The wine worlds gaudiest weekend, Auction Napa Valley, raked in $14.3 million from Friday through Sunday. Thats a lot of money, and more than the $11.1 million raised in January by the rival Naples Winter Wine Festival. But Auction Napa Valleys take is down for the second year in a row, after $15.8 million last year and a record $18.7 million in 2014.

The amounts are unpredictable, and might have nothing to do with the 2014 vintage, on which many of the auction lots are based, Napa Valley Vintners Communications Director Patsy McGaughy told Wine-Searcher.

"It depends on so many factors: the economy. Whos in the room. So many things that are out of our control," McGaughy said.

Dinners with Rolland and Parker were two of the lots on auction; in fact, the auction lot with Rolland offered two dinners, one at Alpha Omega in Napa Valley and the other at Le Bon Pasteur in Pomerol.

But the highest-grossing lot, offered by Staglin Family Vineyard, offered a four-day safari in South Africa, along with VIP visits to four South African wineries, VIP tickets to the Cape Wine Auction and other private tours in the country. The top bid for it was $350,000, not the highest of the day, but it was initially offered to the top two bidders, doubling the haul. Then the Staglins offered the same lot at the same price to others, and another bidder came forward, bringing the total to $1.05 million.

Its a huge amount, but also less than half the $2.4 million that last years top grossing lot (also tripled at the last minute) brought in.

As for single bids, Amuse Bouche and Tusk Estate raked in $520,000 for a timely lot based on the nearby Golden State Warriors, who are in the NBA finals. The lot included a diamond-studded replica of the Warriors championship ring from last season, as well as courtside seats to a game next season and signed jerseys from five starting players. This lot was also doubled, falling just short of the South African lot total.

While the main event was held as usual at Meadowood, the barrel auction was held at Robert Mondavi Winery, 50 years after its founding. His son Tim Mondavi, now the owner of Continuum, told Wine-Searcher: "Its wonderful to be back here. I was with my father when he presented the auction idea to the (Napa Valley) Vintners. It took a while for people to really understand what he was thinking of. Some people thought it was a silly fad. But its really an important thing."

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