Helping to shake the walls at an upcoming weeknight show from Georgia metal stalwarts Dead Reckoning will be a sizable contingent of Granite State acts. Female-fronted metal band Sepsiss, raw power trio Abel Blood and hard rockers Edgewize all hail from New Hampshire. Deathcore quartet Mark of Wrath comes from close by; they’re based in Rhode Island.
Finally, there’s Dust Prophet, a Manchester four-piece that formed in the months before the pandemic and polished its sound through lockdown. In January they released a debut album, One Last Look Upon the Sky, that’s a master class in stoner rock, the gloomy metal-limned sound forged by Black Sabbath and later refined by bands like Kyuss and Electric Wizard.
Guitarist Otto Kinzel and Sarah Wappler, who plays bass and keys, came together around a love of heavy riffs. The two were previously in an industrial-rock band called Fiends of a New Republic; they wanted to try something different.
“I didn’t have a passion to get back into using a lot of electronics,” Kinzel explained in a recent phone interview. “I just wanted it to be guitar-bass-drums, more stripped down and straightforward … just focusing on being heavy.”
In bringing their shared influences together, “It was Sarah who heavily drove that train,” Kinzel said. “She wrote a huge amount of the riffs that are on the album. She really deserves to be credited. We’re all listed as songwriters because we collaborated on the songs and melded them all together, but she was nine times out of ten the one bringing the riffs to the table.”
With Wappler churning out one heavy chord after another, and Kinzel penning lyrics worthy of slasher films, finding a drummer turned out to be their biggest challenge.
“It was like a Saturday Night Live skit in some parts, I mean, it was just unbelievable,” Kinzel recalled. “Some of the people that answered the ad that would come to audition and have zero preparation.”
Finally a fellow guitarist pointed them to drummer Tyler MacPherson, and the group was complete, mostly. Jason Doyle, a longtime friend of Kinzel’s, had mixed and mastered Dust Prophet in the studio. When the group finally began playing out, Kinzel decided he wanted to concentrate on singing, so he recruited Doyle to play guitar at their early shows.
“I was singing and playing at the same time, and I was at 50 percent … not great at either one,” Kinzel said. “Jason already knew all the songs because he did all the postproduction on them, and he’s also a great guitar player. He played a couple of dates with us and immediately went from being a live guitar player to a full-fledged member of the band.”
Adding Doyle shifted their sound. “We’re still very much a doom metal band, but there’s a bit more of a progressive element,” Kinzel observed. “I’m working in more live audio samples for interludes, more synth. In the studio, we overdubbed tons of secondary drums … congas and other hand percussion instruments are layered in and out. With me not playing guitar live, it frees me up to do that, to incorporate some of that live.”
Beyond that, the plan is to go back in the studio and document their new musical direction. “Artistically, we want to keep moving forward, and we’ve already started recording material for the next album,” Kinzel said. “We’re going to do an EP with a couple of cuts from the first album reimagined, and then maybe one or two brand new songs…. Our goal is to level up with each release.”
Kinzel is keen to do a hometown show.
“This is the first time we’ve played Manchester in 2023,” he said. “We’re always jumping at the opportunity because we get a pretty good turnout. It’s one of the few times our friends and family can come to shows because it’s a relatively local event. We know several of the other bands. We’ve played with Abel Blood before, we’ve played with Sepsiss before. We’ll see some friends and just go hang out.”
Dead Army Takeover Tour When: Tuesday, June 6, 7 p.m. Where: Jewel Music Venue, 61 Canal St., Manchester Tickets: $15 at eventbrite.com
Halle Bailey is a mermaid who wants to be up where the people are in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, another one of these live-action “OK, sure, but why?” adaptations of a classic animated movie.
Yes, I know, “money, dummy” is the “why” of the existence of these live-action adaptations. I just think some additional motivation to revisit these stories would also be cool.
Mermaid Ariel (Bailey) likes collecting the human stuff she finds from shipwrecks in ye olde ocean and is generally curious about the human world. Humans and their world are garbage, stay away — is her father King Triton’s (Javier Bardem) point of view because humans killed your mother! Which feels like a thing the movie should really unpack more but that’s not the way it goes.
