Press Kit TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN. PIPPIN HILL FARM TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN pippinhillfarm.com 5022 PLANK ROAD, NORTH GARDEN, VA

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1 Press Kit TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN

2 Media Factsheet Our Story Conceived, designed, and built by Lynn and Dean Andrews, Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards is garnering a following as an innovator in food and wine pairings and the commitment to local and sustainable viticulture practices. Lynn Easton Andrews is known throughout Virginia as owner of Easton Events LLC, the preeminent event design and management company based here in Charlottesville. Up until two years ago, Dean was the head of North American Operations and Development for Orient Express Hotels, including Keswick Hall and Club. He bought the Hall, Club, and estate from Sir Bernard Ashley 12 years ago, and shortly thereafter moved to Charlottesville. The husband and wife team s combined knowledge in the hospitality and event management industries marries perfectly in Pippin Hill and shows through in the food, wine, and flawless event execution. Pippin Hill is Central Virginia s newest and most comprehensive boutique winery and vineyard. Located on Bundoran Farm, a Preservation Development in Southern Albemarle County and just minutes from the University of Virginia, Pippin Hill Farm is envisioned as a fresh interpretation of the classic winery through the expertise of a collaboration of artisans, winemakers, local farm producers, and event designers. Our design pays homage to the classic American form of farmstead house, barn and fields, and reflects our vision for an understated structure that blends into the contours of the land, naturally enhancing the beauty of the property. The Art of Entertaining characterizes our event-design expertise, cuisine, and services - offering professional capabilities to handle major weddings as well as private family celebrations. Design The design and construction reflects a commitment to our patrons, and equally importantly, to the environment. The building incorporates a range of LEED and Green Engineering elements, including wood frame and timber construction, cellulose insulation, geothermal heating and cooling system, rainwater harvesting and all natural stone and wood finishes. Our Wines & Vines A member of the Monticello Wine Trail, Pippin Hill Farm Winery is a boutique-scale operation defined by our signature wine production. At its most basic level, our operation philosophy is to preserve and protect the rural agrarian nature of the farm environs. Our five-acre vineyard is planted with Savignon Blanc, Petit Verdot and Viognier varietals. We supplement our grapes with others from our co-op farm vineyard partners through a lease of their vineyard production. Our winemaking aims for quality and requires a high level of personal skill, experience and commitment. It is structured as a unique partnership with a recognized winemaker, Michael Shaps with Virginia Wineworks, utilizing their custom crush production services for the range of Pippin Hill wines. Custom crushing is an innovative process that allows individuals, grape growers, and wineries to capitalize on an established winemaker s facility and expertise to create distinctive wines for their own brands. Pippin Hill Winery sources all of our grapes regionally from Virginia s finest vineyards. In building our wine program, we are offering a range of wines, including Chardonnay, Viognier, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Meritage blends, Petit Manseng, and seasonal sparkling Blanc de Blanc and Rosé wines. Our Tasting Room is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, and features wine tastings and food pairings. Page 1 PIPPIN HILL FARM TWO THOUSAND TWELVE pippinhillfarm.com 5022 PLANK ROAD, NORTH GARDEN, VA

