Brehm Communications Purchases Wine Country This Week
August 1, 2005

Sonoma, CA – Wine Country This Week, a leading weekly wine magazine in Northern California, has been purchased by Brehm Communications, Inc. effective August 1, 2005.

Bill Brehm Jr., president of Brehm Communications in San Diego, announced the purchase from Doug Martin, owner and creator of Wine Country This Week.

The magazine, created in 1981, is the most widely read and only weekly publication designed and directed to provide a comprehensive guide for the millions of annual visitors to Northern California that require current information regarding wineries, restaurants, accommodations, galleries, shopping, attractions, transportation and a timely calendar of events.

Jeffrey Potts, principal of JP Media Partners, a Gold River, CA based merger-and-acquisition firm for the newspaper industry, represented the seller in the transaction.

Brehm said the publication will make “a fine fit with our company and enhance our desire to grow our cluster of Northern California publications,” based in Auburn and Roseville. He said Mr. Martin and his staff, “have done a wonderful job of making this widely read magazine the leading wine publication serving the wine country in California. The magazine reaches over 3 million readers annually through more than 1,200 distribution points throughout most of California and parts of Southern Oregon.”

“I am proud that, since 1981, Wine Country This Week has influenced more than 60 million visitors to the wine country,” Martin said. “Brehm Communications is the ideal organization to take Wine Country This Week to the next level.” Martin said he is happy to remain as a consultant to Wine Country This Week, allowing him keep in touch with his friends in the California wine country.

Chandra Grant, editor of Wine Country This Week since 2001, commented, “I am very excited to be working with Brehm Communications. We’ve been increasing our coverage of the Sierra Foothills wine country and have added 181 distribution points in the Sierra Gold Country and Central Valley in June. Now, with Brehm Communications, we can cover this area even better than anticipated while expanding in other California wine regions as well. This is a good time for us to embrace new ideas and watch our magazine continue to improve in quality and content.

Also included in the sale is the web site, WineCountryThisWeek.com, which reflects the weekly magazine with winery features, tasting room of the week, winemaker profiles, food and wine pairings complete with recipes and an in-depth calendar of events covering most of California all of which are updated weekly. In addition, the web site provides an extensive winery directory as well as restaurants, lodging, shopping and things to do in wine country.

Brehm also announced that the new publisher of Wine Country This Week will be Jerry Starcevic, a five-year veteran with Brehm Communications. “He is an excellent fit for this publication and puts us in a position to add to this group,” Brehm said. Starcevic was most recently general manager of Brehm’s direct mail and specialty division based in Bullhead City, Arizona.

Brehm Communications, Inc. is headquartered in San Diego. It was established in 1919 in Fort Madison, Iowa, where it still publishes the Daily Democrat. It now owns and operates over 50 daily, weekly and semi-weekly newspapers and shoppers in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and California.

For more information, contact Jeffrey Potts of JP Media Partners at 916-526-2693.