Ariel sees a Pirates of the Caribbean-y ship one evening and hangs out to watch the men shoot fireworks, carouse and just generally be human-y. But then a storm rolls in fast and tosses the boat around and stuff catches fire and it’s a big “abandon ship!” mess. Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), the cute human whom Ariel had been watching, gets everyone to safety, even his friendly dog, but then is tossed deep into the ocean. Ariel rescues him and takes him back to the shore, singing her mermaid siren song at him to wake him up. He falls in love with the music and the fuzzy image he gets of her as he wakes up; she takes off as soldiers show up to rescue him.
Eric gets a little more to him than I remember from the cartoon that, admittedly, I haven’t seen since forever. Here, he’s not so much a “to the manor born” guy but an adopted child of the Queen (Noma Dumezweni) and he is really intent on opening his country’s trade ports. Also he gets his own “I wish” song all about wanting to find the woman who saved him. It feels at first like the movie is setting up some kind of significant plot thing for Eric but it isn’t really — it’s just giving him an inch more dimension without really working that in to the way the story unfolds.
Back to Ariel. Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), who is the sister of Triton (but an octo-person rather than a merperson like him), slinks around the dark recesses of the ocean, still mad that her brother got the ocean crown rather than her. Again, seems like an interesting bit of story but the movie just sort of leaves it hanging out there. When she learns of Ariel’s new love for a human person in addition to her long-known desire to be in the land of whozits and whatzits and forks, Ursula has her eel buddies drag Ariel to her creepy lair and convinces her to make a trade — Ursula will give Ariel a three-day loaner pair of human legs if Ariel will leave her voice as collateral. Also, she has to get Eric to kiss her in those three days or Ariel will be Ursula’s, er, indentured servant? Unpaid intern? In the movie she says something like “you’ll be mine” and Ariel agrees. As we learn, Ursula just wants custody of Ariel so that she can bargain with Triton and this feels like a whole lotta business to go through just to get to that point, especially for a sea witch who can do magic.
Human Ariel makes it to the surface of the ocean and gets hauled into a boat by a fisherman who brings her to the palace. She is given food and clothes and introduced to the prince and they become buds, even though Ariel can’t talk and Eric is still looking for the mystery girl with the pretty singing voice. Along to provide chat to the audience when Ariel can’t are crab Sebastian (voice of Daveed Diggs), fish Flounder (voice of Jacob Tremblay) and bird Scuttle (voice of Awkwafina).
There is a moment when Eric sees Ariel and she’s all excited that It’s Happening, her plan to be a person and find her crush is working out, and then he doesn’t recognize her. He’s looking for the voice and she’s given that up. Her letdown is a nice emotional note — she understands in that moment that her decisions made in a fit of teenage-like anger and longing have consequences she hadn’t considered. It’s also maybe the only time that I felt like I was watching a person in a life and not a character on a set. A really well-costumed character on a very pretty set in a world that has been crafted as, like, a little bit Jamaica, a little bit Bridgerton. I mean, cool, but this is still largely a movie that feels like all the thinking really went in to the look of things and then the rest of the movie, including any emotional heart it might have, was just left to float along. The talking fish is impressive, the mermaids are eye-catching, the underwater scenes mostly look good and have a kind of logic to their physical nature. The characters, their emotions and even the songs are flat and feel like they have the volume turned down.
Which brings me back to the “why.” The movie seemed to have some thoughts on “why” to tell this story — there’s the “kid going into the world over parental objections” bit and some riffing on the idea of one’s voice, both literal and metaphoric. But it never picks a lane and gets specific — even about whose desires are driving the plot. I feel like the movie did a lot of laudable work to get everybody there, to find talented people and put them in the position to look credibly like sea creatures and olden-day people in a visually interesting physical space. Now it just needs to figure out why they are there and what story they are telling. C+
Rated PG for action/peril and some scary images, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Rob Marshall with a screenplay by David Magee, The Little Mermaid is two hours and 15 minutes long and distributed in theaters by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. If between now and when this movie inevitably hits Disney+ you need two hours and 15 minutes of air conditioning in a dark room where you (the adult) can relax and maybe snooze while the children in your care eat popcorn and are basically entertained, this is probably fine for that. Little kids might get freaked out by a brief shark chase at the beginning and some Ursula villainy by the end.
Foodies will get a unique opportunity to discover the Gate City’s culinary scene during the annual Taste of Downtown Nashua, returning for a 27th year on Wednesday, June 7. Presented by the Nashua-based nonprofit Great American Downtown, the event pairs nearly two dozen area restaurants with participating businesses for a night of exclusive food and drink sampling.