3 Media Factsheet Artisan Cuisine Our Executive Chef s cuisine and menu offerings are seasonal and follow the cycles of locally produced agricultural products. On the farm we cultivate our own organic herbs and will expand to cultivating our own prouce in our kitchen garden to provide the freshest of ingredients. Our belief is based on the premise that a sustainable food production program, distributed and consumed locally, is beneficial to human health, our communities and to the natural environment. This philosophy determines our food sourcing, menu design and unique Vineyard-to-Table cuisine. Our Artisan Catering is a proprietary in-house operation headed by experienced chef Amalia Scatena. Entertaining at Pippin Hill Farm We offer a warm and authentic environment featuring a range of indoor and outdoor venues and capabilities from intimate family-style dinners for twenty to sumptuous wedding celebrations for up to 250 guests. The Pippin Hill facility is comprised of five distinctive offerings: the main event building, The Granary; the Winery Tasting Room; the Veranda & Courtyard; the Wine Cellar; and Alfresco Dining in the Vineyard. Pippin Hill is built to be a premier wedding venue and is designed to capture all the elements of successful entertianing - architectural scale, landscaping details, custom lighting and sound - all set against stunning panoramic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our in-house Artisan Catering customizes the menu for every event to provide a range of traditional and innovative dishes to suit every palate. Private Events at Pippin Hill include anything from celebratory parties to executive-level corporate events and our professional event staff is there to make every moment memorable. Celebrate family and friends with food and wine at Pippin Hill. Address: 5022 Plank Road, North Garden, VA Telephone: Fax: Website: media@pippinhillfarm.com or Key Team Members Dean P. Andrews (Manager and Principal) Lynn Easton Andrews (Principal and President of Easton Events) Michael Shaps (Winemaker, Founder of Virginia Wineworks) Chris Hill (Vineyard Consultant) Amalia Scatena (Executive Chef) Barrie Holt (Managing Director) Press inquiries please contact: media@pippinhillfarm.com. # # # Page 2

4 Creating the Culture of an American Farm Winery: Our Wine Our Philosophy If Pippin Hill Farm were a classic 250-year old farm winery, what would have evolved as our culture and operating philosophy? What are the elements that would define our vineyard, winery, gardens and cuisine? Looking to the history of European wineries, from Alsace Loraine to Tuscany and Bordeaux, wineries have developed a defined culture and sense of place that reflects their individual environment. Pippin Hill strives to be a part of the fabric of our environment -- Albemarle County with its rich history and the Monticello Wine Region. We have defined and designed our winery to fit with the rural countryside and pay homage to our Charlottesville community. Our Wines and Vines Terroir: from Latin Terratorium, or Land. It all starts with the inclusive concept of Terroir, which was first defined and documented by the French Benedictine monks early winemakers, with the church s blessing. The contemporary concept embraces all of the natural environmental elements that are part of grape growing the soil in all of its depth & complexity, topography, including the non-controllable factors such as the convection winds that originate early in the mornings in our valley. Our journey has been an ongoing education in both developing a vineyard and the humbling array and layers of botany, sustainable agriculture, grape varietal selection and management. At Pippin Hill we are fortunate to have the right balance of soil conditions, water, southern exposure and consistent natural breezes year-round with the early morning sun creating convection currents that flow steadily up the slope. Our Vineyard Design Our five-acre vineyard is designed in the traditional trellises utilizing vertical shoot positioning for our vines. We are working with a talented Vineyard Master Christopher Hill. Chris is the most experienced, and respected vineyard consultant in Central Virginia. We have selected the best grape varietals to grow, with the most fragile on the uppermost slope and the heartier varietals lower, closer to the valley floor. We are growing Savignon Blanc, Petit Verdot, and Viognier grapes. Our Winemaking Story As Pippin Hill winery grows and develops, we are working with our winemaker Michael Shaps, and are partnering with Virginia Wineworks for a portion of the production cycle; the initial crush, filtering and storage. Michael was the winemaker at Jefferson Vineyards for six years before leaving to start his winery-consulting firm and to produce wines under the Michael Shaps label. Over the past eight years Michael has consulted for over a dozen start-up wineries and has created many award-winning wines for his clients. We have developed a series of protocols as part of the winemaking plan. We are involved in each step in the winemaking process. We are producing our own reserve wines starting with the 2011 season, and are using our barrels for aging on site at Pippin Hill. We oversee the wine protocol and ageing, design the labels, manage the bottling, and brand registration of our wines. Our Wines Pippin Hill Farm Winery sources all of our grapes from Albemarle and surrounding counties from Virginia s finest vineyards. For our premiere year we are offering a range of wines, including Chardonnay, Viognier, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Manseng, Meritage blends, and seasonal sparkling Blanc de Blanc and Rosé wines. PIPPIN HILL FARM TWO THOUSAND TWELVE pippinhillfarm.com 5022 PLANK ROAD, NORTH GARDEN, VA

