At the end of March, we threw a little shindig for Ryan on his birthday consisting of wine, mounds of grilled butifarra and dozen friends. And with the appropriate social graces, many of our friends came bearing gifts, all looking distinctly similar to a bottle of wine. Clearly, they had been well versed in the […]

For those of you unfamiliar with D.O. Yecla, I can assure you that it’s not something you’d say when tasting a glass of old milk, well past its suggested date of consumption. “D.O Yuck-la?!” Instead, this tiny D.O, with only 4,300 hectares under vine, is increasingly gaining in popularity abroad, as traditional winemaking is crafting […]

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 […]

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, […]

Selling wine is an exercise in repetition. Regardless of the topic, every good salesman has a handful of educational tidbits sitting their back pocket, cataloged and ready for the next customer to ask them what “corked” means, or “do European wines have more sulfites”, or the fact their uncle told them that “white wine starts […]