May 3 Celebration Of Long Island Wines & Top Nyc/li Chefs Benefits Earth Pledge

The 14th Annual Windows on Long Island Wine, presented by the Long Island Wine Council and Earth Pledge Foundation, will take place on May 3, 2004, 6-9pm, at Capitale (130 Bowery) in New York City. A grand tasting event and celebration of Long Island wines, it raises money to support the efforts of Earth Pledge's Farm to Table initiative promoting our region's natural resources and sustainable agriculture, and helps spread awareness of Long Island's status as one of the most threatened agricultural regions in the United States. This is the third year Long Island Wine Council and Earth Pledge have teamed up for this prestigious event and the second year Bosch Home Appliances has been the lead sponsor.

Top New York City and Long Island restaurants will serve signature dishes to the thousand food and wine aficionados who attend each year, while thirty Long Island wineries will pour a wide variety of wines. The VIP Connoisseurs' Lounge will offer special wine tastings with library and private reserve wines. Food Network personality Gordon Elliott (Follow That Food) will act as the MC, Director of Windows on the World Wine School Kevin Zraly is the events Honorary Chair, while Thomas Matthews of Wine Spectator and Mary Ewing-Mulligan, MW, President of the International Wine Center and co-author of Wine for Dummies, will co-host.

The following wineries will present their wines: Bedell Cellars, Broadfields Wine Cellars, Castello di Borghese Vineyard & Winery, Channing Daughters Winery, Comtesse Thirhse, Corey Creek Vineyards, Galluccio Family Wineries, Jamesport Vineyards, Laurel Lake Vineyards, The Lenz Winery, Lieb Family Cellars, Loughlin Vineyards, Macari Vineyards & Winery, Manor Hill Vineyards, Martha Clara Vineyards, The Old Field Vineyards, Osprey's Dominion Vineyards, Palmer Vineyards, Paumanok Vineyards, Peconic Bay Winery, Pellegrini Vineyards, Pindar Vineyards, Pugliese Vineyards, Raphael, Schneider Vineyards, Sherwood House Vineyards, Shinn Estate, Ternhaven Cellars, Waters Crest Winery, and Wvlffer Estate.

Participating New York restaurants include: Aix, Amuse, Aquavit, Beacon, Blue Hill, Citarella, Felidia, Four Seasons, Grand Central Oyster Bar, Home, Manhattan Ocean Club, Park Avenue Cafi, Savoy, Strata, Tocqueville; and from Long Island: Cool Fish, H2O, Mirabelle, Polo Restaurant (Garden City Hotel), Stone Creek Inn, Tellers and Tierra Mar. Special delicacies will be provided by Amy's Bread, Les Trois Petits Cochons, Murray's Cheese, Sang Lee Farms, The Cleaver Company and Tom Cat Bakery. Water provided by Poland Spring, coffee by Starbucks.

Tickets, which can be ordered at www.earthpledge.com or tel. 212-725-6611 x225, are $125 for the Grand Tasting ($150 at the door) and $250 VIP (Grand Tasting, VIP Connoisseurs' Lounge with special library wine tastings).

Presenting Sponsor Bosch Home Appliances, a leading manufacturer of high-end home appliances that offer superior performance while preserving natural resources, is holding a joint national sweepstakes with Earth Pledge this spring to promote the event. Grand Prize is a trip to New York to attend Windows on Long Island Wine (VIP tickets, roundtrip airfare and 3-nights hotel accommodations) and a suite of high-efficiency Bosch kitchen appliances, including a Free-standing Convection Range, Over-the-Range Microwave and Dishwasher. The sweepstakes is co-sponsored by Silver Sponsor JetBlue and the Tribeca Grand Hotel. Contestants can enter online at www.earthpledge.org or at Bosch showrooms around the country.

Media sponsors include Wine Spectator, Food Arts, and the New York Observer.

Host Committee
Michael Aaron, Sherry Lehman Wines; Franz Bosshard, Bosch; Melanie and Stephen Brandman, Brandman PR
Ann Cooper, the Ross School; Jacques Franey, Franey Wines; Ashok Gupta, EP Board Member; Tony Hitchcock, Hampton Classic Show; Theodore W. Kheel, Earth Pledg