Date: Monday, October 28, 2002
Periodical: Star-Gazette
By Jennifer Kingsley
Area wine to star at Emmys
International Emmy gala will feature creations of Penn Yan Winery
PENN YAN- whether it was happenstance or just plain luck, John Martini, owner of the Anthony Road Wine Co., knows he was in the right place at the right time.
While peddling wine at the Greenmarket on the streets of New York City, Martini met "someone who knew someone". As a result, two of his wines will be served Nov. 25 at the 30th annual International Emmy Awards Gala dinner at The New York Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan.
Anthony Road’s cabernet franc and chardonnay, both from the 2001 vintage, have been selected as the official wines of the event.
"This gives us credibility. Not just Anthony Road, but Finger Lakes wine as a whole," Martini said.
About 1,000 television executives, celebrities, performers, and guests from around the world are expected to attend this year’s gala.
Martini will bring 46 cases of wine- 26 cases of cabernet franc (red), and 20 cases of chardonnay (white)- to New York City the day of the event. With twelve bottles in each case valued at about $11 a bottle, that is more than $6,000 worth of wine.
"It’s a lot of wine, but it’s worth doing, " said Martini, who is being paid for the wine. "It’s going to be on the tables as the dinner wine."
"Each year, I have the much-coveted responsibility of seeking out the highest-quality wines to be served at the International Emmys," George Leclere, executive director of the International academy of Arts and Sciences, said in a written statement.
"As an enophile (wine connoisseur) who grew up in France, I see Anthony Road’s wines easily bridging the old and new world tastes of our members and guests," Leclere wrote.
Martini says he spends most Saturdays selling wine at the Union Square Greenmarket, a farmer’s market with 25 locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. "I’m down in New York selling wine in Greenmarket pretty much every weekend," Martini said. "One of the people I met in New York knows the guy (Leclere) who selects the food and wine for the Emmys."
Martini met with Leclere in September and offered three varieties of wine, Riesling, cabernet franc and chardonnay from the 2001 vintage.
"He (Leclere) liked our wines, so we talked and he suggested we give it a try (at the Emmys)," Martini said.
Martini, his wife Ann, and his winemaker, Johannes Reinhardt, plan to attend the black-tie event.
"We’re excited about the opportunity to have a pair of our winery’s stars share the stage with celebrities from the global TV world," Martini said.
The International Emmy Awards is telecast around the world and will be the focus of an episode of The E! Channel’s television series, "FYE!" A broadcast date has not yet been set, said Don Ciaramella, a spokesman for The Lippin Group, the firm handling public relations for the International Emmy Awards Gala.
Finger Lakes wines have been in the spotlight this month.
On Oct. 15, representatives from some of New York’s hottest restaurants visited the Finger Lakes region as part of a wine tour hosted by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
Nearly 140 guests, including winemakers, vineyard owners, local farmers, the media and restaurateurs feasted on a four-course lunch at Glenora’s Veraisons Restaurant in Dundee, sipped samples of the region’s wines and did wine tasting at Anthony Road.
"All the things are little seeds," Martini said about Finger Lakes Wine gaining recognition in the international marketplace. "Some will grow faster, some slower. It’s a slow but steady growth to supply quality wines to the rest of the worlds."
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