“We have 20 stops, which is the most we’ve had in a few years,” Great American Downtown executive director Carolyn Walley said. “The tradition of the event is that there will be a flow of attendees going through the shops, and so you get a two-in-one experience. You get to check out the shops and the restaurants at the same time. … You also leave the event completely full, so you don’t have to buy dinner that night. I get messages from a lot of people saying that they like to go with their family and walk around downtown to try everything, and it’s fun.”
Pandemic woes forced the Taste of Downtown to pause for two years before it was able to return in full force last year. As a result, the 2022 event featured several first-time participants.
“It was so great to see Main Street buzzing again,” Walley said of last year’s Taste of Downtown. “That was the first time that a lot of us had seen such a crowd on Main Street in a couple of years. I think we sold about 750 tickets last year, and we’re expecting the same this time.”
Ticket holders will receive a map with a designated number for each assigned stop, featuring a participating restaurant or food truck paired up with another downtown retail business. Three outdoor areas of live local music — New Hampshire-based alternative rock band Hunter, Nashua group The Humans Being and the Nick Goumas Jazz Quartet — are also part of the experience.
The event is timed perfectly for attendees to discover Mike’s Italian Kitchen, which recently just rebranded from MT’s Local Kitchen & Wine Bar within the last several weeks. Walley said they plan to serve miniature Italian sausage subs, while their sister restaurant, Surf, will serve tiramisu.
Rambling House Food & Gathering and The Hidden Pig, two other local eateries that have joined Nashua’s dining scene within the last year, are also participating for the first time.
“This year we’ve really expanded our horizons from what downtown is usually considered,” Walley said. “We usually have it from City Hall to the Hunt Building and then east and west a few blocks. But we’ve expanded more down toward South Main Street, and so Root Awakening Kava Bar is participating, and then some of the other restaurants are down there. … I think downtown is naturally growing, so we’re trying to expand our normal perspective of it.”
In addition to the foods, of-age attendees will have access to two craft beer stops courtesy of Bellavance Beverage Co., at The Hidden Pig and The Peddler’s Daughter. Taste of Downtown tickets can be purchased in advance online via Eventbrite, and are also available the day of.
“I pair the businesses together and then it’s really up to them to collaborate … with coming up with the display and the offerings and things like that,” Walley said. “So it really generates a great sense of community between the businesses, which is what I like most about it.”
27th annual Taste of Downtown Nashua When: Wednesday, June 7, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Where: Main Street and several connecting side streets across downtown Nashua Cost: $45 per person, which includes access to all the provided food samples (and beer samples for attendees ages 21+); tickets can be purchased online through Eventbrite Visit: downtownnashua.org/taste Maps of participating locations, which include parking guides, are available online or can be picked up at Scontsas Fine Jewelry (169-173 Main St.), CasaNova Men’s Boutique (147 Main St.) and Fresh of Nashua (178 Main St.) on the day of the event.
Participating food and beverage purveyors
Bellavance Beverage Co. (bellavancebev.com; beer stops will be at The Hidden Pig and The Peddler’s Daughter)
Caribbean Breeze (caribbeanbreeze-restaurant.com; paired with PRG Rugs)
Casa Vieja Mexican Grill (ordercasaviejamexicangrilltequilabar.com; paired with Enterprise Bank)
Cravings Cafe & Gift Shop (find them on Facebook @cravingscafe.nashua; paired with NBT Bank)
Edible Arrangements (ediblearrangements.com; paired with Purple Finch Properties)
Giant of Siam (giantofsiam.com; paired with Glorious Possibilities)
The Hidden Pig (thehiddenpig.com; paired with the Nashua Center for the Arts)
JajaBelle’s (jajabelles.com; paired with Meredith & Greene Candle Bar)
Mike’s Italian Kitchen (mikesitaliankitchennh.com; paired with CasaNova Men’s Boutique)
The Peddler’s Daughter (thepeddlersdaughter.com; paired with the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen)
Rambling House Food & Gathering (ramblingtale.com; paired with Tangled Roots Herbal)
Riverwalk Bakery & Cafe (riverwalknashua.com; paired with Fresh of Nashua)
Root Awakening Kava Bar (rootawakeningkava.com; paired with Creative Vibes)
Soel Sistas (soelsistas.com; paired with Fortin Gage Flowers & Gifts)
Stella Blu (stellablu-nh.com; paired with Bar Harbor Bank & Trust)
Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream (subzeroicecream.com; paired with Nashua Coins & Collectibles)
Surf (surfseafood.com; paired with Wilfred’s Barber Shop)
Tostao’s Tapas — Bar (tostaostapasbar.com; paired with Scontsas Fine Jewelry)
Nashua Chamber Orchestra performs piece director wrote during pandemic
With the 2022-2023 season coming to a close, David Feltner, music director for Nashua Chamber Orchestra, is debuting a piece that he wrote during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s a musical journey of how we heard about this strange disease, and … about isolation, uncertainty and anxiety,” Feltner said.
