Today’s my birthday. I’m saying this not as a plea for attention, but rather a chance to reflect on some things. Catavino has grown a lot in the past three years. In a few more months, we can officially call Catavino three years old, an achievement I never expected we’d accomplish. 33 years ago today, I was brought into this world during a snowstorm in Chisago City, Minnesota. By some accounts, I was the furthest one could be from the European wine culture. Growing up, I had parents who were never wine geeks, though not tea totellers either. It really wasn’t until late into my college years that I started looking into wine beyond the 1.5L that cost 10$, allowing myself to look more sophisticated at college get togethers. My first real purchases of wine didn’t occur until I turned 24. Therefore, I would have to say that in my life, wine has held a pretty important significance for only the past nine years. Seems like a lot longer than it is, but hopefully, my passion will last for many more years.

I say this as I head out for martinis tonight in downtown Barcelona. Here in Spain, cocktails are a rare entity, and with most of our money going to wine, we don’t have a liquor cabinet to make our own. Not that I mind. When I do finally sit with a good dry martini or Manhattan, it tastes all that much better; yet this is not why I’m typing. My intention is to talk about a couple of wines.

This past month, these two wines have reminded me why I love wine so much. Often, I look at wine too closely and fail to really enjoy it for what it …

The results are in and Catavino has been announced as a finalist in the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards! Hosted by Tom Wark of Fermentations, we are elated to be nominated for The Best Single Subject Wine Blog. Thank you!

Over the past three years, what started as journal of our wine experience in Spain has now turned into a full blown business. Having traveled throughout Spain and Portugal, interviewing winemakers, attending tastings, and generally experiencing the culture at its finest, we have gained a considerable amount of love and appreciation for Iberia. And to be honest, it’s hard not to, especially when considering that we live in the heart of the one of the most under appreciated and widely diverse wine regions of the world. Hence, we are thankful to be here and consider ourselves lucky to be one of the few whose work is also their passion.

Now, we need your help. For all those die hard Catavino fans our there, including you silent lurkers :-), please take a moment to vote for us. And if your thinking, “hey how about a little something, you know, for the effort?” We can assure you that there will be no money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So you got that going for you, which is nice.

Cheers,

Gabriella and Ryan

Don’t let the title deceive you, because this post is not what you think it’s going to be about. We at Catavino have already laid out our rules of disclosure, and hope that we’re abiding by a code of conduct that is both fair and even handed. But ironically, this is not the type of disclosure I want to talk about. What I want to ask everyone is this: should a winery be honest with the consumer about their winemaking practices? Should they honestly tell us how a wine is made? Should they honestly tell us everything they do? Does it really matter? And if it doesn’t matter, why bother telling us anything at all?

I ask this question after coming off three weeks of wine tasting, while listening to over fifty wineries try and convince me that what they do is different and sets them apart from others. I’ve heard how they use X type of oak on there wines in various combinations and with various ages of barrels. I’ve listen to the way they gently set their grapes in boxes of no more than 12-15 kgs, restricting themselves to only one layer, or maybe two at the very most. How they cold macerate their wines for 1, 2, 3…day, or that handpicking grapes is ideal, but adjusting acidity is bad. Don’t forget that pumping over is also bad(sometimes), but of course, gravity is good. Etc..etc…etc…snore………………………

The truth is, I’m sick of it!!! Not because I’m bored with the process, but rather I don’t know what to believe. Every winemaker I meet seems to have a new and revolutionary way of draining their wine from one barrel to the next in hopes of causing less trauma. One day I expect to hear that some new winery will …

A few months ago, Ryan received the first of many email correspondences from Excel Wines, asking for more information about Catavino. Who is Excel Wines, you ask?! Anna Axén from Sweden, Sandy Tay from Malaysia and Ane Miren Lambe from Ireland manage and run this Internet Spanish wine retail shop in the incredibly windy region of Bilbao, Spain. I’d say the windy and rainy northern region, but sadly, rain seems to be a distant memory of Spain’s past. Having spent several years lovingly devoted to the growth and development of their children, in 2006, both Anna and Sandy decided it was high time to get off their haunches and start on the road to their true passion: wine (smart women!). Having no experience in the wine trade, little understanding of the Internet and few connections (or enchufes) in Spain, they decided to take from the guidance of Sandy’s husband, a Spanish national, along with the trusted support and friendship of Miguel Merino to create Excel Wines in 2006. It wasn’t until many months later that Ane came on board with her intense and professional style to both support and bolster the team. Together, these three have created a perfectly interwoven team that is bound by the inescapable desire to both explore and educate Europeans about Spanish wine.

What makes this company different from your average online wine retail shop? As I see it, two very important factors: unique Spanish wines and exceptional customer service. Let’s start with the obvious, Spanish wines. As a result of their rather convenient location in the heart of Spain, Excel Wines has worked hard to compile a portfolio of wines that not only represent a vast diversity of Spanish wines including Cava, …

When I sat down to write this article, it occurred to me that I had no idea what a foundation is, or an endowment for that matter. I had heard of foundations like the Ford Foundation and endowments like the National Endowment for the Arts, but never understood how one is either similar or different from the other. From my limited understanding of the subject, it appears that a foundation makes funds available to establish an organization through endowments with an eye towards future maintenance; whereas an endowment is basically the source of funding.

Once I had that the definition of a foundation straightened out, I then had to sort what exactly the Dinastia Vivanco Foundation was and how I would clearly describe it to you. So humor me while I give it my best shot. The Foundation was established in 2004 by the Vivanco family to share wine’s rich legacy over the centuries. How do they do this? They do this through the disbursement of family funds and resources to investigate both vine growing and winemaking practices, as well as both preserving and displaying various artifacts dedicated to wine. Now technically, because the foundation is funded by the entire Vivanco family, all members of the family have equal power in making meaningful decisions as to how this money is used, but there is one member who has taken the Foundation to heart, taking an active role as Director of the Vivanco Foundation. Santiago Vivanco, one of the two Vivanco brothers, has been the driving force behind the Foundation from the moment of its inception. While Santiago’s brother, Rafael, has spearheaded the management of the winery and winemaking, Santiago has been the driving force …