5 Creating the Culture of an American Farm Winery: Our Food Vineyard-to-Table Cuisine - Real Farmers, Real Food, Real Communities Our trademark Pippin Hill Farm Vineyard-to-Table is based on the natural link to our vineyard. Looking as a model to the historic European wineries and wine growing regions, there is an intrinsic link and original locavore focus where virtually all of their food production and consumption is locally based. Our Tasting Room food is designed to complement our wines and provide the natural linkage between the food & wine. Menus are seasonal and reflect the availability of our farm partners agricultural products. Fresh, local, and sustainable ingredients are the cornerstone of every dish we produce. Flights and Bites Flights and Bites highlights the essential elements of our food philosophy - fresh, local, seasonal dishes that are specifically designed to accompany our wines. Taste your way through a variety of our wines, from Chardonnay and smoked chicken salad, to Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chambourcin cupcake. Tasting Room Wood Burning Oven To bring the culinary experience into our Tasting Room, we found a classic Italian wood-burning oven where we are baking our own range of breads: including foccacia flavoured with olive oil and fresh herbs from our kitchen garden, brioche, flatbreads featuring a variety of local toppings, and Chef s own walnut and wine-grape rolls. Our wood-burning oven truly sets the atmosphere in our Tasting Room throughout the winter months - adding a warm and inviting atmosphere to every occassion. Pippin Hill Farm Vincotto Our Vincotto is a dark, sweet dense condiment produced artisanally in our wine cellar. Originally developed in southern Italy, it is made by the slow cooking and reduction of non-fermented grape must over many hours until it has been reduced to one fifth of its original volume and the sugars have caramelized. Our grape must is the freshly pressed grape juice that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. Our Vincotto is designed to be drizzled over strongly flavored foods such as game, roast meats and poultry, and our aged cheeses. Smokin on Pippin Hill We are harvesting our winter grapevine prunings and drying them to provide stock for our hot and cold smokers. We are smoking seasonal meats and sausages featured on our Tasting Room charcuterie plates, such as goose breast and venison flank, in the autumn, and cheeses year around. Our vineyard smoked meats and cheeses are created to have a distinctive and memorable flavour and complete the connection between our wine and food. Cooking on The Hill! We are offering Pippin Hill Farm Chef cooking classes starting this winter. Learn the art of food and wine pairings, breads and local farm sourced products, as well as the secrets to successful grilling, and entertainment menu design.

6 Creating the Culture of an American Farm Winery: Our Environment Our Environmental Commitment Every aspect of Pippin Hill s inception - from building design, to wine production and menu offerings - is focused on enhancing and complementing our natural surroundings. Pippin Hill is leading the pack in sustainable viticulture practices, the local food movement, and incorporation of green design elements. At the core of our operating philosophy is a desire to draw upon our own natural farm and vineyard resources, while leaving as little for waste as possible. Planting at Pippin The terraced garden spaces of Pippin Hill Winery highlight native species commonly found in the meadows and woodlands of the Piedmont as well as those familiar to the historic gardens of Virginia. In keeping with the sustainable principles for development in Bundoran Farms, swaths of native grass meadows blend the winery complex into the surrounding agricultural landscape. The primary outdoor spaces of the winery complex are framed by intensified meadow gardens planted with drought tolerant natives and historic Virginia plants, a potager with herbs and vegetables that incorporates cultivars from nearby Monticello to supplement the menu, and a tree framed entry-court that reaches back to the existing woodlands and hedgerows. These plantings combine with the terraced lawns, fountains and fieldstone walls to frame the setting for events and wine tasting with an ever-present connection to the larger Piedmont landscape and the stunning views of the mountains beyond. Sustainable Food Production Pippin Hill Farm encompasses the vineyard, winery, and kitchen gardens. In the next two years we will be expanding our food production program to include cutting flower and herb gardens and vegetable production. Our belief is based on the premise that a sustainable food production program, distributed and consumed locally, is beneficial to human health, our communities and to the natural environment. It s about growing, buying, and eating food that is good for the people that eat it, the farmers that harvest it, the animals that produce it, and the world that grows it. To outline the concepts involved in Sustainability: Conservation and Preservation - What is taken out of the environment is put back in, so land and resources such as water, soil, and air can be replenished and are available to future generations. The waste from sustainable farming stays within the farm s ecosystem and cannot cause build-up or pollution. In addition, sustainable agriculture seeks to minimize transportation costs and fossil fuel use and is as locally based as possible. Biodiversity - Farms raise different plants and animals, which are rotated around the fields to enrich the soil and help prevent disease and pest outbreaks. Chemical pesticides are used minimally and only when necessary many sustainable farms do not use any form of chemicals. Animal Welfare - Animals are treated humanely and respectfully and are well cared for. They are permitted to carry out their natural behaviours, such as grazing, rooting or pecking, and are fed a natural diet appropriate for their species. Economic Viability - Farmers are paid a fair wage and are not dependent on subsidies from the government. Sustainable farmers help strengthen rural communities. Socially Just - Workers are treated fairly and paid competitive wages and benefits. They work in a safe environment and are offered proper living conditions and good food. (Excerpted from Sustainable Table, an organization that celebrates the sustainable food movement through consumer education.) PIPPIN HILL FARM TWO THOUSAND TWELVE pippinhillfarm.com 5022 PLANK ROAD, NORTH GARDEN, VA