The piece, titled “From the Depths,” was originally composed as a solo on the viola, Feltner’s primary instrument. As the pandemic went on, Feltner said, he thought more of his friends and colleagues in the Nashua Chamber Orchestra and found himself transcribing sections of the piece into a full orchestration.
Now, Feltner said, he can’t imagine the piece any other way. It begins with a low rumbling on the timpani, to start a feeling of unease. That feeling progresses throughout the music.
“There’s dissonance from the horns, they’re three half-steps apart, and you get this knot in your stomach, this underlying ‘ugh’ feeling that keeps coming back in different ways through the peace,” Feltner said, adding that there is ultimately a resolve into harmony at the end of the piece, to represent coming to terms with the pandemic. “I’m hoping people will identify with that journey.”
The main section of the concert will be Wolfgang Mozart’s 39th Symphony. Before that piece, the concert will feature “Woodland Sketches No. 6-10” by Edward MacDowell, a composer who spent many summers in New Hampshire and whose music often took inspiration from the Granite State’s scenery.
Feltner said the Nashua Chamber Orchestra tries to tie a program together either thematically or through composition, and he feels that his music meets both of those ideas.
Mozart has a distinct style that people often recognize. Feltner said that, from a composition standpoint, he also leaves his own fingerprint on his music, using canons and imitation.
When it comes to MacDowell, Feltner said both of their compositions are describing something.
“He was kind of recreating a scene that he had seen,” Feltner said. “A personal response to a place or situation … his is more programmatic, mine is more abstract.”
Feltner hopes people listen and feel the emotions in the music.
“Music, I feel, should touch the heart, and of course engage the mind,” Feltner said. “Music doesn’t have to be a concrete thing, but it has to express something.”
Mozart and Friends When: Saturday, June 3, at 7:30 p.m. Where: Nashua Community College (505 Amherst St.)Sunday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m. at Milford Town Hall (1 Union Square) Price: $20 for adults, $15 for college students, seniors, and active military/veterans, free for students ages 18 and younger Visit: nco-music.org
Discover new wines as NH moves its Wine Week celebration to a sunnier season
New Hampshire Wine Week, traditionally a late January affair, has been moved to June for the first time in its nearly 20-year history. Internationally renowned winemakers will once again travel to the Granite State to participate in a week of tastings, seminars and dinners, culminating with the rebranded New England Wine Spectacular. The annual expo-style wine tasting is returning for an 18th year on Thursday, June 15, and will feature thousands of wines to taste from around the world — sometimes poured and handed out by the winemakers themselves — plus a variety of locally prepared food options for pairing.
Last held in its traditional format in January 2020, New Hampshire Wine Week transitioned to a series of virtual tastings at the height of the pandemic the following year. Rising Covid-19 numbers by early January 2022 again forced the cancellation of the event, just two weeks before it was scheduled to take place. Now anticipation for the Spectacular’s return in full force is high among winemakers and organizers.
“What we’re seeing is an anxiousness for people to congregate again. I definitely get that sense with a lot of the winemakers and the brokerage community,” said Justin Gunter, wine beverage marketing specialist for the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. “We really want to take the foundation of the event that has been built over all this time and keep increasing that visibility.”
Lorrie Piper, the NHLC’s chief marketing officer, said that despite the date changes, the plan is to keep New Hampshire Wine Week mostly in the same format as in pre-pandemic years. While the Spectacular is on that Thursday, it will be surrounded by a week’s worth of other events, from wine dinners at local restaurants to bottle signings at several of the nearly 70 Liquor & Wine Outlet stores statewide.
