Naples Winter Wine Festival announces 2018 theme; dates

The organizers of the Naples Winter Wine Festival are already gearing up for next year's event and named Naples Children & Education Foundation Trustees Becky and Lewie Card, Susie and David McCurry, and Kathy and Dan Mezzalingua as co-chairs.

The 2018 event, themed "All We Need is Love," is planned for Jan. 26-28 and will again be held at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.

“The co-chair team is already hard at work — and this year’s theme really brings home the reason we are so determined to build on the festival’s legacy with another spectacular event,” Lewie Card said. “We are ready to share the love to the children of Collier County and make this another year of life-changing impact for those in need.”

The Naples Winter Wine Festival has grown since it began in 2001, topping this year's Wine Spectator magazine's list of the highest-earning charity wine auctions in the country, edging out other well-known festivals in Napa and Sonoma.

The Naples Winter Wine Festival collected $15.1 million under the auction tent in January. It was its second-largest total so far, about $1 million less than raised in 2007.

Since 2001 the festival has raised more than $161 million, which has awarded grants to more than 45 nonprofit organizations that have benefited over 200,000 children.