This is depressing we’re at almost 10,000 uniques a month but only have five subscribers to our newsletter What makes this situation worst is that this translates to almost 10,000 people missing out on our upcoming tasting notes of all of the Port wines we tried this month! Not to mention our our interview with Adrian Bridge, Managing Director of The Fladgate Partnership, and a couple of extra bodega profiles!!
Just to give you a taste, we have over 40 notes on various wine from these Portuguese Wine producers: Taylor Fladgate, Fonseca, Croft, Quinta de Ventozelo, Quevedo, The House of Sandeman, Quinte de la Rosa, Krohns, Ramos Pinto, covering Tawny, Ruby, Vintages 2005, 2003, 2000, Colheita, LBV styles.

Plus, in the first newsletter, we have a special contest to win a copy of Richard Mayson’s “Port and the Douro”, fresh off the press if you sign up now. The contest to win the book is only available in the newsletter.

Both Thursday and Friday are holidays in Spain. So, we’ll be taking Friday off to head north to a little town called, Vic, for a medieval festival where we’ll be eating loads of butifarra and shivering the fall cold. Therefore our very first newsletter may not be released until the weekend. But don’t worry, it’s coming. We just want to get it right.

Important Newsletter notes: Up until January 1st, by signing up for the newsletter, we will send you a link that will permit you to download it. After December though all new registrations will only be queued up to receive the next letter we send out. We ask that you please do not pass on the link to …

A few days ago, there was a post on the wine blog, Tempranillo, pointing me to the new Martin Scorsese movie commissioned by Freixnet, the largest Cava producer in Spain, to promote their wine Carta Nevada Reserva. Here’s the flick on YouTube, though from what I can tell, it was not posted by Freixenet on the popular social network site, but rather uploaded by fans of Scorsese.

Click here to Watch this

It’s a fun film, but is it worth the effort? Have you seen it before? What are your thoughts? If you go to the site and watch the movie, you have the option of leaving a suggestion for following year’s movie. In addition, Freixenet created a “blog” to go with it. I say “blog” in quotes, because it really is only a blog in the sense that it runs on wordpress. It’s solely available in Spanish (guess they spent all their money on Scorsese, and had none left over for a translator) and only contains links to its own articles. So in reality, it’s just a website and exemplifies a larger trend of big companies misunderstanding this social tool.

I don’t have much to say as of yet. I haven’t seen a lot of talk about it online, but maybe it’s in the “film” circles and not the wine and food circles I tend to spend my time in. Hence, I’d rather ask all of you Catavino readers, as we enter the month of Cava, what you think? Did Freixenet get what they paid for? Should big companies like Freixenet try to play in the world of blogs? Could this have been more effective with a call to fans “to create their own film”?

Discuss…

Ryan …

Hah! How about these photos to wake you out of your lazy Monday slumber! Makes you think twice before making a big toothy grin at someone after drinking a few glasses of port, doesn’t it? Ahhh, but it’s worth it. If you should find yourself with a purple tongue from firm tannins completely saturated in inky, dark colors, we encourage you to smile; because hopefully, you’ve just drank the nectar of the Gods.

Over the month of November, we’ve had an incredible experience learning about the history, the culture, the winemaking practices and the various different styles of port such as ruby, tawny, vintage, LVB and Colheita.

We also had an opportunity to discover two very different Port houses: Sandman and Quinta de la Rosa. While Sandeman is an internationally renowned port house currently under the portfolio of a large Portuguese wine company called Sogrape, Quinta de la Rosa is an independent, family-run quinta that aims to both produce quality port wine, and at the same time, provide opportunities for wine lovers to learn about the port making process.

Finally, we chatted about one of our favorite food pairings with port wine chocolate, and how this rather unlikely pairing lends itself to some of the worst and best experiences depending on both the style of port and the type of chocolate.

So, what’s next? Throughout the month of November, we eluded to a PDF containing all of our port wine recommendations, which we would release at the end of the month; however, in light of some late participants, we’ll be releasing the PDF at the end of the week. Additionally, we would like to offer our deepest …

Thanksgiving has now come and gone. The delicious smell of garlic mashed potatoes drifting throughout the house has been replaced with Turkey sandwiches. The screeches of playful children running gleefully under foot is now a faint memory as normalcy has settled back into the house. And kitschy paper Turkeys so meticulously pasted to the windows and hung from the chandeliers are now being packed up in exchange for the 12 boxes of Christmas gear located in the back corner of the attic. Ahhh, Thanksgiving. We absolutely adore this day, an ode to food and family, but it is one of the few cornerstone holidays in American culture which we give up our careful devotion to waistlines, and while throwing caution to the wind, allow ourselves little sugar and fat filled treats throughout the day over two solid months. And as much as we’d like to pretend that calories don’t accumulate upon themselves, as small bites don’t inherently have calories of course, our hearts know otherwise.

But rest assured that the Spanish have your back this holiday season with a magical substance called, Cava. The University of Barcelona recently found that Cava actually reduces the levels of substances in the body known to cause the buildup of arterial plaque, which may lead to arterial disease. And if this isn’t incentive enough for you to be stocking up on Cava this holiday season, the study also found that it reduces the inflammatory markers that predict atherosclerosis, a chronic disease characterized by the constant inflammation of the arterial wall. Simply by opening and pouring yourself a nice tall glass of Cava, you’ll not only be helping your heart while snacking on christmas cookies, but you’ll also be helping your palate. And, if you find yourself …

Being an ex-pat in Spain, we don’t have the luxury of a Thursday off to celebrate Turkey Day. We still wake up early, go to work, and have no contact with family other than a late afternoon phone call. Our turkey comes this Sunday, when a bunch of Barcelona ex-pats will assemble in a downtown apartment, and without the noise of a football game in the background, we’ll all taste through each person’s contribution to the holiday fare. Each year it is a load of fun and each year we make great memories from it.

