Perhaps more than any other time of year, New Year’s Day is when we are most conscious of the very passage of time. The sentiments of the day bid us both look back and look ahead. Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames and endings, even lives on in the name given the first month of the year. The Scottish song many struggle to sing at midnight New Year’s Eve, “Auld Lang Syne,” carries the meaning “Long old times,” and prompts us to reflect on the times past that bring us to this time. Perhaps that is why this year I received so many “Happy New Year” text messages from old friends from whom I had not heard for many years.
This New Year has, however, brought an especial opportunity to reflect on time: Witness the many media sources that carried, in one form or another, the headline “A Second Pandemic Year.” Like the first, this second pandemic year has altered our experience and measurement of time. Yes, it has slowed things down, kept us at home or at least closer to it, but it has also given us new ways to mark its passage: ways that are linked to the pandemic. As many families gathered this holiday season, they acknowledged when last they were able to do so because of the pandemic. In addition, how many Thanksgiving dinners, holiday parties and other gatherings were canceled or at least reduced in attendance owing to a positive Covid test result? Such are the new markers of the times, along with, of course, the occasions of sickness or death of family members and loved ones.
In ancient folk traditions, mask wearers would gather and dance, a practice that developed in the 16th century into what was known as a “masque.” At such events, the wearing of a mask granted anonymity to a person, and although the designs of the masks could differ in ornamentation and style, all who were wearing them knew they had something in common despite those differences. Might we mask-wearers now be living through a modern version of a masque?
Perhaps at New Year’s Day 2023 we shall be able to look back to these long ago mask-wearing times and reflect on the masque of which we have all been a part. St. Augustine once wrote, “What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.” Might we know better the time this time next year?
The world is full of comedians who entered the craft after being inspired by another standup, but Corey Rodrigues came to it through the crucible of a barbershop owned by his family. Making the customers laugh came naturally, and the more he did it, the clearer it became that he was destined for bigger crowds.
However, Rodrigues was the last one to know about his career in the making.
“I never thought I would be a comedian,” he said in a recent phone interview. “People used to say I should, but I was like, that’s stupid. I don’t know how to make people laugh [who] I don’t know, and I don’t want to … I’m not a clown. I didn’t even know how that could be possible.”
So Rodrigues became a comic by acclamation, as classmates, coworkers and others urged him to give it a shot.
“It’s just in me, I’ve always been this person,” he finally realized. “There’s a funny angle at which you look at things … someone else may have thought it, but they just don’t know what to do with it. That’s not their mindset. … The blessing and curse of a comedian is you’re constantly finding something funny.”
After suffering through a few tough shows early on, he did begin to study other comics.
“I was like, I could eventually get to that … it looks easy enough,” he said. He eventually became aware of another critical standup survival skill. “If you’re delusional, you’ll stay in this business. … You have to have a level of delusion.”
Rodrigues was raised in Milton, Mass., after his troubled mother sent him and his brother to live with their grandparents — he described it as an act of mercy in an Epix Unprotected Sets episode filmed last year.
Early on, he sharpened his edge at Boston’s Improv Asylum, later winning several competitions. A key break came in 2018, when his Dry Bar Comedy Club special garnered over 40 million views, leading to a Late Night With Conan O’Brien appearance the following year.
The Dry Bar special required Rodrigues adhere to PG content, which wasn’t a difficult pivot for him, as he already had a long resume working on cruise ships.
“I do churches, colleges, corporate gigs, everything,” he said. “If you have enough material, you could talk about your balls and something very vanilla at the same time and still make it funny. It was probably one of the best experiences I ever had. … I killed that set.”
He’s done some other unconventional things, like appearing on Mike Huckabee’s show in Nashville a few months back.
“I want to make it [out to] be worse than it was, but it was actually pretty cool,” he said of the experience. “I don’t agree at all with what he said after, when we talked, but he knew my jokes [and] everybody’s gotta laugh.”
Further evidence of Rodrigues’s inclusive comedy was found in Corey’s Stories, a family-friendly livestream he did with his son in the early days of the pandemic. The two read books together, told jokes and invited their audience to call in to answer trivia questions for prizes.
“I had a lot of friends complaining about being stuck at home, kids getting on their nerves and everything, so I created something to kind of give people a break,” he said.
Does Rodrigues have plans for his son to follow in his footsteps?
“I’m not really grooming him for that, but he already knows how to hold his own,” he said. “He showed me that in the show, which was pretty awesome.”
Corey Rodrigues, Kyle Crawford and Alex Giampapa
When: Friday, Jan. 14, 8 p.m. Where: Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry Tickets: $22 at tupelohall.com
A group of bad-ass international spy-type ladies kick some international bad-guy butt in the big bucket of movie theater popcorn that is The 355 — or, at least, that’s the movie I wanted to see.
In actuality, while that description basically holds, The 355 is something less than that. These are all awesome actresses, all in their 40s no less, who all get a chance to kick and punch and throw elbows, taking down countless henchmen. They get to be tough, walk tough, dress tough — and dress fancy during one part of their mission. And yet the movie never revs up. Every time the movie is about to get going, it feels like the energy just dissipates.
CIA agent Mace (Jessica Chastain) and fellow agent (and longtime friend) Nick (Sebastian Stan) are tasked with going to Paris to meet with a rogue Colombian intelligence agent, Luis (Edgar Ramirez), who is looking to sell a tech gizmo that allows anyone (or any government or any terrorist organization) that possesses it unfettered access to any closed system in the world. The drive can down planes, black out cities, unleash nukes, yada yada — you’ve seen variations of this McGuffin before.
Naturally, the CIA isn’t the only interested party. While Mace and Nick pose as a honeymooning couple at a cafe, German intelligence officer Marie (Diane Kruger) is making espressos and waiting for her chance to grab the bag that has the drive. When she does, chaos ensues. Mace chases Marie but doesn’t get her before she’s able to get away — not, Marie is disappointed to learn, with the drive. Nick meets up with a group of baddies seeking the drive and soon Mace finds herself alone and under suspicion. Needing help to track down Luis, she turns to MI6 agent Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o). When they catch up with Luis, they find that not only is Marie still on his trail, but he’s been joined by Graciela (Penelope Cruz), a psychiatrist who works with Colombian intelligence who has been sent to bring Luis back in.
Eventually Graciela, Khadijah, Marie and Mace decide to work together to fight off the bad guys and get the potentially civilization-toppling drive into safe hands. That goal, they learn, is shared by Chinese intelligence agent Lin Mi Sheng (Fan Bingbing).
As I said, all of these actresses are in their 40s (which I mention because it’s just cool to see) and all are credible as strong women with special evil-defeating skills. This should work; I should have run home from the theater having had so much fun that I immediately attempted to pre-order the movie for regular comfort food watching. But this movie lacks the kind of energy, the crackle of fun, that you expect from something with this much potential. Its runtime is just over two hours which feels like too long for what it’s doing, made even draggier by some pokey pacing and some real “who cares” backstories. (There is also something odd about many of Fan Bingbing’s scenes; I spent a lot of time trying to figure out whether she had been green-screened in after the fact. If nothing else, it probably goes to how pasted together the story felt when it comes to putting all the lady spies together.)
That you could guess every single twist and turn is not fatal — I was expecting The 355 to be kinda dumb. Heck, I was looking forward to enjoying a kinda dumb action movie with ladies Jason-Bourne-ing it up. But this movie doesn’t let its formidable cast loose and doesn’t have the internal cleverness to be as smart or as goofy as it needed to be. C+
Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language and suggestive material, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Simon Kinberg with a screenplay by Theresa Rebeck and Simon Kinberg, The 355 is two hours and two minutes long and is distributed by Universal Studios in theaters.
Licorice Pizza (R)
A 15-year-old living in the San Fernando Valley in the early 1970s has big dreams — one of which is marrying the 25-year-old photographer’s assistant he meets on school picture day — in Licorice Pizza, which is written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman, son of frequent Anderson actor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) has some movie and TV credits on his resume and, despite not yet driving, runs a PR firm with his mother (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). I’m not telling you this to brag, he says to Alana (Alana Haim, of the band Haim), when he first meets her as she’s offering combs and a mirror to high schoolers lining up to get their photos taken. He explains he’s just telling her how he can afford dinner at Tail o’ the Cock, the steakhouse that is his usual Thursday night hangout spot (he does PR for the owner). He invites her to stop by — and Alana both laughs at his chutzpah and is intrigued.
She does stop by, they hang out and she gives him her number — but reminds him that they aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, that such a relationship would be illegal, that he’s just a kid. And yet, she continues to hang out with him. When Gary’s chance encounter with a discount waterbed has him suddenly enter the waterbed business, Alana joins him as his business partner, helping him sell them over the phone and even driving the truck to install one. Later, as she tries to break free of his strange teenage friend group by volunteering for a political campaign, she nevertheless calls on Gary to shoot an ad for the candidate. And that shoot is where he gets the idea to start a pinball parlor — Gary is always on the make, always looking for his next thing. And, he seems perfectly content to look for new girlfriends, even while never letting go of the idea that Alana is the girl he’s going to marry.
Presumably, when he graduates from high school.
Throughout this strange, rambling hang in Encino, we meet real and fictionalized versions of L.A. personalities and showbiz people, from fellow younger actors (played by Skyler Gisondo) and to older stars (played by Christine Ebersole, Sean Penn) to more general Hollywood types (played by Bradley Cooper, Maya Rudolph).
In a movie full of great, fun performances, Cooper Hoffman (18 in real life) and Alana Haim stand out for turning in the loose, natural performances you come to an artier movie hoping for. Even before I realized who Hoffman’s father was, I found myself thinking “this kid has some real Michael Gandolfini energy” — something about him makes you think both of the discipline of the father as well as the rawness of a young actor’s performance.
Haim is equally precisely cast. It feels like a cop-out to just describe her as natural — her sisters here are played by her real-life sisters, her parents are played by her actual parents. But she gives such a round and real performance. Perhaps the highest compliment I could pay is that she feels like a girl in a Sofia Coppola movie, one who feels like a whole complete person, still figuring herself out but living a whole life from the first frame.
I could never completely forget that this movie was asking me to be all “aw, youth” about a (thankfully, fairly chaste) relationship between a 25 (at least) -year-old and a 15-year-old, no matter how precocious he is. You don’t have to think about it (or the gender politics of the situation) too hard for it to all feel icky.
So there’s that.
But then there was the other part of this movie, the one about rotary phones and newspapers the size of tablecloths and Pontiacs and those steakhouse-as-Tudor-pub restaurants (that vaguely call to mind the old style of Pizza Hut) and 1970s-era radio and aging Golden Age of Hollywood stars and a land where everybody is sort of an actor and the look of the warm sun of inland Los Angeles. My feelings about that aspect of the movie aren’t nostalgia, exactly; this all predates me. But Licorice Pizza puts you in a very specific space, and weaves its groovy-man fairy tale in such a way that I felt not just pulled in but charmed by the spirit of it. It made me think about all the times I’ve seen 1950s suburbia or 1950s Brooklyn presented with that same comforting glow of consequence-free misadventures and coming-of-age bravado. Fairy tale feels like the right way to describe all of this, a fairy tale of 1970s southern California.
With a really great soundtrack. A-
Rated R for language, sexual material and some drug use, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza is two hours and 13 minutes long and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures in theaters.
Red River Theatres 11 S. Main St., Concord 224-4600, redrivertheatres.org
Regal Fox Run Stadium 15 45 Gosling Road, Newington regmovies.com
Rex Theatre 23 Amherst St., Manchester 668-5588, palacetheatre.org
The Strand 20 Third St., Dover 343-1899, thestranddover.com
Wilton Town Hall Theatre 40 Main St., Wilton wiltontownhalltheatre.com, 654-3456
Shows
• Licorice Pizza (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres in Concord on Thursday, Jan. 13, at 3:30 & 7 p.m.; Friday, Jan. 14, through Sunday, Jan. 16, at 12:30, 3:45 & 7 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 20, at 3:45 & 7 p.m.
• The Tragedy of Macbeth (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres in Concord on Thursday, Jan. 13, at 4 & 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Jan. 14, through Sunday, Jan. 16, at noon & 5 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 20, at 5 p.m.
• C’mon C’mon (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres in Concord Friday, Jan. 14, through Sunday, Jan. 16, at 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m.
• Nanook of the North (1922), a silent documentary with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, on Sunday, Jan. 23, at 2 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre. Suggested donation of $10.
• For Heaven’s Sake (1926), a silent film starring Harold Lloyd with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 6 p.m. at the Flying Monkey. Suggested donation of $10.
• Dark Mountain (2021) on Wednesday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m. at the Flying Monkey. Tickets cost $12.
• Blood and Sand (1922), on Sunday, Feb. 13, at 2 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre. Suggested donation of $10.
After this week’s cover went to press, the New Hampshire Liquor Commission canceled 2022’s Wine Week events. Looks like we’ll have to wait another full year for “return of the big pour.” In the meantime, the cover story features interviews from wine makers (whose bottles you can find in the state) and information about Mocktail Month.
Explore new wines and meet the makers at NH’s Wine Week & raise a glass to mocktail month.
From the vineyards of Napa Valley to multiple growing regions across Europe, dozens of internationally known winemakers brave the Granite State’s cold January weather for a celebratory week of tastings, seminars and special dinners at local restaurants. New Hampshire Wine Week is back — and after the pandemic forced its transition to a series of virtual tastings in 2021, anticipation is high for in-person events to return for the first time in two years.
Taking place from Monday, Jan. 24, through Friday, Jan. 28, New Hampshire Wine Week has always revolved around the Easterseals Winter Wine Spectacular. The expo-style wine tasting features thousands of wines to taste from around the world — usually poured and handed out by the winemakers themselves — in addition to locally prepared food options for pairing.
“Our broker community, our winemakers and our customers are really excited that we were able to bring it back,” said Lorrie Piper, director of sales, marketing, merchandising and distribution for the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. “I do feel like winemakers really understand the importance of New Hampshire as a market and they know their customers. … One thing I’ve learned is that our customers are hungry for information. They want to know where the products are coming from and to educate themselves about the different brands.”
The New Hampshire Liquor Commission experienced a robust holiday sales period and, despite ongoing supply chain issues that have impacted retailers nationwide, Piper said current inventory levels across the state’s nearly 70 Liquor & Wine Outlet stores remain strong.
“Fortunately, New Hampshire is in a better position than most other states, thanks to our ordering practices, inventory requirements and capacity in our million-plus-case warehouse,” she said.
A spectacle of wines
New Hampshire Wine Week’s main highlight, the Easterseals Winter Wine Spectacular, returns for its 18th year to the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown on Thursday, Jan. 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. Since its inception, the Spectacular has become known as one of the largest wine tasting events in the country, with around 1,700 products from regions all over the world.
Attendees are given a program upon entry, which includes a floor map of each food and beverage purveyor to navigate through the tasting. It offers a unique opportunity to meet with winemakers face to face, and to learn more or ask questions about each of their products.
“Every year, we try to be on top of the trends [and] of what customers are looking for,” Piper said of the Spectacular’s planning and logistics. “We find that the millennial consumer, especially, [is] willing to spend a bit more on higher quality and high-end wines. Those typically come from Italy and France and are also made domestically. … We’re also seeing that people are looking for wines that fall into the ‘better for you’ category, so lower sugar and lower-calorie products. We tend to see the majority of those coming from the United States.”
Visitors to this year’s Spectacular hail from all over the West Coast, including several in California’s Napa and Sonoma counties, as well European nations like France, Italy, Spain and Austria. New Hampshire winemakers also join in on the fun with offerings of their own.
You likely won’t get to stop by every single table in the main Grand Tasting room — to get the most out of the event, Piper recommends planning your visit to include tables you know may be pouring your favorite wine styles, or your favorite grape varietals or growing regions.
In addition to the thousands of wines, the Spectacular features all kinds of silent auction items, a raffle, and dozens of food samples served by local chefs on site. The Common Man, LaBelle Winery, Rig A Tony’s, the Nashua Country Club, Red Beard’s Kitchen of Manchester, Tuscan Kitchen of Salem, the 110 Grill and Flat Iron Catering are all among this year’s participants.
“It’s really just small bites they’ll be serving. It kind of rounds out the event and gives people a chance to try pairing a wine with a food,” Piper said. “These are chefs that are obviously very skilled in creating different flavor profiles, and so it’s an opportunity to discover something that goes great with a cabernet, or goes great with a Bordeaux or a pinot grigio.”
More than $2.5 million from the Spectacular has gone to Easterseals New Hampshire. According to Easterseals senior director of events Christine Pederson, proceeds directly benefit its early intervention program, which provides physical therapy, speech and language pathology and other services to children ages 3 and under.
Wining and dining
Beyond the signature Spectacular, Piper estimates there will likely be more than 40 additional events across the Granite State during Wine Week. The multi-course wine dinners, also returning on a similar scale for the first time since January 2020, are often attended by the winemakers.
“It’s typically an intimate setting … where you get to meet them, and they’ll walk you through the specially prepared menu and serve one of their wines with each course,” Piper said. “They talk to you a little bit about the history, and the notes that you’ll detect in the wine and all that.”
Winemakers and brand ambassadors also hold bottle signings and wine tastings at various Liquor & Wine Outlet stores — most of them run for two hours and are free to walk-in visitors.
A continuously updated list of each bottle signing and wine dinner, complete with details on each wine that will be poured, can be found at nhwineweek.com under the “featured events” tab.
Meet the winemaker: Joseph Carr
Founder and winemaker, Joseph Carr Wines and Josh Cellars, joshcellars.com
Joseph Carr
The son of a lumberjack and a stock car racer from Vermont, Joseph Carr launched his first wine brand in 2002, a premium cabernet sauvignon from Napa Valley. He started Josh Cellars a few years later as a tribute to his father, whose nickname was Josh — that brand originated from a collaboration with Sonoma winemaker Tom Larson. At the insistence of his wife, Deirdre, Carr added chardonnay to the Josh Cellars portfolio and over the years also added merlot, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, rosé and a collection of reserve wines. In 2021 Josh Cellars was named American Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast magazine.
What will you be pouring at the Winter Wine Spectacular?
We actually pour quite a few of our wines — I want to say six, maybe seven different varietals of the Josh Cellars brand. We’re also going to be doing a four-course wine dinner in Nashua [at Bistro 603].
What makes your wines unique?
When Josh Cellars was born, Tom [Larson] was encouraging me to make wine outside of Napa Valley, and he showed me vineyards in Sonoma and in the Red Hills. … I learned that while Napa Valley was where we actually produced everything, the grapes were coming from all these other small boutique growers. … We made cabernet sauvignon the first year, because that was all we could afford to make. Now, all in all, we have 11 varietals that are nationally distributed. We produced an Italian prosecco from the Veneto region with [winemaker] Daniel Posey and his son that was one of the first prosecco rosés ever produced in Italy. We’ve also raised money and done special labels for the National Volunteer Fire Council and for Operation Gratitude, which is a foundation created by a retired marine that writes letters and sends care packages to servicemen and women overseas.
What are some trends you have noticed recently in the wine world?
The wine business is always evolving, particularly in America. … The great thing about America is that people, especially of the generations of today, have a very open mind … and when you come to events like this one, you’re going to have a chance to taste lots of different things from lots of different producers and styles. It also gives us an opportunity to show our innovation. So for example, a couple of years ago we started making wine in Pasa Robles, California, which we had never done before. The wines coming out of there used to be high in alcohol and I wasn’t really a big fan of them. But we realized we could pick the grapes a little earlier and still get the ripeness that we want to produce a very approachable cabernet sauvignon.
What do you look forward to the most about New Hampshire Wine Week?
I look at New Hampshire as another part of my home. I lived in New England for over 20 years and I’ve spent a lot of time up there, so coming back is going to be a lot of fun. I know that I’m going to get the chance to reconnect with some people that believed in me along the way.
Meet the winemaker: Brian Ferguson
Owner and head distiller, Flag Hill Distillery & Winery, flaghill.com
Brian Ferguson
Totaling 14 acres in the town of Lee, Flag Hill is one the largest vineyards in the Granite State. Originally on the site of a dairy farm, Flag Hill began as a winery with its first harvest in 1990, growing over the last couple of decades into a family-operated vineyard, distillery and popular wedding and event venue. Owner and distiller Brian Ferguson and his wife, Maddie, use the land to produce grapes for the winery, grain for the distillery and vegetables for its events. Ferguson is a graduate of Penn State University; he took over as head distiller in 2013 and acquired the business two years later.
What will you be pouring at the Winter Wine Spectacular?
We’ll be pouring our sparkling Cayuga and our Cayuga white wines. Those use grapes that we grow here on the farm. We get really excited about showing off the wines that we do really well, and those two definitely fall into that category.
What makes your wines unique?
Our sparkling Cayuga and our Cayuga white … make what I believe is a perfect example of what can be done really well here in New England. We have the absolute perfect climate for growing white grapes to make intensely aromatic white wines. Everything about where we are here is perfectly attuned to it, [from] the climate, to the temperatures at harvest being colder and the amount of growing degree days that we get so that we don’t have super overly ripe fruit. We have perfectly ripe fruit for making aromatic whites and slightly underripe fruit for when we want to make sparkling wines. … We have another grape called La Crescent, which is probably my favorite one that we grow here on the farm. It’s really beautiful and aromatic but has a lot of acidity. We do everything we can to manage the acidity during the winemaking process, and we blend it with a little bit of the Cayuga white grape, which has a little bit lower acid, and it makes this incredibly beautiful aromatic white wine.
What are some trends you have noticed recently in the wine world?
There is a shift in general to healthy living, and I think the pandemic has brought this out even more. People are asking themselves, ‘How do I live healthier?,’ and so they’re starting to ask more questions about whether there is a lot of sugar in this wine, or what additives may be in the wine. Sulfites have always been a question, but we’re starting to see more of those questions. … People want to know more about the agricultural practices in winemaking. There’s definitely been an uptick in that.
What do you look forward to the most about New Hampshire Wine Week?
The Wine Spectacular itself is just an incredible event, because there are so many people that have the same affinity for the things that we love. … It’s great for our staff who go, because we actually get a lot out of the event. For me, personally, I run into winemakers from other parts of the country who I otherwise don’t get a chance to talk to, and I’m able to bounce thoughts and ideas off them. … So it’s a great way to not only see a lot of great wines but also talk to a bunch of people who you normally wouldn’t have access to. If you’re a wine lover, it really is an incredible opportunity.
