Generosity in Full Bloom is the theme for this year’s Naples Winter Wine Festival, so the perfect welcome for its vintners was with spring showers, a water rainbow Jan. 25 proclaiming their private-jet arrivals at Naples Airport. 

The Naples Press will begin live coverage of the Naples Winter Wine Festival auction at 1 p.m. Jan. 27. Stay abreast of the winning bids at naplespress.com. 

The 23 vintners who work with high-profile chefs to create 18 vintner dinners Jan. 26 are the first delicious wave of a weekend that includes: 

•  The annual “Meet the Kids” day, with its assembly of youngsters and organization eager to tell their success stories;  
• The zenith of the festival, its Jan. 27 auction, with 48 luxe lots that range from a choice cruise nearly anywhere on the planet aboard that floating enclave, The World, to an extremely loaded 2024 Aston Martin. This one is a DB12 Volante convertible with a Caribbean Blue Pearl 2 exterior, blue roof, smoked taillights, red brake calipers and Glacier White leather interior with Spicy Red contrast stitching. And oh, yes, zero to 62 mph in 3.7 seconds.  

Those are paralleled by the wine lots, which include one mouth-watering collection of wine from every trustee’s cellar (No. 47, Trustees’ Treasure Trove) and wines from both centuries-old vineyards in France and California’s world-class wineries.  

• The traditional Sunday brunch at which the festival chairs are named for an important anniversary—the 25th—of the Naples Winter Wine Festival in 2025. 

In 2023, the Naples Children & Education Foundation divided $25.5 million among grants benefitting children in Collier County. It has raised nearly $269 million since it was founded in 2001 for initiatives and organizations that transform the lives of at-risk and underprivileged children.