cellar master topped up the bottle with some 1898 Lafite from a Magnum. A label on the back of the bottle attests to the re-corking. The bottle came from the cellar of a very wealthy collector who had imported it along with many other wines for his private wine cellar during prohibition in the 1920's. This bottle was given to Mr. Levine some years ago, for evaluating the contents of the cellar prior to the liquidation of the owner’s estate. Apart from the cellars of Lafite in Bordeaux it is doubtful that any other bottles of this 102 year old wine exists, particularly re-corked and in the United States. In addition to the rare bottle Mr. Levine has offered to conduct a private tasting in the home of the purchaser. The gala event will need to generate a minimum opening bid of $1,500 and minimum closing bid of at least $2,500 in order for the wine to be released from Mr. Levine’s private collection.

All funds raised during the auction at the 112th Anniversary Gala of The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey will benefit the 40 programs that help more than 8,000 at-risk babies, children and families throughout New Jersey and Bucks County. 400 guests are expected to attend the June 3rd event to be held at the Merrill Lynch Conference Center in Plainsboro. The Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies will also be presented that evening with the distinguished “Champion of Children” Award for their caring corporate partnership with The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey.

To place a bid or for more information about attending the event, call Colleen Gehring, Director of Special Events at 609-695-6274, ext. 142 or email at colleeng@chsofnj.org. Tickets are $150 each.