The NHLC regularly monitors consumer trends that sometimes influence what you may discover at these events. Wines and spirits in the ready-to-drink category, for instance, are on the rise — Piper said the sheer number of RTD products on the shelves of each store rose by about 30 percent in 2022 from 2021.
“For the RTDs, I think you’re seeing people who are going to get out this summer, and they are looking for that kind of grab-and-go, thrown in your cooler sort of thing, heading out to your picnic or whatever you’re doing outside,” she said. “We continually get presented with new concoctions and things that are brand new to the market. … I think customers are leaning toward the brands that they already know and are comfortable with, and just kind of parlaying that into these ready-to-drink options as well.”
A spectacle of wines
The premier event of New Hampshire Wine Week, the New England Wine Spectacular will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown. Since its inception, the Spectacular has become known as one of the largest wine tasting events in the country, boasting around 1,700 different products to try from regions all over the world. Attendees will also be able to meet face to face with many of the wine industry’s most well-known personalities throughout the evening, and can learn more or ask questions about their products.
“It’s really a great opportunity to get everybody together again, and to celebrate wine and everything that is,” Gunter said. “Wine enthusiasts of any level, from the very beginner who is starting to explore the world of wine … all the way to the wine aficionado, will have that opportunity to go to places they’ve never been able to go.”
Expected visitors of this year’s Spectacular hail from all over the West Coast, including in California’s Napa and Sonoma counties, as well as some European countries like France and Italy, and even below the equator in nations like Argentina. New Hampshire winemakers also join in on the fun with offerings of their own — LaBelle Winery of Amherst and Derry, Sweet Baby Vineyard of Hampstead and Zorvino Vineyards of Sandown are among those representing the Granite State.
Along with the thousands of wines, the Spectacular will have a variety of exclusive silent auction items available to bid on, and food samples from around 30 participating restaurants.
“They will primarily have … dishes on single-serve plates. It’s basically hors d’oeuvres, amuse-bouche types of servings,” Gunter said. “[The food is] not really designed to be the feature of the show, but it is designed to enhance the pairings of the two. … Most of the restaurants that are going to be supporting us are local, and so it’s an opportunity for them to present some of their fare and get their name out as well.”
The NHLC has developed an app for this year’s Spectacular that will be designed to help attendees navigate the wine purveyors. Gunter added that each table will offer a recipe submitted by the winemakers or wine representatives themselves for an item that pairs with at least one of their wines.
“From what I’ve seen, the recipes are all over the place from desserts to main courses. It really does run the gamut,” he said. “It’ll be a little bit more of an immersive experience our guests can take with them … that doesn’t just fade away over the course of the next week. … We’ve collected well over 100 recipes already and ultimately the goal is to have one at every single table.”
Proceeds from this year’s Spectacular will benefit the New Hampshire Food Bank, a program of Catholic Charities New Hampshire. According to Nancy Mellitt, the Food Bank’s director of development, the nonprofit distributed more than 16 million pounds of food statewide in 2022.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the New Hampshire Liquor Commission … [and] to be the nonprofit beneficiary,” Mellitt said. “Our primary focus is the distribution of food to more than 400 partner agencies throughout the state, so that is your food pantries, your soup kitchens, your after-school and senior programs and more. Then in addition to that, we have our outreach programs, and so this … will help support all that we encompass.”
Tastes of Tuscany
The night before the Spectacular, on Wednesday, June 14, the NHLC will host “Perfect Pairings,” a multi-course sampling of Italian foods and wines at the Manchester Country Club in Bedford. Cristina Mariani-May, the president and CEO of Banfi Wines, will be in attendance to present some of her company’s offerings, each paired with four courses and a dessert courtesy of Chef Edward Aloise of Republic Consulting. Aloise, formerly of Republic Cafe and Campo Enoteca, two award-winning eateries in downtown Manchester, will also be joined in the kitchen by Manchester Country Club executive chef Dan Henry.
Aloise’s menu for the evening will focus on recipes he has previously used at both Republic Cafe and Campo Enoteca that were influenced by his trips to Tuscany, Italy, as well as his own research into the region’s culinary traditions. Mariani-May, a third-generation winemaker, regularly splits her time between New York and the Castello Banfi vineyard estate in Montalcino, a town in southern Tuscany that has more than 7,000 acres of land she oversees. “[Aloise] created a very special menu that pairs with the wines of Banfi, and so I think it’s going to be a really amazing treat for people to be walked through the menu and the wines they are tasting, and pairing them together,” Piper said. “It’s going to be a phenomenal night.”