So in the spirit of the holiday, we just want to send our thanks to all of you readers, fellow wine bloggers, parents and family members who’ve supported us for so long, and to all the ex-pats who will share the Sunday meal with us. Finally, we have to say thanks to any of you out there who might be pairing their turkey with a splash of Tempranillo or starting the day off right with a glass of Cava in hand. Oh, and anyone sipping on a glass of Sherry wine as you read this, we’re awarding you extra points!

Cheers to all and have a safe and Happy Holiday!

Ryan and Gabriella Opaz

Today, I write to you from a position of a person with a head cold and a pile of port wine in front of me. Currently, we’re working to put together a large tasting of 2005 ports and assorted odds and ends. Our objective is to release a PDF at the end of the month for you all to peruse and explore at your leisure. This will hopefully become a new feature here at Catavino as we devote each month to a theme and summerizing it with a “buying guide” based on our recommendations. So today, we want to offer you a few tidbits of information, a new feature, and a question.

First, a new feature!
Catavino has a newsletter! If you look in the second column on the home page you’ll see a sign-up form for our newsletter. This is a new feature and will be different from the RSS feed that some of you subscribe to by email. While the RSS emails are just emails with our latest posts, the newsletter will include things that never make it onto the main site. Each month, we’re aiming to send out one newsletter covering some of our most popular articles, current unpublished happenings in Iberia, interesting events you may want to attend, and few odds and ends that may tickle your fancy. Please sign up, tell a friend, and pass it on. The first newsletter will most likely come out around the holidays.

Special Offer for Catavino Readers Only

When we were in Jerez to get our certification, we were given a book by the Consejo titled “The Big Book of Sherry Wines”. This book alone made the entire trip worth our time, not to mention all the fabulous sherries we tasted! It was …

Whoever thought that such a delicate and ethereal cava could have a name like KRIPTA, which for me at least brings to mind visions of tomb and crypts and things. It seems like it should be so spooky, ominous, foreboding – but it´s not in the least, and actually the name suits the wine in the same way that its unique amphora shaped bottle and Mediterranean inspired label do. This is after all a Mediterranean creation, jewel of the cava makers Agustí Torelló, located in the heart of cava country in Sant Sadurní d Ánoia, and 100% made out of the Spanish trio of cava grapes: Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel-lo, from vines that are over 50 years old.

A brut nature, gran reserve cava, the 2001 vintage has been aged for 5 years, but yet its subtlety belies the heavy bakery and yeasty notes that you sometimes find in older cavas and champagnes. Straw-gold in color with fine and consistent bubbles, this cava is made by hand from start to finish, as the special bottle makes it impossible to manipulate by machine.

Most notable from the get-go is its crispness and refreshing character which later gives way to delicate notes of chocolate, cinnamon, toasted vanilla, cloves, creamy butter, and an undertone of minerals. Extremely persistent on the palate, silky and aromatic, and all in all delightful, unique and pleasing to the senses. If this is my crypt, then I must be in heaven.

N.V. Giró Ribot Cava Paul Cheneau - Spain, Catalunya, Cava (12/8/2006)Light golden color with med sized bubbles. Creamy citrus nose with yeast and light apple notes. Good acidity and a full mouthfeel that is round and well polished. Citrus, yeasty bread, some green apple and more, the finish is suprisingly long for this wine. Recommened holiday treat!

N.V. Giró Ribot Cava Avant - Spain, Catalunya, Cava (12/8/2006)50% Xarel.lo, 25% Chardonnay, 15% Macabeo, 10% ParelladaNice light gold color with fine bubbles. Cantelope nose with carmel, light wood, yeast and lemon confit. In the mouth this wine is silky with nice creaminess and rich complexity. Wood is evident but intregrated with carmel, citrus, melon, some light apple notes and more. Full wine big and bold.

D.O./Region:DO Penedes/ DO CavaAddress: Finca el Maset, S/N, Sant Pau d’Ordal, 08739, SpainTelephone:+34Fax:+34Email:bodega@massananoya.comWeb:www.massananoya.comFounded:1994Hectares of Vines: 30Wine maker: R.Joan Carles Carpio and Eudald MassanaTotal Production Liters: 98,000Grape Varieties Grown: MACABEU,XAREL.LO,PARELLADA,MOSCAT,CHARDONNAY,CABERNET SAUVIGNON,MERLOT,TEMPRANILLO, PETIT VERDOT all ecologicalWines Produced:Still wines: CEPELL BLANCO, ROSADO, TINTO, AVITON(XAREL.LO 100%) and L’ALZINARETLA CREUETA
Cavas:EUDALD MASSANA NOYA FAMILIA BRUT NATURE, BRUT, SECO, SEMI SECO, and EUDALD MASSANA NOYA RESERVA, EUDALD MASSANA NOYA MIL.LENNIExporters in the UK and USA: Currently looking for exporter
Description Provided by Bodega:
The earth, the breeze, the sun and the clean Mediteranean air make Subirats a unique place to grow vines. Like their ancestors, Eudald Massana Noya is the ninth generation of wine producers to closely work with the land in Sant Pau d’Ordal (Subirats). And as a result of our nurturing a biodynamic culture to ensure sound ecological practices, we have been accepted as a member of the Catalan Council of Agrarian Production Ecological CCPA (Council of Catalan Ecological Agrarian Producers). The CCPA seal guarantees that all of our wines and cavas are of the highest ecological quality.
Exporters:Currently looking for importers in the USA