I love talking to people who are off the “grid”, or at least off my grid. Sadly, and happily, I’m plugged into the internet more than most. Consequently, I have a drastically different view on Internet norms. For me, Twitter is an extension of my vocal chords, Gmail is an extra storage place for my brain, and Catavino is a soapbox for which I shout out from. And as a result of this online culture, a new language has been born. There are new verbs such as:
To Google: To search for something on the internet
To Blog: To write about something and publish is on the web
To surf: To wander about the web, often with the help of tools such as Stumble upon.

Interestingly, a few nights ago, we had some friends over for dinner and an interesting topic surfaced. Evidently, one of our friends had just left his first comment on a blog. I know most of you will at this point be thinking, “where’s this guy been the past 5 years?” But it turns out us web 2.0 junkies are still the minority, and the interactive nature of the new internet is still very novel to many. Feeling confident, my friend left a comment about a woman’s overly happy disposition on her video blog. What followed from that “comment” completely caught him off guard. At first, he was called a ‘troll’ by a fellow reader who didn’t like the fact he challenged this woman’s ‘life is beautiful’ attitude. Second, the blogger, in this case, a vlogger, responded, whereby creating …

Having been over a month since we’ve provided you a comprehensive list of fun links to check out, we thought the time had finally come send your mouse a clickin’. Additionally, as we’re preparing for a mega grill out tomorrow afternoon among friends, each bringing their own item for the coals, to be honest, our minds are elsewhere. We’ve already left planet Catavino to consider whether we have enough glassware for a dozen people eager to drink wines from Rioja, and if we have enough bbq fixings to keep our birthday boy, Ryan, happy. So with that, I’ll leave you to our news of the day!

Are Woman Wine Bloggers Getting Their Just Desserts?
Recently, there have been several conversations floating around the web on whether women are truly being respected for their work in the wine world. There are female wine writers such as Jancis Robinson and Natalie Maclean; female bloggers such as Jill from Domaine 547 and Carol B from Pour More; and female winemakers like Marimar Torres from Marimar Estate in California or Martinez Sierra of Bodegas Montecillo in La Rioja, just to name a few, but some wine bloggers have voiced that women are not getting the attention, nor the positive reputation they rightfully deserve. My question being, are we as woman going to focus on numbers as the telltale sign of oppression, or is it more productive for us to focus on our work, whereby influencing other women to join in and do the same? Check out Dr Debs article on woman in print, Richard’s homage to female wine bloggers, Jancis …

La Rioja is a fun place to eat. Any place where wine is so fundamental to a location’s identity will result in a culture of food that accompany their wine. And although, I believe that a food culture is prevalent worldwide, ranging from spicy to bland and rich to light; but if I had to sum up Spain’s food culture, or specifically that of La Rioja, in one word, that would be: ingredients. As my friend Burt likes to quote the late Julia Child, he reminds me that when asked about Italian cooking, she stated “That’s not cooking, that’s grocery shopping!” I believe the same can be said for Spain.

In Rioja, when shopping for your everyday typical meal, you will almost always find the following ingredients in your basket:

Asparagus Blanca
White and shiny when raw, and more often found tinned, the Spanish love this stuff. Usually, if not always, the asparagus is cooked until mushy and then served with mayonnaise and it is a food that took me awhile to fall in love with. I grew up in a culture that cooked its vegetables until slightly crisp, where a bite would yield a loud snap. But it’s not to say that I can’t learn to appreciate other styles. When at their best, white asparagus can show a subtle sweetness that is both delicate and light. If you visit, remember that unlike many parts of the world, these vegetables can be incredible when served right out of the expensive jar or tin. I would suggest that you buy a few to bring home from any one …

Editor’s note: This story is from 3 years ago when I first went to Rioja. Back then Catavino was not known, and I only had a small family site I was maintaining. Money was scarce, hell it still is! But this became one of my favorite stories, and since it took place in Rioja and the food was so good I thought I would share the experience with those of you who are not familiar with it. Enjoy!

April 28, 2005

Having to this point in my trip conserved my pennies; I decided that at least one night I was going to treat myself to decent meal at a nice restaurant. Every time I am traveling in Spain, I always take along my favorite travel guides, and they both agreed that when eating out in Haro, the best bet was Asador Terete. An Asador is the equivalent to a steak house in America but without the steak or potatoes. The Asadors all have wood fire ovens and specialize in the technique of slow roasting meats to create mouthwatering meals. My goal tonight was to try a local specialty of La Rioja, Cordero Asado; roasted suckling lamb.

Yes, the same suckling sensation that I had tried in Segovia only this time with a small helpless lamb. Thank you mister lamb for your sacrifice, and now, back the story…

So, heading out at a reasonable 9pm, the restaurant located in the upper portion of the building did not have its lights on. Thinking that I at least wanted them to be prepared for dinner, I decided to do a quick walk around the city and then headed back. Still no lights. I started to think maybe tonight was not to be and …

A little over a month ago, we attended the II International Climate Change and Wine Conference here in Barcelona, Spain. Having been our first conference with a professional camera man in tow, our goal was to: interview as many speakers as possible to give us a good breadth of knowledge as to what the issues are that are impacting our vineyards, give wine consumers a better understanding as to how wine culture may change, and finally, learn how we as wine lovers may support sustainable agriculture. However, despite our best efforts, when a question was posed to us in an article on the immediate impacts of climate change, we quickly realized that we failed to interview one of the key researchers on how climate change is currently impacting grape vines, Dr. Gregory Jones. Hence, what we’ve provided below is a Q&A with Dr. Jones, along with a series of links where you can find more information on his research.

Tell us how your research intertwined wine and climate change? Did it start with climate change and slowly morph into the inclusion of vines, or were you always a die-hard wine fan who feared the loss of your favorite past time?

I started studying climate, viticulture and wine about the same time. While I consider myself a climatologist (formal training), I focused my work on understanding the role climate plays in grapevine plant growth, fruit composition, yield and quality issues. Originally, I was more interested in the basic structure and interaction, but climate variability and change issues were evident in many of my studies and rose to the top as an important issue to study.

Did you consciously hope that wine would raise the discourse of climate change, or was it merely …