More happenings
If you can’t make either the Spectacular or the “Perfect Pairings” samplings, New Hampshire Wine Week is filled with dozens of other events. The multi-course wine dinners, for instance, are often attended by the winemakers themselves, the food served in a uniquely intimate setting. Piper said one of their own wines is served with each course, and they will typically go over the notes detected in that wine and the reasoning behind its food pairing.
Many winemakers will also hold bottle signings and wine tastings at various Liquor & Wine Outlet stores — most of those run for two hours and are free to walk-in visitors.
“I think you’ll find that most of the winemakers like being out in stores as much as we love having them there,” Gunter said. “They like the representation of the product and the partnership that we try to create.”
Piper said a master list of each bottle signing and wine dinner can be found online at nhwineweek.com and will continue to be updated right up until the week begins.
“We’re making it sort of the destination for Wine Week activity, so it’s one place to learn everything that they want to learn about what’s going on that week,” she said.
Meet the wine expert: Cristina Mariani-May
Cristina Mariani-May
President and CEO, Banfi Wines, banfiwinesusa.com
Cristina Mariani-May is the third-generation proprietor of Banfi, the company founded by her grandfather, John Mariani Sr., in 1919. The globally recognized wine brand is perhaps best known for its more than 7,000-acre Castello Banfi vineyard estate in Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy. Banfi’s domestic portfolio also includes Pacific Rim & Co. and Rainstorm, two Pacific Northwest-based collections of brands respectively located in Washington State and Oregon, and its ownership even extends to Natura wines, produced by Emiliana Organic Vineyards in Chile. Mariani-May joined Banfi in 1993, shortly after completing her studies at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. She is a longtime participant of New Hampshire Wine Week — you’ll find her both at this year’s Spectacular and during a special “Perfect Pairings” sampling event at the Manchester Country Club in Bedford on Wednesday, June 14, presenting Banfi’s wines alongside a thoughtfully crafted multi-course menu from award-winning chef Edward Aloise.
What will you be pouring at the New England Wine Spectacular?
We’ll be pouring our flagship, which is our Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino. [It’s made with] 100 percent sangiovese [grapes] and is one of our most beautiful wines. … We’ll be having our Gavi, [which is] called Principessa Gavia Gavi, and our Rosa Regale, which is our red sparkling dessert wine. [It’s] a little sweet. That one comes from Piedmont, Italy, and is always a hit at the show. [We will also have] our San Angelo pinot grigio, [and] our Chianti Classico Riserva, so quite a broad selection.
What makes your wines unique?
The ones we make from Italy have been developed over 40 years, really with pioneering research. We came to the area as Americans, which is very unusual. We ended up amassing 7,100 acres, so it’s one of the largest contiguous properties in all of Italy, but only one-third of it is dedicated to vineyards. The rest is a sustainable estate with agriculture. … So, what is so unique about our wines is that when we came to the area it was all virgin soil. From 1978 going forward, we paired up with the greatest oenology universities in the world — Bordeaux, Pisa, Milan, Davis — and we became a research center. We researched not only the Sangiovese grapes for brunello, but also with pinot grigio, merlot, syrah, [and] a lot of French varieties that had never existed in Italy. … So, really why Banfi Wines has done so well over time is because we have this constant, consistent and outstanding quality while also being 100 percent sustainable from when my family came to virgin land. … Because we are an experimental center, we are constantly improving and adjusting so that we can have the most outstanding quality in the most sustainable manner, vintage after vintage.
What are some trends you have noticed recently in the wine world?
Italian white wines that are alternatives to pinot grigio are definitely very trendy. … We have two whites that we look forward to showing. One is our Principessa Gavia Gavi, which is made from cortese grapes, and the other one that is doing so well is our La Pettegola Vermentino. … The Brunello di Montalcino, which is a classic red wine, has also not slowed down. People want heritage, they want authenticity, they want provenance, and they get that from the Brunello di Montalcino. … There’s definitely a premiumization that’s still continuing.
What do you look forward to the most about New Hampshire Wine Week?
