Editor’s Note: A few month’s ago, Edward Ragg of Dragon Phoenix Fine Wine Consulting in Beijing contacted us through Catavino to simply say “hello”, a gesture we always appreciate! With a little back and forth through emails over the course of a month, we slowly built a relationship, eventually asking Edward if he wouldn’t mind covering the Vinoexpo Asia event for us on Catavino. Lucky for us, he agreed and has provided us with two posts on the event, which I trust you’ll enjoy. Hopefully this does not end, and we look forward to more input from Edward as we move forward. For more detailed information on Edward, please check out our “about” page. If you want to be a Catavino correspondent we are still looking for individuals in the UK, and USA, who want to help round out the Catavino team. Just email us at: write{at}catavino{dot}net.ll

There was certainly a buzz in the humid Hong Kong air when some 700 wineries, trade bodies and other interested parties set up stall for this year’s Vinexpo Asia, held from 27th-29th May in Hong Kong’s massive Wan Chai Convention Center.

This bi-annual event, first started in 2006, was, of course, boosted this year with the news that the Hong Kong government has slashed import duty on wine. Some merchants have already adjusted prices on their stock, but we shouldn’t expect significant price changes until new wines arrive and not everyone will lower their prices commensurately.

Some commentators think Macau and even mainland China will follow suit. But mainland China is a totally different market from that of Hong Kong, Macau or, for that matter, Taiwan. Imported wine is only growing slowly, if steadily, in mainland China. Despite …

Ever since Catavino first became a full fledged member of the wine blogging community 3 years ago, we’ve always run ads on our site. Google adsense is the most obvious, and for most bloggers, the easiest solution to “monetize” your site, and thus, has been with us since the beginning. And since our inception, Google adsense has earned us a whopping grand total of $300. We’ve also worked with a few text link ads, and have been fortunate enough to have part of our travels in Rioja sponsored. All in all, this has added up to around $500, a car rental and a hotel room. Not bad, but not really worth our time, nor worth the clutter.

So today, we are officially declaring Catavino as an ad-free website. No blinking ads. No flashing signs. No “targeted ads”. Instead, we’re doing something novel: dedicating ourselves to publishing good, comprehensive content.

That said, we are not adverse to sponsorships, and if someone wants to help us to do our job better, we are all ears. Sponsorships from people in and around the world of Iberian wine who want to reach approximately 15,000+ unique visitors each month(a number that is growing), is something we will continue to be open to. Though from here on out, we’ll do more to integrate these sponsorships into the site in a way that does not clutter up the sidebars and headers. We know that advertising on sites like this is a numbers game, and while we have loyal readers from diverse backgrounds, Google ads will never do much for us, and we rather save space …

One of the things I was trying to get a feel for, at this year’s Vinoble, was how Spanish sweet and fortified wines compared to those from the rest of the world. I was not very good at asking about prices, so I’m afraid I don’t really have a view on the value-for-money, but I was pretty good at having a taste.

It struck me that, as far as quality is concerned, spanish sweet and fortified wines have as wide a variety in quality as any other countries, or regions, and the best of these can easily hold their own against the highly touted from elsewhere. For me, at the top of the pile is definitely sherry. Some of the carefully aged and cared for sherries are more than world class. Perhaps they don’t command the same prices as some other iconic sweet and fortified wines, but they are just as complex, elegant and engaging.

Since these were recommended to me by sherry and wine writing legend, Julian Jeffs, I have to mention the newly released Harveys VORS range. I tried two of these (Palo Cortado and PX) at the London Wine Fair the week before Vinoble, where three had been awarded Gold (two best in class) and one Silver (best in class) at the IWSC 2008. At Vinoble, I tried the other two, the Amontillado and Oloroso. Beautiful wines, which all tell long, complex and interesting stories.

There were several Añada (vintage) sherries around at Vinoble as well. I went to a tasting given by Mauricio Gonzalez-Gordon from Gonzalez Byass where we enjoyed two Palo Cortados from 1978 and 1986 and also a blend of Oloroso añadas from every decade of the last century called, Millenium. The 1986 was …

Awards, schmawards. We hate wine awards. The number of press releases we get each week telling us that some winery or another is receiving a new award for their latest wine is enough virtual email to destroy a virtual forest of trees! Do I care about any of these? No. Does someone care? I would assume so, but wine writers would rather taste the wine themselves before they give their final mark of approval. Plus, we tend to be highly suspicious of awards that come from wine committees that we’ve never heard of, or from a large tasting that “conquer” 1,000,000,000+ wines at once. Picking out one or two decent wines in such a large and expansive group is like walking into a football stadium and randomly selecting two individuals as “good people” and dismissing the rest as unworthy. Silly.

So today, we’re going to announce an award that we think is worth paying attention to, as it will benefit both the consumer and the winery. It’s also an award that any winery can win, with the most minimal of requirements - at least in the first stage.

The Catavino Iberian Winery Blog Awards is an award for wineries who are taking the internet seriously. For now, you only need to meet a few basic requirements; but in the future, we hope to list some more defined parameters so that we may acknowledge Iberian wineries who are willing market their wines a little differently.

Currently, we’ll list any winery located in Spain or Portugal, who …

Editor’s Note: Justin Roberts is one of our new contributing authors on Catavino.net, having recently agreed to share his experiences of Iberian wine from his home in Jerez de la Frontera (Andalusia). We’re excited to have him aboard as he has a vast amount of knowledge he can contribute to our site after obtaining both the Advanced Wine and Spirits Certification and the Sherry Educator’s Certificate. Couple this with his unique perspectives having lived in South Africa, Argentina and the UK, as well as being from Zimbabwe, and clearly, we have a wonderful new addition to our site.

Last week I spent every hour possible at the sixth edition of Vinoble. Held every two years, this wine fair is unusual because it focuses on noble, fortified and sweet wines. A particularly attractive idea to me since I love wines along those lines. The old favorites were all represented, but also new and interesting and even experimental wines. It was almost impossible for me to take in everything over the four days of the fair, but I tried my best!

Apart from the wines, something else is a bit different and a bit special about Vinoble: The venue. This great wine experience takes place in the “Alcazar”, an ancient Moorish fortress, at the heart of the famous sherry town, Jerez de la Frontera. A truly beautiful setting. Most trade fairs are in large exhibition halls, often far from the action, with rows and rows of stands which seem to merge together. The Jerez Alcazar on the other hand has many different indoor and outdoor spaces and these are all used to great effect, making Vinoble something quite unique. Inside the Alcazar there are Arab gardens, a restored …