Ascentia Issues Vague Denial of Insolvency

Ascentia Wine Estates (AWE) offered a vague email denial yesterday to Kevin McCallum’s extensive Press-Democrat article about the W.J. Deutsch’s lawsuit alleging AWE is insolvent.

McCallum wrote a follow-up article in today’s Press Democrat: CEO Claims Ascentia OK

While asserting that Deutsch’s litigation was “phony,” AWE’s denial was devoid of details or specifics.

The statement from AWE’s PR firm is presented below, complete and unedited.

AWE DENIAL

From Jim DeBonis, CEO of Ascentia Wine Estates:

“W.J. Deutsch & Sons, our former sales and marketing agent, has filed a phony lawsuit and then used it as the pretext for launching a publicity campaign against Ascentia Wine Estates. Their claim that Ascentia is a failing business is false: the only thing that failed was our reliance on Deutsch to effectively distribute our wine. That relationship is over, and we have entered into direct distribution relationships with major wine distributors in every part of the country. We have complete confidence in our growth strategy, which we are already executing. Deutsch has its own agenda — and apparently thinks that spreading negative information about us will further that scheme. It is disappointing to see how quickly Deutsch can transform itself from a business partner with a stake in our success to an adversary that seems to be hoping for our failure.

Our attorneys will deal with Deutsch’s lawsuit. Our focus is on taking our wine business to the next level, something that Deutsch did not do.”