Meet the winemaker: David Phillips
Co-owner and president, Michael David Winery, michaeldavidwinery.com
David Phillips
David Phillips and his older brother Michael are fifth-generation wine grape growers and natives of Lodi, a city about 40 miles south of Sacramento in California’s Central Valley. After graduating from the University of California at Davis in 1987, Phillips embarked on a worldwide tour of wine across multiple regions of Europe, South Australia and New Zealand. He then went on to work for an international cork company in San Francisco before returning to Lodi to help his brother run the family business in 1989. Michael David Winery’s lineup of products includes selections of zinfandels, cabernets and petite sirah wines under multiple labels, like Freakshow, Earthquake, Inkblot, Rapture and many more.
What will you be pouring at the Winter Wine Spectacular?
I know for sure that I want to do our Inkblot petite sirah. That’s a dynamite wine for a cold winter night, because it’s so dark and deep. We’ll be featuring our Freakshow labels too — we have three different varieties that we do under the Freakshow label, which are a cabernet, a zinfandel and a red blend. We also have a new listing called Lodi Red, and that’s a heritage blend of old grapes that go back to the days of Prohibition, when our great-grandparents were shipping grapes from all over the country. … Those vines are still thriving today, because our soils here are so deep and sandy.
What makes your wines unique?
We’re in a special location here in Lodi because of the San Francisco Bay influence. We have a micro-climate that’s very different from the rest of the Central Valley. We’ll get these warm or hot days in the summer, but then at night the sea breeze comes in and cools us off. The grapes, and the vineyards in general, just love that. Lodi has more than 100,000 acres of grapes planted here. It is by far the largest wine growing region in North America. … We’re most famous for zinfandel, because we have more old vines here than any other place in the world. [We have] vines that are anywhere from 80 to 135 years old that we’re still picking grapes from.
What are some trends you have noticed recently in the wine world?
I think people are learning to step up a little bit and go for those higher quality levels and try new things. … Crazy labels, actually, have also really caught on. You can only sell a wine for the label one time, but if you back it up with good juice in there, hopefully people will buy it over and over again. That’s kind of been the key to our success with these brands.
What do you look forward to the most about New Hampshire Wine Week?
We enjoy coming out there and we just love New England in general. … One of the nice things about coming out and doing these shows is you make a connection with people and you feel like they’re part of the family when they support your product.
New Hampshire Wine Week 2022 Monday, Jan. 24, through Friday, Jan. 28. Visit nhwineweek.com for the most up-to-date information and upcoming events Be sure to contact each restaurant or liquor store outlet directly for the most up-to-date details on bottle signings and wine dinners.
18th annual Easterseals Winter Wine Spectacular When: Thursday, Jan. 27, 6 to 9 p.m. Where: DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown, 700 Elm St., Manchester Cost: $65 for the Grand Tasting in the expo room (purchase them online; tickets to the Bellman’s Cellar Select VIP tasting room are sold out) Visit: easterseals.com/nh
New Hampshire Mocktail Month
Even if you’re not a wine drinker, the New Hampshire Liquor Commission is inviting you to participate in another promotional campaign — the second annual New Hampshire Mocktail Month, which is also observed in January. The NHLC has partnered with Old Forester Bourbon and The Mocktail Project, a grassroots movement launched in 2017 by Jesse Hawkins as an initiative to promote responsible consumption and a stigma-free drinking culture.
On Thursday, Jan. 13, at 5 p.m., Hawkins, along with Old Forester master taster Jackie Zykan, will lead a free virtual event via Zoom demonstrating unique mocktail and cocktail ideas. The discussion will also stream live on the NHLC’s Facebook page.
All throughout January, nearly 30 Granite State eateries have added specialty alcohol-free mocktails to their menus. The NHLC also recently launched an online recipe guide detailing ingredients, garnishes and tips for how to replicate each mocktail at home.
“The way the recipe book is laid out, each page has a recipe for a mocktail and it tells you where you can order it and where it was created,” NHLC director of sales, marketing, merchandising and distribution Lorrie Piper said. “If you were making it at home and you wanted to turn it into a cocktail by adding alcohol, it tells you how to do that too.”
The NHLC is inviting those who visit any of the participating restaurants to share their experiences on social media, by posting pictures with the hashtag #nhmocktailmonth.
Here are a couple of mocktail examples featured in the recipe guide. The full list can be viewed and downloaded at liquorandwineoutlets.com/responsibility.
Jingle juice
From behind the bar at Tandy’s Pub & Grille, 1 Eagle Square, Concord, 856-7614, tandyspub.com
2 ounces orange juice
2 ounces pineapple juice
Splash cranberry juice
Top with Sprite, serve on the rocks and garnish with an orange, cherry and a lime
Forester smorester mocktail
From behind the bar at Sky Meadow Country Club, 6 Mountain Laurels Drive, Nashua, 888-3000, skymeadow.com
2 ounces guava juice
1½ ounces pear juice
1 ounce authentic homemade sour mix
½ ounce cherry juice
Pour over ice in a shaker. Serve straight up or on the rocks. Garnish with an orange and cherry.
Vanilla ginger sparkler
From behind the bar at The Common Man (locations in Concord, Merrimack, Windham, Claremont, Ashland and Lincoln)
½ ounce vanilla syrup
1 ounce cranberry juice
½ ounce lime juice
2 ounces house sour mix
2 ounces ginger ale
Bottle Signings & Wine Tastings
Winter Wine Spectacular. Photo by Timothy Courtemanche
• MENDOZA VINEYARDS Richard Bonvin, owner and winemaker of Mendoza Vineyards, will be hosting this event. Tues., Jan. 25, noon to 2 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 55, 9 Leavy Drive, Bedford. Call 471-0998.
• MENDOZA VINEYARDS Richard Bonvin, owner and winemaker of Mendoza Vineyards, will be hosting this event. Tues., Jan. 25, 3 to 5 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 69, 25 Coliseum Ave., Nashua. Call 882-4670.
• MENDOZA VINEYARDS Richard Bonvin, owner and winemaker of Mendoza Vineyards, will be hosting this event. Tues., Jan. 25, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 50, 294 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua. Call 888-0271.
