From five wine personalities at the first Winter Wine Spectacular to more than 60 attending this year, New Hampshire Wine Week has become one of the state’s — and the region’s — premier wine events.
The 11th annual New Hampshire Wine Week will be held from Monday, Jan. 25, to Sunday, Jan. 31. Here’s a rundown of what you can expect from the week’s bottle signings, tastings, wine dinners and Winter Wine Spectacular, plus Cellar Notes, which highlights this year’s theme: Old World wine vs. New World wine.
Cellar Notes: The old & the new
Nicole Brassard Jordan, director of marketing, merchandising and warehousing for the New Hampshire Liquor Commission, keeps an eye on what varietals are trending with consumers at tastings throughout the year to see what they’d like to know more about. From that, she was inspired to develop this year’s theme.
“Consumers maybe not understanding the difference between Old World and New World and what kind of palate they have is something I wanted to bring to light,” she said.
Cellar Notes 2016: Old World versus New World Cabernet & Merlot will be held at the Puritan Conference & Event Center on Wednesday, Jan. 27, the night before the Winter Wine Spectacular. The seminar-style discussion and tasting is limited to 75 guests who will hear from five wine experts who represent both the New World and Old World of wine.
“It’s very intimate in terms of the interaction with the winemakers,” Christine Pederson, director of events and corporate relations for Easter Seals, said in a phone interview. “When we get into the panel discussion all five personalities are on stage with a microphone and guests get to ask questions. They’re sharing their passion with the guests.”
Serge Dore, owner of Serge Dore Selections, and Antonio Zaccheo Jr., owner and winemaker for Carpineto Grandi Vini di Toscana, represent the Old World, while Maria Helm Sinskey, co-owner and culinary director of Robert Sinskey Winery, Laura Sorge, winemaker of Columbia Crest, and Joseph Spellman, master sommelier of Justin Vineyard and Winery, will represent the New World.
“I think it’s an enlightening experience for consumers to hear from five really great professionals … as to, ‘Wow, there really is something to New World versus Old World and here’s the difference and here’s what I prefer,’” Jordan said.
“What’s great about this is there’s a cocktail hour where people are rubbing elbows with these wine [personalities],” Pederson added.
Winter Wine Spectacular:
Two rooms of wine
Predating New Hampshire Wine Week as a whole, the Winter Wine Spectacular returns to the Radisson Hotel in Manchester on Thursday, Jan. 28, for its 13th year, featuring over 1,500 wines to sample, plus hors d’oeuvres and appetizers from 25 local restaurants.
The grand tasting, held in the ballroom and armory of the Radisson, gives access to 170 wine and food tables, “great for people who want to explore all different wines,” Pederson said. “We have sommeliers, mead makers, owners of the vineyards, it’s just wonderful to see that we have all of these people in the industry come to New Hampshire.”
Lamberto Frescobaldi, vice president of Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi in Tuscany, Italy, is one of the notable returnees this year. He particularly appreciates the atmosphere of the Winter Wine Spectacular and that those who attend are genuinely interested in the stories behind the bottles.
“You [can talk] about where the wine was made and where you come from,” he said in a phone interview. “I have to say that people really care about you and want to know more about you as a person, and that is a good feeling.”
While many professionals from across the country and beyond make their way to New Hampshire, others represent local wineries, like Lewis Eaton, owner and winemaker at Sweet Baby Vineyard in Hampstead.
“One of the big reasons we do it is to reach out to the New Hampshire people,” Eaton said in a phone interview. “I will be pouring and talking the whole time, and that’s what I like doing. I get to interact with everybody.”
The Winter Wine Spectacular provides exposure to an array of wines that vary in price from $10 to high-end bottles, though most will be in the $30 to $40 range.
Eaton recalls the first time Sweet Baby Vineyard participated in the Winter Wine Spectacular three years ago and how surprised he was by the scale of the event.
“I was blown away by the attendance,” he said. “It is huge; there are hundreds of tables.”
Pederson said many first-timers are as surprised as Eaton was.
“We like to watch the eyes pop out,” Pederson said. “I love watching first-time attendees. They cannot believe how many wine and food tables there are.”
