ANTHONY ROAD WINE COMPANY TO LAUNCH NEW "!", BRANDED PREMIUM WINE LINE
2001 "!" Chardonnay and Dry Riesling to Premiere at Retail June ‘03
Line Extension to Celebrate Winery’s Nearly 30 Years in Business
'Martini Reinhardt Selection’ Designation Honors Winemaker and Vineyard Manager
PENN YAN, NY, June 2003– Celebrating nearly 30 years in the wine business, Anthony Road Wine Company (ARWC) is extending its brand to include a new series of premium wines. The winery’s latest "!" wines – 2001 Chardonnay and 2001 Dry Riesling – are slated for a June 14, 2003 release.
ARWC’s devotion to quality will limit these wines to small quantity offerings – just 100 to 150 cases of one particular variety per year – that will be packaged in European smoked glass bottles with silk-screened labeling. According to John Martini, who co-owns and co-founded ARWC along with his wife Ann, "!" wines will only be produced when the vintage offers an extremely high quality of grape.
Said John Martini, "Everything about the "!" wines – from the grapes that produce them to the European glass it’s bottled in – combines to offer a very special and enjoyable wine experience." He added, "The hand-crafting of these wines will be overseen by our vineyard manager, Peter Martini and winemaker, Johannes Reinhardt. Their efforts will insure that we start with the best fruit possible from the vineyard and that careful attention is paid to the production process every step of the way – from hand-picked grapes, to crush, to bottle." This is why each bottle of "!" is designated as a Martini Reinhardt Selection – to cite their collaboration.
Remarked Reinhardt, "We’ve sought to allow both wines to reflect the complexity and nuances that are provided to us by Mother Nature. For example, the "!" Chardonnay, to my taste, does not exhibit a big buttery taste. Instead it gives the palate a host of natural fruit flavors inherent in Chardonnay that are many times lost if the wine is over-oaked during the wine making process."
Noted Peter Martini, "Throughout the 2001 season, Johannes and I worked closely together and believed, and still do, that the quality of the Chardonnay and Riesling blocks that produced these wines was the best that variety could deliver. "!" is the result."
A special dinner is being planned for next June at ARWC that will celebrate the "!" line and the Martini’s 30 years of grape growing. Details concerning the chef and the menu for the evening will be made available shortly.
Last spring, ARWC released a "!" Cabernet Franc and "!" Vignoles Late Harvest Trockenbeeren, each made in very limited quantities with fruit from the 2000-growing season. These wines were sold primarily at the company’s tasting room on Seneca Lake.
ARWC’s 2001 Dry Riesling and 2000 "!" Vignoles Late Harvest Trockenbeeren have just been cited as two of the 12 "Top-Scoring U.S. Regional Wines" by the Wine Spectator in the magazine’s cover article on "Wine Across America." Both wines received 87 ratings (100-point scale), which the magazine considers – very good, a wine with special qualities.
Later this month ARWC’s 2001 Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay will be the official wines of the 30th Annual International Emmy Awards Gala. The event, hosted by The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will be held at the New York Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan on November 25.
About Anthony Road Wine Company
Located along the upper-Western shores of Seneca Lake, 12 miles south of Geneva, in the heart of the Finger Lakes, Anthony Road Wine Company’s philosophy continues
to be to produce excellent wines for "The Everyday Enjoyment of Life" from local quality fruit.
From vineyards planted in 1973, Anthony Road Wine Company (ARWC) began production with the help of family and friends in 1989 in a small barn owned by Ann and John Martini. Since then, ARWC has expanded significantly while still being family-owned and operated. In fact, the Martini’s children are involved in many significant aspects of the company from the grape growing to wine tastings. Today, using European techniques, ARWC is a grower and producer of fine, award winning wines. These wines include major vinifera varietals (Chardonnay, Riesling, and Cabernet Franc) French-American hybrid grapes (Vignoles), as well as several blended wines. The winery has a unique Tasting Room, a new, state-of the art wine processing facility and beautifully landscaped gardens. A true self-contained "grape-to-bottle" operation, all winemaking, bottling, labeling, and storage are handled on-site.
Press Contact: Don Ciaramella / Charlie Dougiello
The Lippin Group
212/986-7080 don@lippingroup.com / charlie@lippingroup.com
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