• MENDOZA VINEYARDS Richard Bonvin, owner and winemaker of Mendoza Vineyards, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 38, 100 Rotary Way, Portsmouth. Call 436-4806.
• BODEGAS LAN Lorea Amatria, brand manager for Bodegas LAN, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, noon to 2 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 55, 9 Leavy Drive, Bedford. Call 471-0998.
• BAILEYANA WINERY John Niven, brand ambassador for Baileyana Winery, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, noon to 2 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 50, 294 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua. Call 888-0271.
• HARKEN WINES Adam Popp, winemaker for Harken Wines, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, noon to 2 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 49, 32 Plaistow Road, Plaistow. Call 382-8511.
• RABBLE WINE CO. Loren Miller, winemaker for Rabble Wine Co., will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, noon to 2 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 38, 100 Rotary Way, Portsmouth. Call 436-4806.
• MENDOZA VINEYARDS Richard Bonvin, owner and winemaker of Mendoza Vineyards, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, 2 to 4 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 41, Southgate Plaza, 380 Lafayette Road, Seabrook. Call 474-3362.
• FERRARI-CARANO VINEYARDS & WINERY Sarah Quider, executive winemaker for Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, 2 to 4 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 38, 100 Rotary Way, Portsmouth. Call 436-4806.
• JUSTIN VINEYARDS & WINERY Justin Baldwin, founder of Justin Vineyards & Winery, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, 3 to 5 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 50, 294 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua. Call 888-0271.
• BODEGAS LAN Lorea Amatria, brand manager for Bodegas LAN, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, 3 to 5 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 50, 294 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua. Call 888-0271.
• BAILEYANA WINERY John Niven, brand ambassador for Baileyana Winery, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, 3 to 5 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 55, 9 Leavy Drive, Bedford. Call 471-0998.
• RABBLE WINE CO. Loren Miller, winemaker for Rabble Wine Co., will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, 3 to 5 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 79, 5 Brickyard Square, Epping. Call 679-1799.
• MONSIEUR TOUTON SELECTION Andrea Lucignani, Italian wholesale portfolio manager for Monsieur Touton Selection, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, 3 to 5 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 49, 32 Plaistow Road, Plaistow. Call 382-8511.
• MENDOZA VINEYARDS Richard Bonvin, owner and winemaker of Mendoza Vineyards, will be hosting this event. Wed., Jan. 26, 5 to 7 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 38, 100 Rotary Way, Portsmouth. Call 436-4806.
• WINES FROM CALIFORNIA Winemaker Adam LaZarre of Wine Hooligans will be hosting this event, giving participants the opportunity to learn first hand about California wines. Products to be featured include selections from Adler Fels and Cycles Gladiator. Wed., Jan. 26, 6 to 7 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 50, 294 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua. $12; tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite. Call 888-0271.
• BAILEYANA WINERY John Niven, brand ambassador for Baileyana Winery, will be hosting this event. Thurs., Jan. 27, 1 to 3 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 38, 100 Rotary Way, Portsmouth. Call 436-4806.
• FERRARI-CARANO VINEYARDS & WINERY Sarah Quider, executive winemaker for Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery, will be hosting this event. Thurs., Jan. 27, 1 to 3 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 34, 92 Cluff Crossing Road, Salem. Call 898-5243.
• KLINKER BRICK WINERY Steve and Lori Felton, owners of Klinker Brick Winery, will be hosting this event. Thurs., Jan. 27, 3 to 5 p.m. New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet No. 50, 294 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua. Call 888-0271.
Wine Dinners
• SHARE A SPLASH WINE DINNER Yoav Gilat, founder and CEO of Share a Splash Wine Co., will be in attendance. Tues., Jan. 25, 6 to 8 p.m. Copper Door Restaurant, 41 S. Broadway, Salem. $95. Visit copperdoor.com or call 458-2033.
• BANFI WINE DINNER Dino Altomare of Banfi Vintners will be in attendance during this five-course wine dinner. Tues., Jan. 25, 6 p.m. Tuscan Kitchen, 67 Main St., Salem. $120. Visit tuscanbrands.com or call 952-4875.
• SERGE DORÉ SELECTIONS WINE DINNER Serge Doré, founder of Serge Doré Selections, will be in attendance during this multi-course dinner. Wed., Jan. 26, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sky Meadow Country Club, 6 Mountain Laurels Drive, Nashua. $125. Visit skymeadow.com or call 888-9000.
• SPIRE COLLECTION WINE DINNER Tom Gannon, Northeast regional manager for the Spire Collection, will be in attendance. The dinner will include a five-course menu with wine pairings. Wed., Jan. 26, 6 to 9 p.m. CR’s The Restaurant, 87 Exeter Road, Hampton. $95. Visit crstherestaurant.com or call 929-7972.
• CECCHI FAMILY ESTATES WINE DINNER Andrea Cecchi, CEO of Cecchi Family Estates, will be in attendance. Wed., Jan. 26, 6 p.m. Tuscan Kitchen, 67 Main St., Salem. $95. Visit tuscanbrands.com or call 952-4875.
• FERRARI-CARANO WINE DINNER Sarah Quider, executive winemaker for Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery, will be in attendance. Wed., Jan. 26, 6 p.m. Tinos Kitchen + Bar, 325 Lafayette Road, Hampton. $95. Visit tinosnh.com or call 926-5489.
• CASTELLO DI QUERCETO WINE DINNER Marco Fizaletti of Castello di Querceto will be in attendance during this five-course dinner. Wed., Jan. 26, 6 p.m. Tuscan Market at Tuscan Village, 9 Via Toscana, Salem. Visit tuscanbrands.com or call 912-5467.
