Travessia Tasting at Bin Ends

Bin Ends Wine has announced the exclusive retail launch of four locally-produced wines, the first-ever releases of Travessia Urban Winery in New Bedford, MA. Fully embracing the “treasure hunt” element of fine wine, Bin Ends identifies off-the-beaten-path, lesser-known wines and producers, allowing their store to offer customers superior wines at superior values. John Hafferty, co-founder of Bin Ends was drawn to Travessia for their innovative approach to wine making and affordable, high-quality wines.

Travessia Urban Winery began production in New Bedford in December of 2007. The winery was founded by Marco Montez, who hails from a wine making family based in the Trás-Os-Montes region of Portugal. Employing his family’s generations of wine making experience, Montez uses 100% Massachusetts-grown grapes to produce Travessia wines on-site at his urban winery. I have met Marco and he is a very personable and passionate individual.

The four wines, two Chardonnays and two Vidal Blancs, are available for purchase exclusively at Bin Ends Wine

· 2007 UnOaked Chardonnay: Made of 100% Chardonnay grapes, this is a dry white wine fermented and aged entirely in stainless steel tanks which helps preserve the true and original nature of the Chardonnay fruit.

· 2007 Chardonnay: Made of 100% Chardonnay grapes harvested in mid-October 2008 (following one of the driest growing seasons in the past 15 years), this is a dry white wine aged in a combination of new and old French oak barrels for six months.

· 2007 Vidal Blanc: This wine is made of 100% Vidal Blanc grapes, harvested from Running Brook’s Westport and Dartmouth vineyards in early November 2008. It is a semi-sweet white wine fermented and aged entirely in stainless steel tanks.

· 2007 Sweet Vidal Blanc: This sweet wine is made of 100% Vidal Blanc grapes, harvested in early November 2008, with a sugar content above 27%. It is a sweet wine fermented and aged entirely in stainless steel tanks. All of the sweetness in this wine comes from the original sugar in the grapes at the time of harvest.

On June 2, Travessia founder and Portugese-born winemaker Marco Montez will join Bin Ends in-store to celebrate this launch with a special tasting event of all four wines.