ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 16, 1996 TAG: 9609160025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: & Now This...
How much will Roanokers pay for a good bottle of wine? It all depends on the cause.
Last week, the cause was Mill Mountain Theatre, and the most expensive bottle of wine at "Cork and Curtain," the wine auction fund-raiser, went for $950. That was for a bottle of 1982 Cheval Blanc, donated by Lee and Edwards Wine Merchants.
World-renowned wine expert Robert Parker rated the wine 100, "and 100 is perfect," said development director Linda Webb, who, with Howard Beck, Bill Rock and several others, organized the auction. "You don't get to be perfect very often. People were fighting over it."
Four hundred people showed up for the (mostly) black-tie event, which netted $50,000 for the theater. Last year's auction brought in $33,000.
"We're getting more people and better wines," Webb said. "Our goal is be one of the top 10 wine auctions in the country."
People even bid on wines that had been stored improperly and were labeled undrinkable - but could be considered collectible.
"There was a very nice, generous spirit there," Webb said. No pun intended.
- MADELYN ROSENBERG
Artistic license (plates)
Anyone out there sick of seeing the same old cardinal and dogwood tree on Virginia license plates? Has the soothing mountains-to-beach pastel picture lost its charm?
Now you - well, your children, actually - can change the look of bumpers across the Commonwealth.
The Department of Motor Vehicles will hand over $1,500 in savings bonds to the middle or high school student who designs the best scenic license plate. The winning design should fit nicely on a 6-by-12-inch hunk of metal, and "show Virginia's natural beauty or history."
Ann Atkins, public relations coordinator for the DMV, said the present scenic plates, which you can buy for $10, have been around for five years.
"It was time to offer a new product and we thought, `Let's see what the next generation of drivers has to say about this state,'" she said.
Artists, museum curators and local residents are being chosen to serve as judges. Thirty-six finalists will get a $500 savings bond. The winner will get an additional $1,000 in bonds, plus the privilege of seeing his or her art appreciated by the masses.
For more information, call your child's school or the local DMV office. The entry deadline is Oct.15.
- LISA APPLEGATE
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB