Wine Tasting with Eric Asimov at Arverne East

Join us at the beautiful new Arverne East Welcome Center to get a taste of RISE's coastal resiliency and education work in the dune presearve. Claire Weisz principal of and designer of the Welcome Center will do a short presentation on the building design as well as share details on the hisotry of her studio's long term collaborations with RISE. Then New York Times Chief Wine Critic Eric Asimov will lead a wine-tasting, transporting participants to a wine tour of Spain. Learn why Asimov recently described Spain as Light bites proved from local Chef Pasquale Martinelli and Cuisine by Claudette.

Tickets are $200pp and all proceeds go to support the new one-acre, community-owned and operated Arverne East Native Plant Nursery, Seed Bank, and Educational Garden, as well as for staff, internships, and volunteer opportunities to maintain it. Seats are limited and advance tickets can be purchased directly through , select RISE Fundraiser in the dropdown menu. Note: simply RSVPing on EventBrite without purchasing a ticket will not reserve your seat.

About the Project

The Native Plant Nursery and Educational Gardens are adjacent to the Arverne East Welcome Center, at Beach 44th St, and are the only Community Owned and Operated Native Plant Nursery in the Rockaways, intended to grow native shoreline plants, exclusively for the 10 mile Rockaway Dune Preserve that runs along the length of the Boardwalk.

The project will employ a trained team of local residents (the "Dune Squad") to maintain the new garden space and also be used to serve more than 1,000 Rockaway public school children annually through the Living Classroom School Program. Over the past 18 years, RISE has a long track record of working with the local community to revitalize miles of neglected public space, to use for educational programming, training and to create a natural dune buffer to protect against storm surge and flooding.

About Eric Asimov

Eric Asimov is the chief wine critic of The New York Times and the author of “How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto,’’ published by William Morrow, and “Wine With Food: Pairing Notes and Recipes From The New York Times,’’ written with recipes by Florence Fabricant and published by Rizzoli. His column appears in the Food section of The Times. He is on Twitter and Instagram, @EricAsimov. A collection of his columns is included in “The New York Times Book of Wine,’’ published by Sterling Epicure.

Access Notes

The event will be on the 2nd floor balcony and community room . There are no elevators, but ADA compliant ramp is available for wheelchair users and those who cannot use stairs. Free Parking Lot is available for those driving to the event.

Host or Publisher Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability & Equity