Vino Curioso: Manassas Fest a Success!

The annual fall street festival, in Manassas, Virginia, has but a few wineries displaying their wares and Vino Curioso Wineryis one of those wineries in attendance.

Featured Vino wines include the signature "Franc the Tank" Cabernet Franc and their Sangiovese, one of the hardest types of quality wines to produce, given the Virginia climate.

Other wines produced by Vino Curioso include a cabernet sauvignon, a red wine blend called"Assemblage," a chardonnay and a chardonnay blend," "Chardontage," and a Viognier, among others.

The Vino tent was a hit, with customers of all ages and types being drawn to the quality vintages. Even the mayor of Manassas, "Hal" Parrish, stopped by for a quick hello!

This dog doesn't belong to Vino Curioso. He is just a cool pooch that came and hung out.

To learn more about Vino Curioso, and especially their soon to open facility/tasting room, The Wine Factory, please contact owner/winemaker Michael Matthews (seen in these photos as the man in glasses and a black shirt): 703 447 0648.

You may visit their site, for information and shipped orders, at www.vinocurioso.com.

Focus on Change Subject of Museum Exhibit

The Manassas Museum, one of the top-ranked regional Museums in the country, recently paid homage to the Virginia Piedmont region. The exhibit developed is part of the heritage series “From Cows to Condos” that uses educational programs and interactive learning to educate students and museum visitors about the significant changes in the county through the years.

A cultural and economic crossroads, from pre-colonial settlers, to historic railroad systems shipping local produce to market, to the commercial airways of today, Manassas's varied story deserved to be told. With the whimsical title "From Cows to Condos," it was!

A. Guy Studio L.L.C. was asked by the museum curator, Roxanna Adams, to develop a logo that told the story of this exhibit, while being adaptable enough to be reproduced for a plethora of uses.

The name "Cows to Condos" provided rich "fodder" for the visual imagery used in this logo. The barn in the background is a rendering of a historic "brick barn" located in the Manassas city limits. The road dividing the logo symbolizes the line of commercial development that has occurred in this area, with rural lands being toward the west of Manassas and business towards the east.

The cow...is just a cow.

{Logotype as seen in the Washington Post}

Vino Curioso Pouring Tasty Italian Style Wines at 5th Annual Manassas, VA Wine & Jazz Fest

This weekend, June 21, Old Town Manassas shuts down to host a whole ton of booths, including a sort of "wine alley," featuring premier Virginia wineries.  There will also be a slew of fine Jazz music, including  Doc Gibb's of Emeril fame, among others.

My clients, Michael Matthews and Michael Sawyers of Vino Curioso are the real home-town wine guys attending the Fest.  Though they have grapes growing from Winchester to the Northern Neck, Vino is soon to open their "Virginia Wine Factory" at a huge, split level, absolutely industrially cool location near Nissan Pavillion, right outside of Manassas.  

Check them out before they get too full of themselves...nibbling teensy baby quail complimented with a room temperature fromage avec la réduction de grenouille et de crevette d'airelle (thems good eats), chatting with lots of nice, wine-loving people in one of their two lounges (the upstairs one is especially sweet) and quaffing their top notch Sangiovese out of grossly oversized snifters (garnished with umbrellas), all the while referring to each other in made up, foreign pen names.  Like "Monsieur Le Plume."

Plus, you can watch them make wine at the Factory...amusing and educational!  (Really, they  are fun guys and you can see how they make their absolutely great wines.  Neat.)

Check out this shot of the owners (above) and you will know who you are talking to when you attend the Manassas Fest on Sunday.  Michael Matthews is on the left wearing a stylish golf beenie.  Michael Sawyers is on the other left, greedily clutching for his own an entire bottle of fine, fine red.  Nobody knows who belongs to the ghost hands floating on either side of this photo, but they appear thirsty.  

Check out more Festival detailed info here: 

http://media.visitmanassas.org/events/viewevent.aspx?id=2051 

Photo Credit:  Steve Urry, HMI Marketing and Events Coordinator.  Thank you, Steve!

Manassas Police Department Association Commemorative Run For Fallen Officer

Manassas, Virginia Officer John D. Conner the 3rd tragically fell in the line of duty.  

The City of Manassas honors his memory in many ways, including an annual 5-k run.  His next run is to occur  May 2, 2009.

A. Guy Studio was asked to design promotional materials for this event.  A  sample is shown here.  This sample is of a running banner to be used throughout the marathon route...the route that helps in the effort of promoting Officer Connor's brave memory.  

It features his badge and standing honor guard, as well as the traditional black/blue/black stripes worn in honor of a fallen officer.

Any person wishing to participate in this race, either running or volunteering to help the organization of the event, would be certainly welcome.  Please contact the Manassas City Police Association (MCPA).

We appreciate your support.

The Manassas Museum asked A. Guy Studio to design a logo in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the battles of Manassas/Bull Run.

(Town names were used by Rebels and natural markings were used by Yankees, for labeling  battle engagements.  Manassas is the nearby town.  Bull Run is the name of a local creek, known by the local term as a "run").

This logo shows the First National Flag of the the Confederacy on the left, the American flag on the right.  An authentic cannon used to win the battle of First Manassas for the Confederacy is shown in the middle.  It is on display on the Museum grounds.

The "printer's ornaments and frames" are of the period and totally authentic, though altered slightly for design purposes.

This logo will be used for various branding and promotional purposes via the City of Manassas Museum.  Those interested in this this logo, this commemorative or products related to this historic event, can be reached by contacting "Echoes," the Museum store.  

Please see the link in my "Favorites" list on the right of this page, near the top.