Algodon Wine Estates Garners Top Awards for Wine and Olive Oil

New York - October 20, 2009:  In Argentina, the spotlight is currently on Algodon Wine Estates (AWE), having won numerous prestigious awards for their wine, hospitality and olive oil in the past months:

2010 Best of Wine Tourism Awards
Earlier this month AWE was awarded the Gold Medal for Lodging and the Silver Medal for Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences at the 2010 Best of Wine Tourism Awards, held in Mendoza, Argentina.  This competition is first held locally each year in eight wine regions around the world, named the Great Wine Capitals Global Network: Mendoza, Cape Town, Florence, Mainz, Porto, Bilbao-Rioja, San Francisco-Napa Valley and Bordeaux.  Gold medal winners, such as AWE this year, then qualify for the annual international award competition, the next of which will be held in November 2010 in Bordeaux.
 
AWE also gained the prestigious distinction of being one of three Argentine wineries (out of 45 contestants) awarded supplementary medals in addition to a gold medal.
 
This is the third year in a row in which AWE has been awarded the Silver Medal for Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences.  Additionally, last year AWE took home the Silver Medal for the Lodging category.

Algodon Extra Virgin Olive Oil Wins National Gold Medal
This August AWE's estate-grown olive oil won the Gold Medal for the Blended category at the annual Olivinus International Olive Oil Competition, held in Mendoza, Argentina.  In the associated Vinus International Wine Competition, AWE's 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon won a Silver Medal with an 88 point (out of 100) rating.
 
The Vinus International Wine Competition is the second-largest of its kind in South America, ranked 16th in importance out of 151 major such ones world-wide.  Contestants included 221 olive oils from 17 countries and 500 wines from over 28 countries, and the tasting juries were chaired by notable journalists, winemakers, and epicurean authors from Argentina as well as the international community.
 
"This is an honor for our entire team at Algodon Wine Estates," says Scott Mathis, Chairman of DPEC Partners and InvestProperty Group (IPG), the venture capital firm backing Algodon Wine Estates.  "We recently received a 90 point rating by Anthony Dias Blue for our 2004 Malbec, and these new awards serve as yet another testament to the hard work and dedication our team brings to the table every day."
 
For more information about the wine and olive oil at Algodon Wine Estates, visit: http://www.algodonwines.com/index.

For more information about Algodon Wine Estates, visit www.algodonwineestates.com

Important Notes:
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements. This press release may contain certain statements of a forward-looking nature relating to future events or future business performance. Any such statements that refer to Algodon Wines & Luxury Development Group (Algodon Group) and its respective subsidiaries ("the Company") estimated or anticipated future results or other non-historical facts are forward-looking and reflect the Company's current perspective of existing trends and information. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that cannot be predicted or quantified and, consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date set forth above. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise.

Media/Analyst Contact:
Algodon Group
Eric Stear, Corporate Communications & Marketing Manager
212.739.7669
RStear@AlgodonGroup.com