2007 Annual Auction & Dinner ~ Rock Garden Roll

Fritz Hatton, Auctioneer

Fritz Hatton is the nation's leading wine auctioneer.   His wine auction experience commenced in 1980, when he joined Christie’s to help start the Wine Department in the United States.  After a musical sabbatical in the early 1990’s he returned to Christie’s and served as Director of Christie's U.S. Wine Department from 1995 to 1998.  In this capacity and in partnership with the leading American wine retailer Zachys he was responsible for the largest auctions of wine ever organized in the United States   In 2002 he joined the prominent retailer Zachys as auctioneer for its new solo wine auction venture.  The sales conducted beginning in October 2002 have been resoundingly successful and Zachys has now assumed the number one position in the U.S. wine auction market.

Since 1983 Mr. Hatton has conducted charity auctions throughout the U.S., most involving wine in support of arts, educational, and medical charities.  In addition to Imagine (Sonoma Couty Children’s Charities), the New York Philharmonic, Miami Baptist Hospital/United Way, Napa Valley Opera House,  Peninsula Center for the Blind, Make-a-Wish Foundation, and numerous educational charities in San Francisco and Napa, he has served as auctioneer for Auction Napa Valley since 1992, and as principal auctioneer since 1998.

In the fall of 1998 Mr. Hatton became a vintner when he returned to California to launch Arietta, a microbrand featuring handmade Bordeaux-styled Napa red wines.  He now resides in Saint Helena, California with his wife Caren, seven year old daughter Libby, and two year old daughter Hattie.


Guest Chef
Ken Frank, La Toque

Ken Frank opened La Toque in 1998 to widespread critical acclaim.  La Toque, located in Rutherford, California, in the heart of the Napa Valley, is a showcase for Chef Frank’s modern French Cuisine and his passion for fine wine.  Frank, now 51, has been cooking for 35 years beginning with summer jobs in France at age 16.  He was a pioneer “Young American Chef” on the West Coast, first achieving national acclaim when he was Chef of La Guillotine Restaurant at age 21 in 1977.  He was the original chef at Michael’s in Santa Monica, considered the Los Angeles birthplace of “California Cuisine,” which he left in 1979 to open the first La Toque on the Sunset Strip at age 23.  After a 14-year run, Frank sold La Toque in 1994 and opened the award-winning Fenix at the Argyle before moving north to open the new La Toque in 1998.

Ken Frank is a long-time supporter of COPIA and we are thrilled to have him with us this evening.