T’JARA VINEYARDS JOINS THE LONG ISLAND MERLOT ALLIANCE

THE EAST END OF LONG ISLAND, NY — February 7, 2012 — The Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA) is pleased to announce that T’Jara Vineyards is now a member of the Alliance. Two barrels of 2010 T’Jara Merlot will be included in the 2010 Merliance, LIMA’s cooperative Merlot blend.

T’Jara is the premium brand of iconic East End winemaker Russell Hearn and business partner Jed Beitler, who together own T’Jara Vineyards in Mattituck, NY, which has been producing top-quality fruit for customers throughout Long Island and the Northeast for more than a decade. Its first releases are from the 2007 vintage, featuring both a Merlot and Merlot-based Reserve blend, both released in late 2011.

“We believe that Merlot serves as the basis for some of our region’s most distinctive and elegant red wines. In fact, T’Jara Vineyards is comprised of 70% merlot (three different clones), so we felt it was important to be part of an alliance of quality Long Island producers that work to collectively define, promote and enrich wines from this noble grape,” said Hearn, who was instrumental in the formation of the Merlot Alliance in 2005.

“Our T’Jara Merlot and Reserve wines include six red varietals. We believe these wines demonstrate the structure and substance of Long Island Merlot (which is the dominant grape in both), and the unique ability of Merlot-based blends to achieve a depth and complexity that express our region’s terroir.” Australian-born Hearn added, “T’Jara is the phonetic spelling of an aboriginal word that, roughly translated, means ‘where I’m from.’ We wanted our wines to convey a definite sense of place—Long Island’s East End.”

T’Jara 2007 Merlot was rated among the top half of wines rated in the trade-and-media tasting, “The Merlot Focus,” LIMA organized on January 26. Learn more.

With the addition of T’Jara Vineyards, the Long Island Merlot Alliance has six members, including Clovis Point, McCall Wines, Raphael, Sherwood House Vineyards and Wölffer Estate Vineyard.

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About T’Jara Vineyards
Co-owned by Jed Beitler and Russell Hearn, T’Jara Vineyards, in Mattituck, NY, was born out of the desire to make high-quality, handcrafted wines in limited production. The vineyard’s maritime climate and soil characteristics provide the ideal environment for producing wines of exceptional quality and character. T’Jara Vineyards produces three wines: a varietal Merlot, a Reserve blend based on Merlot and a Cabernet Franc.

About the Long Island Merlot Alliance
Founded in 2005, the Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA) joins premium wine estates committed to advancing the quality of and regard for Long Island merlot. Because it grows reliably well here, enriches most blended red wines of the region and consistently produces an elegant, classically styled single-varietal wine, the Alliance seeks recognition for merlot as the signature grape of the region, and for Long Island as the New World’s leading appellation for merlot. LIMA members believe that, in the tradition of other great wine regions, emphasizing excellence in merlot does not diminish regard for other wines, but will help to elevate Long Island as a quality wine region. To learn more about the Long Island Merlot Alliance and about Merliance, its cooperative blend of merlot, visit www.longislandmerlot.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Executive Director Donnell Brown, dbrown@longislandmerlot.com, 631-477-6207.