You Can Bid on a Dinner With Our Very Own Ray Isle Right Now

Plus Kyle MacLachlan, free books, and some special pours from Ray's personal cellar.

If you’ve ever wanted to spend a little time with Ray Isle, author of The World in a Wineglass, Food & Wine’s executive wine editor, and all-around fantastic guy, now’s your big chance. And it’s all for a great cause.

Ray is taking part in the Naples Winter Wine Festival, offering up his time as an auction item alongside actor Kyle MacLachlan. The duo are offering one lucky bidder the chance to dine on a four-course dinner at New York’s Koloman, prepared by executive chef Markus Glocker, for up to four guests. Wines will also be paired with the meal by Pursued by Bear, and Ray will even hand-select a few bottles from his personal cellar. The winner will also get two signed copies of Ray’s book. Best of all, anyone can bid from anywhere right now. But you'd better hurry, as the auction is closing fast.

At the time of writing, the experience with Ray was going for more than $5,700, and that will be money well spent, considering proceeds from the event go toward the Naples Children & Education Foundation, an organization with a vision to “make a profound and sustaining difference in the quality of children’s lives,” as the festival describes. Specifically, the foundation works to support charitable programs that “improve the physical, emotional, and educational lives of underprivileged and at-risk children in Collier County.”

Related: Ray Isle's Greatest Wine Tips (and Some Shenanigans, Too)

What makes this year’s event even more spectacular is the fact that it’s already raised a record-setting $33 million, including several multi-million dollar bids. There is plenty more left to bid on for the online auction as well, including a VIP Andrea Bocelli concert experience in Orlando, Florida (currently going for $20,000), getaways like two nights at Estate 8 in Rutherford, California for two (currently at $4,250), and even a mini-vertical of Screaming Eagle, including two bottles of 2008 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle of 2011 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, and one bottle of 2013 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon (currently at $14,500). But again, our bid would be on Ray any day of the week.

See more about the auction and everything available to bid on right now at nwwfonlineauction.com.

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