The ‘City of Riesling’ event is a festival celebrating Northern Michigan wine and the region’s most vibrant varietal, riesling. The star of the show—which runs from Saturday, July 26th to Monday the 28th in Traverse City—will be Berlin-based wine scholar Stuart Pigott, whose book, Best White Wine on Earth, is an oeno-ode to riesling. In anticipation of the event, Pigott supplied a few recommendations of top-notch Northern Michigan rieslings that should be in our glasses this summer.  For a run-down of goings-on at the ‘City of Riesling’ event, scroll to the bottom of the article.

Tickets to select ‘City of Riesling’ events are available at MyNorthTickets.com.


Pigott’s picks: Northern Michigan Rieslings

Stuart says geeks and neophytes alike will delight in these showpiece rieslings from the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas. Look for wines from the 2012 vintage to show more fleshy, exotic fruit character, while the 2013’s have classically zippy acidities.

City of Riesling Schedule

Party with Stuart Pigott and our local riesling rock stars at this bacchanalian blitz, July 26–28, in Traverse City. Attend all or some. Saturday: Riesling Showcase at area wineries. Sunday: Riesling Oyster Riot at The Little Fleet; screening Pigott’s film Watch your Back—A Riesling Movie at Bijou by the Bay; The Night of 100 Rieslings at Clinch Park, with a pop-up bar of 100 rieslings from around the world. Monday: Salon Riesling at The Franklin, a book launch and all-day series of curated tastings and TED-style talks on, you guessed it, riesling. More at CityOfRiesling.com.


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