RISE (Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability and Equity) held its third annual wine-tasting fundraiser on Saturday, October 3, 2026. Eric Asimov, the New York Times chief wine critic, just happens to be the father of Judah Asimov, RISE board member and former employee, and Eric led forty-two guests through a flight of wines from New York State. They included Limnad Finger Lakes Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut (2021), Ravines Finger Lakes Argetsinger Vineyard Riesling (2022), Paumanok North Fork of Long Island Minimalist Chenin Blanc (2025), Red Tail Ridge Finger Lakes Blaufränkisch (2023), and Hermann J. Wiemer Seneca Lake Cabernet Franc (2023).
Vino By the Sea specially ordered the vintages, and RISE chair, Prerana Reddy, provided flatbreads from Crustino’s, nuts, olives, grapes, crackers, and cheeses. Jeanne DuPont, RISE executive director, took visitors around the one-acre, community-owned and operated Native Plant Nursery, Seed Bank, and Educational Garden, which has burgeoned into a paradise for monarch butterflies, rabbits, bees, and all kinds of coastal birds. Fourlegged friends Billie (DuPont’s dog) and Mimi (RISE board member Andrea Belag’s dog) and two-legged children Eshen, 10, and Hunter, 8, also enjoyed romping around.
RISE board members Asimov, Christian Capasso, and Andrew Hannibal poured the five different wines into 215 glasses, and RISE staff, volunteers, supporters, and family members ended up raising not only their glasses, but also more than $7,500. All the proceeds go back into the nursery, seed bank, and garden, which are part of “Greater Rockaway” Coastal Resilience Plan, to locally grow native shoreline plants for the coastal dunes of the Rockaway peninsula.