• SOKOL BLOSSER WINE DINNER Allison Sokol Blosser, co-president, CEO and second-generation winegrower at Sokol Blosser Winery, will be in attendance. Wed., Jan. 26, 6 to 8 p.m. Copper Door Restaurant, 15 Leavy Drive, Bedford. $95. Visit copperdoor.com or call 488-2677.
• HESS COLLECTION WINE DINNER Dave Guffy, senior vice president of winemaking and viticulture for The Hess Collection, will be in attendance during this five-course dinner. Wed., Jan. 26; the event will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner at 6:30 p.m. The Common Man, 88 Range Road, Windham. $95. Visit thecman.com or call 898-0088.
• FRESCOBALDI WINE DINNER Mike Miller of Marchesi De Frescobaldi will be in attendance. Wed., Jan. 26, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Toscana Italian Chophouse & Wine Bar, 3 Pleasant St., Portsmouth. $125. Visit toscanachophouse.com or call 570-3600.
• JOSH CELLARS & JOSEPH CARR WINES DINNER This special four-course meal will feature wine pairings from Joseph Carr Wines and Josh Cellars. Wed., Jan. 26; the event will begin with a reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by the dinner at 7 p.m. Bistro 603, 345 Amherst St., Nashua. $95. Visit bistro603nashua.com or 722-6362.
• KLINKER BRICK WINERY DINNER Julie Handel, Northeast regional manager for Klinker Brick Winery, will be in attendance. Following the reception, guests are invited to partake in a specially curated wine and food pairing menu by chef Corey Fletcher. A la carte options will also be available. Wed., Jan. 26, 5:30 p.m. Revival Kitchen & Bar, 11 Depot St., Concord. Price and menu info TBA. Visit revivalkitchennh.com or call 715-5723.
• J. LOHR VINEYARDS & WINES DINNER Cynthia Lohr, co-owner and chief brand officer for J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, will be in attendance. Wed., Jan. 26, 6 p.m. Greenleaf, 54 Nashua St., Milford. $125. Visit greenleafmilford.com or call 213-5447.
• MICHAEL DAVID WINERY DINNER David Phillips, co-owner and president of Michael David Winery, will be in attendance. Wed., Jan. 26, 6 p.m. O Steaks & Seafood, 62 Doris Ray Court, Laconia. $75. Visit osteaksandseafood.com or call 856-7925.
Featured photo: Winter Wine Spectacular. Photo by John Hession
Snowshoe trail series will go on with or without snow
Winter events that rely on snow can be hard to count on in southern New Hampshire, but, as the name aptly states, the Snow or No We Go Trail Series is going to happen whether there’s a foot of snow or none at all.
“Snow or no, Covid or no, we go,” said Tom Walton, who created the event last year.
He said that, with the exception of thunder and lightning or a state of emergency, the trail series will happen — the only change would be the footwear.
“People can count on the race and on the date — last year we ran in snowshoes, microspikes and just trail shoes,” said Walton, who is the wellness coach for Northeast Delta Dental, which is sponsoring the series.
Walton started the event to replace the now defunct Granite State Snowshoe Series.
“It was quite popular and fun, [but] it was entirely contingent on snow,” he said. “When the winters started getting kind of messed up, with unreliable snow, the race director of that series gave up, so I thought, I’m going to get this going again, but with a little twist — no matter what is under our foot, we’re going to run.”
This year’s series has six races, double the number of races it had in its inaugural year. They’ll be held on Saturdays starting Jan. 15 and ending March 5. Four of the races will be held at Canterbury Shaker Village and two will be held at Prospect Acres.
“I have a real affinity for Canterbury Shaker Village,” Walton said. “It’s really gorgeous and [has] lots of acreage. I have tried to convince them that they’re a recreational paradise in all seasons.”
The other location at Prospect Acres in Franklin was offered up by Steve Nelson, who owns the 55-acre property and uses it for obstacle course training. Nelson participated in the snowshoe series last year, along with some of his obstacle course teammates, and Nelson said they loved it. When he found out Walton was putting the series on again this year, he suggested using his space too.
“I figured, why not add to the mix?” Nelson said.
Both locations have 2-mile loop trails, and participants have the option to do one or two loops, and all ages and abilities are welcome.
“If you can walk, come,” Nelson said. “It’s just about being outside, being safe, teamwork — everybody’s out there encouraging each other.”
If there’s enough snow on the ground, snowshoes are highly encouraged (though you have to bring your own). Otherwise, microspikes and regular trail shoes are allowed.
“Microspikes are going to be the easiest [to race in], but ultimately we hope to be on snowshoes,” Nelson said. “But at least [we’ve] opened it up so we don’t have to cancel the series.”
Nelson said he had to do one race in microspikes last year because it was sheer ice.
Because of the variables in weather and equipment, these races aren’t about winning. They’re mostly about having a fairly sure thing to look forward to.
“I like to have an environment of joy and keep it kind of light and make people feel important,” Walton said. “Keeping a light heart about it makes it fun.”
Snow or No We Go
Where: Canterbury Shaker Village (1 Shaker Road, Canterbury) and Prospect Acres (4 Beaumier Drive, Franklin) Schedule Jan. 15: Canterbury Shaker Village Jan. 29: Canterbury Shaker Village Feb. 5: Canterbury Shaker Village Feb. 12: Prospect Acres (Registration is full) Feb. 19: Canterbury Shaker Village March 5: Prospect Acres All races start at 10 a.m. Cost: Registration for each race is $20. Participants need to pre-register and sign a waiver at runreg.com/nh-snow-or-no-we-go-series. More info: Email Tom Walton (twalton@nedelta.com) or Steven Nelson (stevennelson1967@gmail.com)
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
Covid-19 news
During the state’s weekly public health update on Jan. 6, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan reported that New Hampshire averaged about 1,500 new infections of Covid-19 per day over the previous week. Just two days prior, the total number of deaths attributed to the virus crossed the 2,000 mark. “In the last week, we have been averaging about nine to 10 new people dying from Covid-19 each day in our state,” Chan said, adding that the majority of the deaths have been occurring in the community rather than in long-term care facilities.