7 The Team - Profiles Dean P. Andrews (Principal of Pippin Hill Farm) With more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Andrews background in the international hotel operations and development brings expertise to the organization. He established and operated hotels, resorts and restaurants including properties in the US, Caribbean, French Polynesia and Latin America. Lynn Easton Andrews (Principal, and President of Easton Events) As the founder of Easton Events, Ms. Andrews has built the leading event planning and design company in the mid- Atlantic. She directed Pippin Hill s design to ensure the event venue will be the premiere facility in Virginia. She has produced important events for Fortune 500 corporations, non-profit organizations, and top-level social clients. Lynn s expertise is in orchestrating high-touch events that require maximum attention to detail. Michael Shaps (Winemaker, Founder of Virginia Wineworks) The founder of Virginia Wineworks, Michael Shaps has been making wine for eighteen years, the past fourteen in Virginia and Meursault, France. Michael studied at the Lycee Viticole de Beaune and worked two vintages at Maison Chartron et Trebuchet in Puligny-Montrachet before returning to the United States. In Virginia, Michael was the winemaker at Jefferson Vineyards for six years before leaving to start his winery-consulting firm and to produce wines under the Michael Shaps label. Over the past eight years Michael has consulted for over a dozen start-up wineries and has created many award-winning wines for his clients. The Michael Shaps wines have been recognized by several regional and national publications as some of the best wines made in Virginia. Christopher Hill (Vineyard Consultant) Vineyard Consultant Chris Hill has over 30 years of experience in the vineyard and wine industry. Mr. Hill is experienced in all phases of vineyard establishment and management and is a well-known figure in the Virginia vineyard and wine industry, where he has served on the Board of Virginia Vineyard and Winery Associations. Amalia Scatena (Executive Chef) Chef Scatena graduated with Head Chef honors from the Culinary Institute of Florence, Italy. She completed her apprenticeship under Chef Melissa Close at Barboursville Vineyard s Palladio restaurant in Virginia. Most recently, she worked as Chef de Cuisine at Keswick Hall, where Chef Craig Hartman was her mentor. During her tenure, Keswick was awarded the #1 Small Resort in America by Conde Nast Traveler, and was named #1 Hotel in North America for Food by the same publication. Barrie Holt (Managing Director) Ms. Holt joined the Pippin Hill team in May 2012 after serving as the Director of Dining Services at St. Anne s Belfield School for the past three years. During her tenure, Ms. Holt was instrumental in developing a farm-to-table food program for over 850 students across 2 campuses and overseeing corresponding educational programs. Previously she held positions in Vail, Colorado in a multitude of capacities, ranging from resort & lodging to food & beverage management.