What I like the most, really, is just the camaraderie and the joy that all the consumers get from coming to this event. … I’ve been to tastings all over the world, and sometimes you get people that just don’t really care much — they just want to drink. The difference I’ve always found in New Hampshire is that people come from all over New England, and they are really interested in learning even if they don’t know a lot about wine. And, I think that’s the most fun, is that we really resonate well with consumers.
Meet the wine expert: Tom Zack
Tom Zack
Wine director, Zorvino Vineyards, zorvino.com
Located on 80 acres in Sandown, Zorvino Vineyards began as a hobby for founders Jim and Cheryl Zanello. They purchased the property in 2000 after retiring, planting a few wines in their new backyard. More than two decades later Zorvino Vineyards has grown to now offer around 75 types of wines and host all kinds of events from private wedding ceremonies and receptions to Sunday brunches, special multi-course dinners and more. Tom Zack has served as Zorvino’s wine director since 2005 and has been involved in many facets of the wine business, from marketing and sales to graphic and label design, event hosting and advising on wine production. Zack has also been a board member of the New Hampshire Winery Association since 2010. Earlier this year Zorvino Vineyards was named New Hampshire Winery of the Year in 2023 by the state’s Liquor Commission.
What will you be pouring at the New England Wine Spectacular?
We have seven different varietals that are in the state system. We’ll probably bring six of the seven. … One of the ones I’m touting right now is one we call Black Widowz, which is a black currant and apple blend, which is fabulous. … One of our top-selling wines for as long as I can remember is a strawberry blend. We call it Fragole Z — we use Z in everything we can — and Fragole means strawberry in Italian. We’ll be pouring that one too. We are the first ones in New Hampshire to make a peach wine and a pear wine. We’ll have those available as well.
What makes your wines unique?
When I came into the business I was already into wine and I was already a foodie. You can make wine when the grapes grow, which is in the spring in South America and in the fall up here. However, in order to keep wine rolling all the time, we really got into making fruit wines, because you can do fruit wines at all different times of the year if you have the juice. … One of the things I wanted to do is to not make sweet fruit wines. I wanted our fruit wines to be off-dry, so they would work well with all kinds of different foods. That’s a trend that we started a long time ago, and pretty much everybody up here has followed suit.
What are some trends you have noticed recently in the wine world?
One of the trends that I’ve noticed is I’m seeing a lot more 20-somethings and early 30s folks who are really getting into wine now. … I think part of that came from the pandemic. Our patio has been rocking since the pandemic … and it’s just become a crazy place to be. We typically sell it out a week in advance, when it starts getting busier in the summer. … We wanted to set some trends in the wine industry, and that’s why we created what we call the Z Wine Labs releases. What’s really cool about them is that they are meant to come out every couple of weeks and then sell out. Every year, we run through the season with a whole different list of these wines that are really kind of exciting and new — things like peanut butter and jelly, lemon lavender and honey, and a mojito wine we have that just came out. … Kudos for Z Wine Labs go to our young winemakers, Dave Sexton and Sam Breslin.
What do you look forward to the most about New Hampshire Wine Week?
The thing I look most forward to is renewing old acquaintances. I’ve been in this business for a long time now, [and] I know some of the great winemakers that have been around. I don’t get to see them, but they show up in our backyard now at this great expo. … I also love to see what new wines the New Hampshire wineries have, and to get to try them myself, so you’ll find me behind my booth but you’ll also find me chatting with some of my compatriots in the business.
Archaeologists from Dartmouth College made significant discoveries at Weirs Beach, the Laconia Daily Sun reported, unearthing thousands of artifacts ranging from 19th-century nails and glass to arrowheads dating back as far as 8,000 years. The team conducted the dig following an archaeological radar survey and aimed to relocate areas previously identified in 1976, gaining a better understanding of the region’s past. Though the excavation posed challenges due to soil dredging during parking lot construction, resulting in a mixed layer of artifacts from different time periods, researchers were able to use visual catalog references to identify unique projectile points, including an 8,000-year-old arrowhead.
Treatment center
A ribbon cutting ceremony, attended by Gov. Chris Sununu and Commissioner Lori Weaver, was held for East Acres at Hampstead’s inaugural level 5 psychiatric residential treatment facility on Friday, May 26. The facility is the state’s only youth psychiatric treatment center and represents the highest level of mental health care available.
