“We’re very excited to be moving our Wine Auction events closer to the High this spring,” said Woodie Wisebram, the High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction manager. “With the venue now in Atlantic Station, the newly expanded High can be seen in the near-distance, which helps us to better connect the Museum and the Wine Auction participants.

The Auction’s 2006 theme “Toast a New High. Ooh, la, la!” salutes the High’s new 177,000 square-foot expansion designed by acclaimed Italian architect Renzo Piano, and also references the October 2006 debut of “Louvre Atlanta.” This unprecedented partnership with the Musée du Louvre in Paris will bring hundreds of works of art from the Louvre’s collections to Atlanta over a three-year period.

This year, the Wine Auction will honor three special guests from the wine world—Jean-Michel Cazes, Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt and Maximilian Riedel. Cazes, a long-time friend to the Auction, is owner of famed French wine estates Chateau Lynch-Bages, Les Ormes de Pez and Villa Bel Air. Alexandra Pereyre de Nonancourt will represent her family’s revered Laurent-Perrier Champagne house. Maximilian Riedel is chief executive officer and the 11^th generation of the Riedel crystal dynasty, which celebrates its 250^th anniversary in 2006. Teaming up to wield the gavel for the Live Auction are esteemed wine auctioneers Michael Davis of Hart Davis Hart Wine Co., Chicago, Ill., and Ursula Hermacinski.

The 2006 Wine Auction events, organized by co-chairs Lorri McClain and Suzanne Salmon, begin on Wednesday, March 30 with the Artist Dinner, and Thursday, March 29 offers a Trade Tasting and in-home Winemaker Dinners. Friday, March 31 kicks-off with Premier Tasting Seminars, and then a Gala Dinner Dance and silent auction will be held under the big-top tents. Saturday’s events on April 1 include the Vintners’ Reception and Live Auction followed by a new event, Red, White & New. For more information about specific events, please visit www.atlanta-wineauction.org.

Wine Auction Support
The 2006 High Museum of Art Wine Auction is made possible with through the generous support of the exclusive Presenting Sponsor, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., and Grand Cru Sponsor, Cantor Fitzgerald. Premier Corporate Sponsors for the Wine Auction include “Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles” Magazine, Geographics and Wachovia Wealth Management. Atlantic Station is the Site Sponsor.

High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction
Founded in 1993, the High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction is the largest fund-raising event for the High Museum of Art, Atlanta’s top charity fundraising event, and one of the top-five charity wine auctions in the United States. The funds generated by the Wine Auction, which amount to more than $8 million in the last 13 years and $1.5 million in 2005 alone, are a significant contribution to the Museum’s acquisitions, exhibitions and educational programming.

Atlantic Station
Co-developed by Jacoby Development and AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., a member company of American International Group Inc. (AIG), the Atlantic Station^® redevelopment is a 138-acre environmental redevelopment of the former Atlantic Steel Mill at the nexus of interstates 75 and 85 in Midtown Atlanta. The redevelopment is ultimately projected to include 12 million square feet of retail, office, residential and hotel space as well as 11 acres of public parks. For more information, visit www.atlanticstation.com.

The High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art, founded in 1905 as the Atlanta Art Association, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States. With over 11,000 works of art in its permanent collection, the High Museum of Art has an extensive anthology of 19^th- and 20^th-century American art; significant holdings of European paintings and decorative art; a growing collection of African American art; and burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, photography and African art. The High is also dedicated to supporting and collecting works by Southern artists and is distinguished as the only major museum in North America to have a curatorial department specifically devoted to the field of folk and self-taught art. The High’s Media Arts department produces acclaimed annual film series and festivals of foreign, independent and classic cinema. For more information about the High, please visit www.High.org.

The High Museum of Art is a Division of the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, which also includes the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Young Audiences and the 14th Street Playhouse.

 

 

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Media contacts:

Elizabeth McDonald
McDonald Media, Tel: 404-822-3788 / Fax: 404-733-4529
Email: lizzie@mcdonald-media.com

Cassandra Champion
Manager of Public Relations, Tel: 404-733-4436 / Fax: 404-733-4529
Email: cassandra.champion@woodruffcenter.org