For Immediate Release – December 13, 2004
Contact: Julie Ann Kodmur, 707/963-9632, corking@julieannkodmur.com , www.zinfandel.org

MEDIA ADVISORY

PRESS CONFERENCE WITH MAYOR NEWSOM

WHO: San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom and numerous vintners from Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP), including ZAP Board President Joel Peterson (Ravenswood Winery).

WHAT: Press conference and reception thanking Mayor Newsom for his Proclamation declaring January 24 – 30, 2005 as Zinfandel Appreciation Week in San Francisco. “No other varietal has ever received this type of serious recognition,” explains Rebecca Robinson, ZAP's Executive Director.

WHEN: January 4, reception from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m., with the Mayor's remarks from 5:15 – 5:45 p.m. (the Mayor will take questions). Joel Peterson will also provide remarks on behalf of ZAP.

WHY: The proclamation by the Mayor of San Francisco provides an distinctive stamp of approval on efforts to inform the public about the importance of Zinfandel as America's heritage grape. Zinfandel Appreciation Week coincides with ZAP's 14 th Annual Zinfandel Festival (January 26 – 29, with all four events taking place in San Francisco for the first time).

WHERE: City Hall, San Francisco, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Mayor's Balcony, 2 nd floor. Metered parking is available on Van Ness, McAllister, Grove, and Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. A CityPark underground parking lot is located on McAllister, between Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place and Larkin. For map and directions, visit: http://www.sfgov.org/site/cityhall_index.asp?id=5244 .

RSVP: Space is limited; please respond by December 30 to J.A. Kodmur, 707/963-9632, corking@julieannkodmur.com

PHOTOS: Digital photos available upon request on the day of the event:

1) Mayor Newsom and Joel Peterson shaking hands

2) Mayor Newsom signing a 12 L bottle of Heritage Vineyard Zinfandel to be auctioned at Evening With The Winemakers on January 28

3) Mayor Newsom mingling with Zinfandel vintners amidst a display of a large version of the Proclamation and ZAP Festival photographs)

Available at www.zinfandel.org

FULL TEXT OF PROCLAMATION (DOWNLOADABLE)

FESTIVAL DETAILS; HERITAGE VINEYARD HARVEST DETAILS

SPRING TOUR CITIES AND DATES; OTHER NEWS FROM ZAP

The Association of Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) is a non-profit, educational 501(c)(3) organization. ZAP is dedicated to advancing public knowledge of and appreciation for American Zinfandel and its unique place in our culture and history. Winegrowers, winemakers and wine enthusiasts combine to form the membership. The common focus is the preservation and recognition of Zinfandel as America's heritage wine. ZAP's membership includes 300 winery-members, 6,000 advocate-members and 50 associate members. ZAP supports research and education about and into Zinfandel, including the Heritage Vineyard and the evaluation of Sierra Nevada Zinfandel selections (under the direction of UC Cooperative Extension). Join ZAP now either online at www.zinfandel.org or by contacting P.O.B. 1487, Rough & Ready, CA 95975, telephone 530/274-4900.

Proclamation

City and County of San Francisco

Whereas, Zinfandel grapes have historical significance among agricultural products in California in that the origins of Zinfandel grapes in the United States date to the 1830s and the name Zinfandel was first used in 1832 establishing a unique and separate identity for the grape in America, eventually becoming the most widely planted wine grape in California by the 1880s; and

Whereas, the Zinfandel grape is an embodiment of the history and heritage of California, (in particular of the settlement and agricultural cultivation of the West) and Zinfandel grape vines were an integral part of the Gold Rush of 1849 and remain a living link to the time when gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada Foothills with some Zinfandel vines in that area being at least 130 years old and still producing grapes; and

Whereas, Zinfandel wine is an excellent representative of the agricultural community of California because of its refinement and production throughout California grape growing regions, the research undertaken at the Heritage Vineyard in Oakville (under the direction of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis), which is preserving old vine Zinfandel for the future, and its recognition worldwide by scholars, growers and consumers as being a quintessential creation of California ; and

Whereas, the organization Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) has been sponsoring a Zinfandel Festival which has taken place each year in San Francisco since 1991, a festival which is recognized around the country and throughout the world as the pre-eminent varietal tasting, drawing over 10,000 people annually to San Francisco and for the first time in its 14-year history, all four events comprising ZAP's Annual Zinfandel Festival will be held exclusively in San Francisco, the principal departure point for Zinfandel shipments throughout the world; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED , that I, Gavin Newsom, Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, do hereby proclaim January 24 - 30, 2005 as…

Zinfandel Grape Appreciation Week

In San Francisco!

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
Set my hand and caused the Seal of the City
and County of San Francisco to be affixed.

Gavin Newsom
Mayor

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