Tonia's Kitchen

This week we celebrate New Hampshire Wine Week Winter Wine Spectacular! The SOLD OUT event is happening tonight at the Radisson Hotel Manchester.

Roland Maradino

Tonia spoke with Wine Ambassador, Roland Marandino, who represents the Cecchi and the Sartori di Verona families. What does Roland look forward to this year? "Over two thousand wines will be avaliable to sample... its a wonderful opportunity to taste (New Hampshire) wines and ask questions about them." Roland is very passionate about his wines. His enthusiasm is contagious as he describes not only the wines he represents but the role they can play in our lives. One of his recurring themes is that, for Italians, wine is food and consequently their wines are made not for judges but for the dinner table. They are intended to compliment a menu not to dominate it. Follow Roland on Twitter: @tablewineblog

George Sandeman

George Sandeman, Chairman of the House of Sandeman, is the eldest of the seventh generation of this family, linked to the Port Wine and Sherry businesses. He shared some knowledge on Port with Tonia, "Port is a special wine. True Port is made in Portugal. When the wine is made we do two things to maintain that richness: one is we always pick grapes when they're very ripe. And therefor very sweet. The second is we add brandy or wine alcohol to the fermentation... It's usually red red and very full bodied and has a very delicious, sweetness that is wonderful for the cold weather!" Sandeman Family Wine will showcase Tawny Ports tonight, stop by and taste the "significant difference."

Cannonball Wine Company

Yoav Gilat of Cannonball Wine Company recommends that you "come in, relax, and don't feel any pressure that you need to talk about the wines. Ask questions. Try the wines you like." He suggests starting with the whites, try the different regions, then move to the reds. "But don't try to drink fifty different wines, I would try to focus on things that you find good and that you like." Most importantly, "it doesn't matter what the score is." Tonight's event is a great opportunity to ask a chef about wine pairing and learning about different wines!

For those with tickets for tonight's event, thanks in advance for your donation to Easter Seals and enjoy your vino!