E Pluribus Vinum: Finger Lakes Wine Is Presidential Pick

Stu Gallagher Photography

Okay, so maybe none of us at Fresh Dirt scored tickets to the 57th Inauguration, but we can still clink glasses with President Obama!  The Inaugural Luncheon on Monday, January 21 featured a delicious representative of the Finger Lakes: the 2010 Tierce Dry Riesling.

Tierce is a blend created by three Finger Lakes winemakers: Peter Bell at Fox Run Vineyards, David Whiting at Red Newt Cellars, and Johannes Reinhardt at Anthony Road Wine Company.  Since 2006, the three have been blending their best Dry Rieslings into finished product they believe is greater than the sum of its parts.  Think of it as a winemaker’s spin on e pluribus unum.

Alex Peartree, manager of Red Newt’s wine club, Newt Crú, explains, “It was an honor to have that wine chosen, because it not only exemplifies a specific winery, but the region as a whole.  Riesling is the number one grape in the region, so it was a phenomenal point of recognition for the Finger Lakes Region to have that poured for President Obama.”

Tierce is a limited-production wine, with around 300 cases produced every year.  Unsurprisingly, all three wineries are close to selling out of the 2010 vintage.  The Anthony Road Wine Company estimates they have eight cases left; Scott Osborn, President of Fox Run, says they have only three cases remaining; and Red Newt claims to be down to their very last case—except, of course, for the wine they’ve set aside to be served at the adjoining Red Newt Bistro.

So if you want to toast the inauguration with a presidential wine, you can’t afford to wait four more years.

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