Appellation Wine Country Living Magazine Literally Comes Home.

NAPA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 1999--

In a move to "bring the magazine back to its wine country home," Michael G. Earls, president of Appellation Wine Country Living announced today that he had purchased the magazine from former owner, Idaho-based Earls Communications, Inc. (ECI). Three key appointments to the magazine's management team were also announced.

Earls, the former CEO and controlling shareholder of ECI, sold his interest in the Idaho company in October and at the same time purchased Appellation magazine. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed. He has formed a new ownership group, Appellation LLC, as a Limited Liability Company based in Napa, California.

"I want to be able to focus all of my time and energy on continuing to build Appellation into the most compelling wine country lifestyle publication," Earls stated, "Splitting my time between two states and three magazines was a distraction. Now I can work to take Appellation to a new level so that the publication will realize its true potential in the new millennium."

Earls also announced key appointments to Appellation's management team. Gregory S. Walter has been named Editor and Publisher of the magazine. Gwyn Jones continues as Director of Advertising and assumes new responsibilities as Associate Publisher. Mark Devine has been named Director of Operations and Finance.

"With this team in place, we are ready to take Appellation to the next level," Earls said. "Greg Walter brings a proven knack for producing publications that people want to read. Gwyn Jones has done a great job increasing advertising revenues and bringing new local and national advertisers into the magazine. And Mark Devine brings 30 years of solid business and financial management experience to the table."

There are some changes in the works for the five-year-old award-winning consumer magazine, according to Editor and Publisher Walter. Most of these changes will be subtle - for example, the look and feel of the magazine will change very little. "The most dramatic changes will be in the ways that we approach marketing the magazine to prospective subscribers. We plan to aggressively build circulation over the next year through mainly non-traditional media channels such as the Internet," Walter said.

"Editorially, we're going to continue to bring the focus back to the West Coast wine country," Walter said. "We live in a destination that has so many interesting stories to tell, people to meet, unique foods, wines and restaurants to experience - our mission is to make sure that each issue of Appellation resonates with the richness of our own wine country."

Gregory S. Walter is a publishing consultant and one of the wine industry's foremost publishing authorities. Walter is President of The Carneros Group, a publishing and new media consulting firm, and has worked in the epicurean publishing and wine businesses for nearly 20 years. Fourteen of those years were spent with Wine Spectator, the world's leading consumer wine magazine, in various capacities; the last seven years as its President. Walter was originally retained by Earls last year to help with the expansion of Appellation magazine.

Gwyn Jones brings 15 years of advertising and marketing experience to the Company, including successful stints at Food & Wine magazine, Sunset magazine, Newsweek and Ziff-Davis. She began her career on the agency side of the business at DDB/Needham.

Mark Devine has more than 30 years of finance, accounting and operations management experience. He has worked in the publishing, service, financial markets, import/export, retail, food and beverage, real estate and software industries. Mark worked with the publication earlier this year and brings to Appellation LLC specialized skills in strategic budgeting, financial analysis, negotiation, accounting and sales development.

Established in 1994, Appellation Wine Country Living has to become the dominant special interest consumer magazine focused on the West Coast's wine country lifestyle. Subscriptions to Appellation are $21.00 per year and available by calling 1-800-799-2679. For more information on Appellation, contact the company at 1700 Soscol Avenue, Suite 2, Napa, CA 94559, 707-255-2525 or visit the web site at http://www.appellation.com.