Last month, when we were in Portugal for Essencia do Vinho, we had the fortunate experience of meeting Paulo Amorim, Vice President of ViniPortugal. Well, to be perfectly frank, we didn’t just “meet” Paulo, we were required spend several days glued to his side, since he was one of the organizers of our press junket. For the whole of the fair, and many days on either end of it, Paulo literally breathed the event. Every moment was spent consumed with its creation, organization and completion. For many, an event of this magnitude would be self destructive, but for Paulo, it was ecstasy. Because Paulo is not only a person devoted to Portuguese wine, but also someone who appears to have it coursing through their veins. Founding member of the G7 a group of wineries who work together to promote their wines internationally and an active voice for ViniPortugal, Paulo is a jewel in the Portuguese wine world.

Taken from their site ViniPortugal’s mission statement:

Created in 1997, ViniPortugal is a trade association whose aim is to promote Portuguese wines, brandies and vinegars on the domestic and target international markets.

ViniPortugal provides strategic support to the Portuguese wine sector, bringing together organizations representing trade (ANCEVE and ACIBEV), production (FENAVI and FEVIPOR), cooperative wineries (FENADEGAS), distillers (AND), farmers (CAP), demarcated regions (ANDOVI) and government bodies (IVV).

Our promotional activity is financed by a variable sum made from payments by producers to the Institute of Vine and Wine (IVV) for certifying their wines, brandies and vinegar.

Below is a short video we conducted with Paulo during Essencia do Vinho. In it, I inquired into Portugal’s strengths and weaknesses in the world market and possible solutions towards raising awareness of Portuguse wines. Enjoy!!

Last night was one of the first evenings, in quite some time, that we took a big break away from drinking La Rioja wines. Sigh…it felt magical to take a massive step to the right and look adoringly at the bottle of 2005 Quinta do Vale Meão sitting regally alongside my red wine braised pork cheeks and steamed artichokes. And although we’ve had this wine before with Francisco Javier de Olazabal in Oporto last February, it was lovely to have a moment where we could enjoy a Portuguese treasure.

Quinta do Vale Meão has fashioned a remarkable reputation for itself since its inception in 1877. Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira originally bought the 270 hectares of land in the Douro Superior, which were later placed under the massive Sogrape umbrella. Dona Antónia’s great grandson, Francisco Javier de Olazabal, has now taken control of the 65 hectares, which are comprised of various soil types including, granite and alluvial gravel.

The 2005 Quinta do Vale Meão shows gorgeous and dense floral and chocolate notes, a complex and concentrated mouthfeel, and a long, luxurious finish. This is a fantastic wine!

Gabriella

Dark and vibrant blood red, clean in color with an intense radiance. I’m swooning right now, as the nose is just brimming with absolutely beautiful aromas of violet, pure liquid chocolate, anise, tar, wet earth, cinnamon, raw meat, etc. etc. etc. The layers and intricate nuances in the bouquet are so intense and profound that it’s almost impossible to take my nose out of this glass. In the mouth, the wine …

Whoo hooo! We did it! We’ve finally released our best newsletter to date, or so we humbly believe. Having started this adventure last November with a full report on Port wines, followed by a second newsletter on Spanish Cava wines, we are ecstatic to announce our third newsletter on La Rioja wines. After 3 weeks of 16 hour work days, we are proud to give you….drum roll please….!

We created a website dedicated to the wines and food of La Rioja, along with many other fun treats, including: an interactive map of Rioja, marking our experiences throughout our seven day trip; a full album of La Rioja photographs displaying everything from the smallest winery we experienced at Bodegas Arranz-Argote to the most ingenious barrel hoisting device at Bodegas LAN; a complete archive of every article we’ve written at Catavino.net on Rioja; an explanation on Rioja cuisine; how to read a Rioja label; and to top it all off, 30+ winery profiles and 200+ tasting notes! We hope you enjoy it!!

Here are some things you should know about this project:

1. We will continue to update our La Rioja report each and every time we taste a Rioja wine. No matter if it is tomorrow, or in three years (assuming Catavino will survive that long ;-)), this archive will build upon itself to create a lattice work of interconnected tasting notes, winery profiles, articles and photos.

2. You are a integral part of our Rioja report’s success. We ask you to please add your comments under any and all Rioja wines, …

Now that our Rioja is coming to a close, with only a few remaining articles in queue to be published, it’s time to give you the skinny on whether or not it’s worth your time to pick up the all knowing Spanish wine expert, John Radford’s, book on La Rioja. Published in 2004 by Mitchell Beazley, now Octopus Publishing, this a great book for anyone with deep passion for Rioja wine or who simply enjoy a good reference book for their library.

Having already read several of Mitchell Beazley’s books, we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. Would it be a bone dry read that could be used a sedative before bed, or would it actually be engaging, adding a little depth and spice to a rich cultural tradition? To be honest, it was a bit of both. The majority of the book is used as a directly of over 400 wineries in La Rioja, containing everything from the name of the winemaker to how many hectoliters are produced annually. However, as a result of John’s wit and curiosity, you’ve also got a great story on John’s visit to the wineries, an in depth looks at the history of the region, as well as several cultural tidbits of information that give you more than simply a directory.

Over the past two months, I’ve used this book to aid in my research on the etymology of Rioja, the different classifications of Rioja wine and general information about specific wineries that we couldn’t visit but tasted their wines, such as :Martinez Laorden, La …

According to this article UK is number one market for Spanish Wines - Talking Retail, there is good news for Spanish wine in the UK. Sounds great. Sounds important, but I would say that this is only half the story. Spain is the third largest producer of wine in world, but we also have the largest land area under vine. Granted, a large chunk of this land consists of low density plantings in areas such as La Mancha, with less then stellar wine varieties like Airen. That said, we do have the capacity to grow and produce more, and after talking to many producers at Alimentaria, I realized that there a lot of room to expand sales. The UK may be the biggest market for Spanish wine, but with America poised to become the largest wine consuming nation, this statistic could change quickly.

Questions for Readers: If you are in the UK, do you see Spanish wine occupying more space at your local wine shop? Are restaurants offering more Spanish wine choices, both low and high end? If you are seeing Spanish wine in your area, are they from a handful of regions, or is the UK exploring the vast and diverse Spanish wine landscape?

If your in the US, or elsewhere, what do you see? Is Spain becoming more accepted? Are you seeing one region denominating or is there considerable diversity? I ask because, I fear that while sales increase, we aren’t finding anything new, just more of the same. What do you want to find on your local …