Having been over a month since we’ve provided you a comprehensive list of fun links to check out, we thought the time had finally come send your mouse a clickin’. Additionally, as we’re preparing for a mega grill out tomorrow afternoon among friends, each bringing their own item for the coals, to be honest, our minds are elsewhere. We’ve already left planet Catavino to consider whether we have enough glassware for a dozen people eager to drink wines from Rioja, and if we have enough bbq fixings to keep our birthday boy, Ryan, happy. So with that, I’ll leave you to our news of the day!

Are Woman Wine Bloggers Getting Their Just Desserts?
Recently, there have been several conversations floating around the web on whether women are truly being respected for their work in the wine world. There are female wine writers such as Jancis Robinson and Natalie Maclean; female bloggers such as Jill from Domaine 547 and Carol B from Pour More; and female winemakers like Marimar Torres from Marimar Estate in California or Martinez Sierra of Bodegas Montecillo in La Rioja, just to name a few, but some wine bloggers have voiced that women are not getting the attention, nor the positive reputation they rightfully deserve. My question being, are we as woman going to focus on numbers as the telltale sign of oppression, or is it more productive for us to focus on our work, whereby influencing other women to join in and do the same? Check out Dr Debs article on woman in print, Richard’s homage to female wine bloggers, Jancis …

After a long and luxurious weekend of visiting touristy sites around Barcelona, I was a little awe-stricken this morning when I opened my inbox to a deluge of Spanish and Portuguese wine links. Normally, we would let this wait for Friday, but with the amount of fun facts, recipes, instigating articles and events happening right now, we felt it would be best to mix it up a bit and bring you the information now! Enjoy.

Warm Spanish Cocktail
Erin Hartigan at usaweekend.com published a whole slew of suggestions on how to use those remaining bottles of liquor sitting idly on the counter into some delicious belly warming drinks. One suggestion in particular that obviously caught our eye used Spanish wine as your base for a funky sounding warm sangria.

Mull more than just wine. Scott Beattie, bar manager of Cyrus Restaurant in Healdsburg, Calif., uses mulling spices to seasonalize sangria: “I take cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, toast them, add orange and pineapple juices, and cook that mixture down.” He adds it to a strong red Spanish wine and equal parts cognac and dark rum. Freeman likes Glhwein, Germany’s hot, spiced red wine. “Add juniper, cinnamon and allspice, or even rosemary, to red wine,” he says, and to sweeten, use elderberry syrup, cassis or Cointreau.

Portuguese Stone Soup
I admit that I’ve heard of stone soup in my past, but I wasn’t familiar with the etymology of its name until now. One version in the Times Colonist speaks of a beggar who was so desperate for food that he pleaded for ingredients to add to his pebble-filled broth. So touched were the townspeople that they eagerly gave to the beggar in hopes of thickening his soup. By the end of his rounds, he had gathered enough potatoes, …