Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Chardonnay

Food pairings: A versatile companion for small bites and entertaining: mini grilled cheese and mushroom sandwiches, pigs in a blanket, manchego cheese, smoked salmon tarts and mini shrimp rolls, as well as grilled shrimp, citrus salads, poultry and picnic fare.

Winemaking: Field White is Hermann J. Wiemer's idea of what an everyday Finger Lakes white should be: Grüner Veltliner sets the foundation, Riesling adds aromatics and Chardonnay brings fruit. The estate fruit is hand-sorted and whole-cluster pressed, then fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts. It is a non-vintage wine, a blend of fruit from more than one vintage: every time Field White is bottled, a portion is held back as a base for the incoming fruit, which continually adds texture to each new edition. No fining additives or adjustments are used.

Vineyards and terroir: The grapes come from estate blocks along Seneca Lake, where the fields are a mosaic of silt loam soils over limestone and shale bedrock. The lake extends the growing season and creates thousands of mesoclimates in which aromatic vinifera varieties thrive, and the vineyards are farmed without herbicides in a program that puts the health of the whole ecosystem first.

Family and history: Hermann J. Wiemer, who grew up with Riesling in Germany, came to the Finger Lakes in the 1960s and became one of the pioneers of vinifera grapes in the region. He bought his land on Seneca Lake in 1973, founded his grapevine nursery in 1974 and established the winery in 1979. His experimental early plantings included dozens of varieties, a spirit of exploration the estate continues today. In 2007 Hermann handed the winery to his former apprentice, winemaker Fred Merwarth, and Fred's partner Oskar Bynke.

In the pictures: Crimson clover cover crop between the vines at the Josef Vineyard; winemaker Fred Merwarth hand-sorting grapes; and the Hermann J. Wiemer winery above Seneca Lake (photos courtesy of Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard).