NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL EVENT

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 8-10:45 a.m., Napa Valley Marriott, Napa

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September 25, 2008, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, Rohnert Park

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Wine-oriented REIT to liquidate

SAN RAFAEL, May 23, 2008 – Wine-oriented startup real estate investment trust Vintage Wine Trust today announced it would liquidate after acquiring two wineries and 13 vineyards totaling more than 6,000 acres in the North Coast, throughout California and in Oregon since the effort launched in March 2005.

"After completing the process of exploring all of our strategic alternatives, we are pleased that our stockholders approved the plan of liquidation," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joe Ciatti said in a statement.

The San Rafael-based trust, started by Mr. Ciatti, a wine and grape broker, and wine trade publication publisher Richard Shell, raised $159.4 million in its first private offering of common stock in March 2005 and amassed $170 million in properties by November of last year.

In June 2007, the trust announced it hired Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. to explore "strategic alternatives, including a possible sale or merger of the company, in order to enhance stockholder value."

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