Jordan also enjoys chatting with the guests and taking stock of the crowd.
“It’s really old and new,” she said. “You have a lot of people that have been multiple years, but you have a lot of people that are newbies that come out just to check it out because word of mouth has gotten out.”
For those interested in a more private and high-end tasting experience, the Bellman’s Cellar Select gives 200 guests access to wines that range from $30 up to $400 a bottle.
“It really caters to both those who tend to purchase or those who really want to try wines that are that expensive,” Pederson said. “And the goal as a whole is to help people explore and immerse themselves in the craft of winemaking.”
Those with tickets to the Bellman’s Cellar Select have full access for the evening, so they can go between the very active grand tasting room and the Cellar Select with high-end wines to sample, along with food from six local restaurants.
Selecting sips
With all of the wines ready to sample at the Winter Wine Spectacular, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But the beauty of a wine tasting, Pederson said, is you’re not in a store committing to an entire bottle without knowing how it tastes.
Instead of going in determined to sip only from your favorite vineyards, try one you’ve never experienced before.
“I always encourage people to taste outside their comfort zone, because [otherwise] you’re never going to expand your palate and understand the world of wine and what it has to offer,” Jordan said. “And the world of wine has a lot to offer.”
Jordan recommends walking into the grand tasting with a plan in mind.
“When you’re talking about hundreds of wines … you do get palate fatigue,” Jordan said. “ And for those who aren’t professionals, constantly changing varietals can be difficult.”
You could set a goal of trying different varietals from one county, or map out options from whites into reds.
“Or you pick varietals like the Old World versus New World and you say, ‘Well I’m going to try cabernet tonight, that’s all I’m going to taste,’” she said. “And say, ‘Let’s just see what we figure out,’ because there is going to be a huge difference between where you’re tasting it from.”
While it doesn’t have a direct presence in the grand tasting, the Old World wine and New World wine theme could be used to guide tastings throughout the Winter Wine Spectacular or even the entire week.
“I think a lot of consumers will say, OK,what does this mean? What does this mean for me and how should I determine what I’m going to be tasting at the Winter Wine Spectacular to experience both and understand the difference?’” Jordan said.
Seek out wines that suit your palate by chatting with the winemakers, owners and representatives to learn where they are on the scale of Old World to New World.
Eaton, for example, said Sweet Baby Vineyard follows an Old World tradition but incorporates some New World style too.
“I think we’re Old World style where we don’t manipulate the grape or fruit too much; we’re pretty much an all natural process,” he said. “We do [use] a bit of a scientific approach ... because we definitely want to create consistency as well.”
Frescobaldi called himself a “little bit of a strange animal” given his background in northern California and with Mondavi Winery leaning toward a New World approach while he has respect for Old World tradition.
“I think that now I am somewhat in between,” he said. “I think there is no tradition without innovation, because if you are not innovative with tradition ... one day ... you’re going to be writing a book or going to Rhode Island and see the lovely Great Gatsby homes and look at them like museums.”
New Hampshire wine culture
Has Wine Week impacted the wine culture for consumers in the state? More than they may realize, Jordan suspects.
“When you get access to people that are in the field and you learn from them directly every year … our consumers have that front line experience with these people,” she said. “And it’s not only the visits during Wine Week — they come throughout the year. People have expanded their knowledge and it just keeps growing and growing from there.”
Another mark of New Hampshire’s progress as a destination for both wine professionals and consumers is the wine personalities that make the trek to the Granite State each January. Frescobaldi came to Wine Week for the first time several years ago during a snowstorm in which he had to rent a car and drive from New York instead of flying.
“And to be honest, I had no idea what it was,” he said. “I was very much interested in seeing this, for me, new market.”
After barely making it in time for the night’s wine dinner, Frescobaldi said, he was happy to see the energy and interest in wine from those who attend the week’s events.
“When I got there it really made me feel good about all the driving I did,” he said.
In the years since, he has noticed an increase in local consumers’ wine experiences.
“People are interested in getting to know more, new stories and different stories and differences,” he said. “People are becoming much more knowledgeable and sophisticated, but sophisticated in the terms of … getting to know more about the wine itself.”