Chan also announced new updated isolation and quarantine guidance, which includes recommendations adapted from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The guidance breaks down details of recommended action for anyone who may have been exposed to Covid, either in the community or from another person in their shared household. According to Chan, the guidance applies to the general public, including workplaces and K-through-12 schools. It does not apply to health care settings, correctional institutions or homeless shelters. Go to covid19.nh.gov to view the guidance documents.
Gov. Chris Sununu also announced during the press conference that the state will be deploying an additional 100 members of its National Guard — about 30 of them will be deployed to long-term care facilities, while the other 70 will be helping out at local hospitals. Sununu had previously announced the deployment of 70 National Guard members back on Dec. 8.
On Jan. 7, Sununu visited Elliot Hospital in Manchester to welcome a team of active-duty service members from the federal Department of Defense. According to a press release, the team is composed of medics, nurses, administrative support and a physician and is expected to remain at Elliot Hospital until the beginning of February.
Open enrollment
New Hampshire Navigator, a nonprofit that offers assistance for accessing health coverage, is reminding people that Saturday, Jan. 15, is the deadline for residents to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace. According to a press release, anyone who misses the open enrollment period may not be able to get coverage until 2023. It is available to anyone who is not eligible for Medicare, Medicaid or employer-based insurance. The American Rescue Plan has made it easier for New Hampshire residents to get affordable coverage, the release said, and the number of consumers getting coverage for $10 or less per month after tax credits has nearly doubled. “Most people will be able to qualify for substantially lower costs this year if they get their insurance on the Marketplace,” said Jeremy Smith, program director for New Hampshire Navigator. “We are really urging people to look at the new plans and prices that are being released this year. In a lot of cases, the plans are more affordable than we have ever seen.” Anyone who needs help learning about their options or signing up can reach New Hampshire Navigator at 931-3858 or acanavigator.com.
Activists arrested
Four activists were arrested by Bow police on Jan. 8 after they entered the property of Merrimack Generating Station, the last coal-fired power plant in New England, around 4 p.m., while it was operating, and remained there for more than six hours. According to a press release, two of the activists locked themselves to the base of the inactive smokestack while the other two scaled the smokestack and dropped a banner that read, “Shut It Down.” They called on the owners of the plant to file a delist bid at an upcoming auction, the outcome of which will determine which power plants will be granted ratepayer funding to be on standby for New England’s electric grid. The owners did not agree to the demands, and the activists were arrested around 10:30 p.m., then released around midnight, with a court date to follow. No Coal, No Gas, a campaign launched in 2019 to end the burning of fossil fuels in New England, has claimed responsibility for organizing the activism. “We are determined to do what must be done to prevent this plant from running, even if that means we have to shut it down ourselves,” campaign coordinator Leif Taranta said in a public statement. “By our actions today, we sent a clear message that we are going to do everything we can to shut this coal plant down and pave the way for a better, more just future.”
Eviction extension
A proposal up for consideration at the Statehouse this year would, if passed, require New Hampshire landlords who are planning to repair, renovate or sell their properties, to give their current tenants more time to find new places to live before evicting them, NHPR reported. The New Hampshire law as it is currently written does not clearly regulate such evictions, leading many landlords to file the evictions under the catchall category of “other good cause,” giving tenants 30 days to vacate. The proposed bill would create new, more specific categories for eviction filings, with regulations for how landlords can proceed with those evictions. In the case of evictions related to non-emergency repairs, renovations or selling of the property, the length of time tenants are given to vacate would be increased from 30 to 90 days.
Teacher negotiations
The Nashua Board of Education Negotiating Team and the Nashua Teachers Union were unable to reach an agreement regarding the Union’s request for salary increases for its teachers, the former group reported. The contract proposed by the BoE Negotiating Team offered to increase each teacher’s salary by more than $3,300, with a minimum salary increase of $8,400 for top step teachers, effective immediately; increase compensation for school nurses; and adjust how starting pays are calculated according to prior work experience; while requesting that the NTU fully cover the NTU president’s salary, health insurance and other compensations without financial assistance from the Nashua School District, of which the NTU president is not an employee. According to the BoE Negotiating Team, the NTU did not agree to the terms, and the BoE Negotiating Team stated its intention to continue pursuing a successfully negotiated contract.
Student ID cards
On Jan. 11, Gov. Chris Sununu sent a letter to the Education Committee in support of Senate Bill 234, which would require schools that issue student identification cards to include the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or their own mental health support helpline on the cards. According to the letter, the requirement would also apply to institutions of higher learning within the state but will not require grades six through 12 public schools to issue student identification cards if they do not already do so.
Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness will soon run mainly on solar power; according to a press release, a 139kW solar photovoltaic array is being built in two phases, and when it’s complete it will generate enough power to offset nearly all the Science Center’s electric needs. The solar array could save about $26,000 in electricity costs annually and more than 250,000 pounds of CO2 emissions, the release said.
Atticus, a 10-year-old certified pet therapy dog, spent time with staff and patients at Concord Hospital – Laconia last week. The visit was to introduce the Laconia branch to Concord Hospital’s Pets Uplift People program, according to a press release.
The Plains Cemetery in Kingston, established circa 1725, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to a press release, Josiah Bartlett (1729-1795), the first constitutional governor of New Hampshire and second signer of the Declaration of Independence, is buried there. The cemetery’s most elaborate pedestal monument belongs to Major Edward S. Sanborn, a Kingston native who funded the Sanborn Seminary and donated to several local churches and public improvements in the 1880s — and who earned his fortune as the proprietor of several prostitution houses in Boston.
