Wine sells fast for Alex Manfull Memorial Fund

PORTSMOUTH – Susan and William “Towny” Manfull held a wine tasting Friday, to introduce a wine created to honor the life of their daughter Alex, and the success of the fundraiser was overwhelming.

The event was held Friday at South Street & Vine, the only location where the wine was released in Portsmouth. Towny Manfull said they brought 17 cases of the rich red wine, each case containing 12 bottles, and by the end of the two-hour event, the wine, sold at $30 a bottle, was gone.

“When we lost Alex, two years ago, it left a huge hole in our hearts,” Susan said to the people who came. “You, each and every one of you, helped to mend our hearts.”

Alex Manfull died at age 26 from PANDAS (pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome), which is rare and struck quickly. Her parents said it is characterized by an acute onset of obsessions and compulsions and/or tics following a Group A streptococcal infection.

Portsmouth resident Hollis Brodrick said he read about Alex and the wine event in the Portsmouth Herald and wanted to buy a bottle to help with the research fund.

“I not only read about it, but a friend of mine in Newburyport, Massachusetts, read about it,” said Brodrick. “She called me and asked if I was going because she wanted to buy a bottle, too.”

Before the event began, the wine was already selling. Jacob Meyerkopf, son of South Street & Vine owners Robin Lurie-Meyerkopf and Rick Meyerkopf said he had sold three cases and some single bottles already.

“Tracy Dorr, a woman from Rockland, Maine, who knows Susan through the blog she writes about wine called,” said Towny. “She and Susan have talked but we never actually met her. She bought a case of wine. She also collects art from the artist who did the label.”

Portsmouth resident Pam Bowles knew Alex as a child. She came to buy a bottle and to tell the Manfulls how remarkable she thought Alex was.

“I knew she was an overachiever in the second grade,” said Bowles. “I read her newspaper, The Animal Tribune, and I bought some of the wonderful note cards she created.”

Susan said they have heard from people across the country who want to buy the wine.

COVID-19 has created a challenge for efforts to bring more wine from France.

“I think if we can get more here soon, we can easily find homes for the bottles,” said Susan Manfull.

The label was created by a world-renowned Provence painter, Gerard Isirdi, whose studio is in Lourmarin; the village where the Manfulls lived for a time.

Alex befriended Gerard and his wife Christine when we lived there as a family,” said Susan. “It is a heartwarming story about how this beautiful wine label came to be. The painting, reproduced on the wine bottle shows Alex walking down the main street in Lourmarin and the painter has put himself in the bottom left corner.”

The wine was produced by talented winemaker Madeleine Premmereur of Chateau Barbebelle in Provence.

Wine importer Jacques Navarre helped bring the wine to the United States, through distributor Vini Landia.

PANDAS symptoms can include restricted eating, separation anxiety, general anxiety, personality changes, severe mood swings, irritability, sleep disruption, ADHD-type behaviors, dysgraphia, loss of math skills, urinary frequency and incontinence, explosive rage, extreme impulsivity, and suicidal ideation. All symptoms invariably wax and wane.

PANDAS is part of a broader category of disorders called PANS (pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome), the Manfulls said, adding they present in much the same manner, but for which the trigger may not be known.

At the wine tasting, the Manfulls were encouraging people to take photos of themselves with the wine and post them to Instagram tagging @alexmanfullmemorialfund and using the hashtag #wecametothetable. On Alex’s birthday, Sept. 7, the pictures will be posted on Instagram and the Memorial Fund webpage at pandasnetwork.org/alex-manfull-memorial-fund.