PRESS RELEASE

                                              25th April 2008

                                  MAD DOGS AND ENGLISH WINES

Fundraising Charity Bicycle trip to Italy for intrepid Brighton wine merchant

From April 25th 2008, Henry Butler and Andy Martin will ride a tandem bike from the English Wine Centre, Alfriston, to a small town called Bra, Northern Italy. The primary purpose of the ride is to raise awareness and funds for Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice in Arundel. However, in addition they hope to promote English wine throughout France and Italy by visiting top wine producers, then having direct tastings of their hosts’ wines versus the winners from the 2007 English Wine Festival.

Chestnut Tree House is the only children’s hospice in Sussex and cares for children and young adults from 0-19 years of age with progressive life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses. Chestnut Tree House offers support for the whole family including psychological support, care in bereavement therapy, end of life and respite care and sibling support. The hospice costs approximately £2 million per year to run. Families are not charged for their care and the hospice receives no government funding at all, so it relies completely on the generosity, help and support of the people of Sussex.

Henry and Andy are Sussex born and bred and are taking with them 4 English wines that are local to their home town, Brighton. Although they don’t envisage rapturous applause from their French hosts they do expect an appreciation for the fact that English wine has come a long way in the last ten years.

The ride will be in excess of 1600Km and take 18 days to complete. The pair will ride through Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy, the Rhone and finally into Piedmont in northern Italy. The final destination, Bra, is the home of the Slowfood movement, an organisation that supports small, traditional farms and producers such as English wine makers.

This is an inventive fund raising idea that is highlighting a number of current social issues. Green travel, support of small businesses, organic and biodynamic farming methods against mass-mechanisation, and positive promotion of English produce are all encompassed. There will undoubtedly be a lot of fun on the ride but at the moment the road ahead is a long one – roughly 1600Km long!

Further information on the charity ride is available on www.MadDogsAndEnglishWine.com