School funds
New Hampshire schools have been awarded a total of $1.2 million in Beyond School Enrichment Grants, allowing them to implement summer enrichment opportunities and year-round initiatives to support students’ academic and developmental needs outside of traditional school settings. According to a press release, the grants, funded by the state’s ESSER II funding, aim to prioritize recreational activities and enrichment programs before and after school, as well as during the summer months, addressing concerns around students’ mental and behavioral health. The New Hampshire Department of Education awarded grants to 56 schools, with most of the initiatives scheduled for this summer. The programs cover various areas, including equine therapy, summer camps and after-school programs with mentors. Additional funds of $125,490 are still available, and interested schools or districts can apply until the funds are exhausted.
Bike week
The 100th Laconia Motorcycle Week will begin on Saturday, June 10, with the annual Peter Makris Memorial Run, which supports a range of charitable organizations, including the Laconia Fire Department’s Life Saving Fund, Easter Seals “Veterans Count” program, Lakes Regions Emergency Response Team, Building Dreams for Marines, Belknap House for homeless families and the NH Veterans Home and has raised more than $550,000 to date. The event will begin with registration at The NazBar & Grill, opening ceremonies at The NASWA parking lot, a police-escorted ride to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, and an after-ride party back at the NazBar & Grill, which will include a lunch prepared by Boston celebrity chef Anthony Ambrose. Visit naswa.com or call 366-4341.
Wind power
Join the New Hampshire Network for Environment, Energy and Climate for a free virtual event, “Clearing the Fog: Understanding Offshore Wind in New England,” on Monday, June 5, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. According to a press release, the event, moderated by Rob Werner, New Hampshire State Director of the League of Conservation Voters, aims to debunk myths and pave the way for a better understanding of offshore wind’s potential. It will feature panelists discussing the benefits and challenges of offshore wind in New Hampshire and the broader New England region: Carol Oldham will explore the business aspects, Melissa Birchard will delve into transmission challenges, Joe O’Brien will provide insights into labor considerations and Stan Labak will address the impacts on marine biodiversity. Register at bit.ly/june5clearingthefog to secure your spot for an audience Q&A session.
Illegal robocalls
Attorney General John M. Formella has filed a lawsuit against Michael D. Lansky LLC, operating as Avid Telecom, along with owner Michael Lansky and vice president Stacey S. Reeves for allegedly initiating and facilitating billions of illegal robocalls, violating federal and state telemarketing laws like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office. Avid Telecom, a VoIP service provider, allegedly sent or attempted over 24.5 billion calls, including approximately 7.5 billion to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry and around 36.2 million to New Hampshire, the release said. They allegedly aided in routing robocalls across the country and used fake caller IDs, including millions of calls impersonating government agencies and private companies, the release said. The lawsuit is part of the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, a collaborative effort of 51 attorneys general to combat the influx of illegal robocalls in the United States. “This lawsuit is against one of the worst actors in the telecom industry … [and] represents yet another step in our efforts to hold these companies accountable and end their illegal robocalls,” Attorney General Formella said in the release.
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) will host a public open house on Thursday, June 1, at the Town of Hooksett Administrative Office Building (35 Main St.) to provide information regarding the US Route 3/NH 28 roadway improvement project from Alice Avenue to NH Route 27/Whitehall Road in Hooksett. The project, according to a press release, aims to enhance pedestrian access and traffic operations along the corridor. Attendees are welcome to drop by anytime between 2 and 4 p.m. or between 6 and 8 p.m. to obtain project information and have their questions addressed by the project team. No formal presentation or agenda is scheduled. Visit nh.gov/dot/projects/hooksett29611.
The American Independence Museum in Exeter is now part of the Blue Star Museums initiative, providing free admission to currently serving U.S. military personnel and their families through Sept. 4, according to a press release. The museum has a collection of 3,000 historic artifacts and develops programs and exhibits that honor inclusive perspectives. Visit independencemuseum.org.
The Nashua Garden Club will host its June program, “Bringing Tropical Plants Outside,” on Wednesday, June 7, at 7 p.m. at the First Baptist Church (121 Manchester St., Nashua). According to a press release, Chris Bell, Wholesale Manager of Weston Nurseries in Middleboro, Mass., will present on orchids and other tropical plants. Attendees can learn about the benefits of relocating house plants outdoors for the summer. Visit nashuangardenclub.org.
