To start off our Friday links, I’d like to make a formal apology to a tiny bodega making incredible wine in Rioja. Although we had mentioned Bodegas Arranz-Argote in our Rioja report, we failed to put them in our buying guide as a “must find” wine. For that, we are very sorry, because there is nothing we’d like more than for you to try their one and only wine, ARAR, and see for yourself how a small family run bodega can make some killer wine. Check out Excel Wines for more information on how to get a hold of their wine outside of Spain.

Now, on to the news:

Kosher Spanish Wine Jessica Yadegaran published an article in the Contra Costa Times, a San Fransisco based newspaper, regarding the increase in both quality and quantity of Kosher wines throughout the winemaking world, quoting a 20% annual growth over the past two years. Interesting, I thought, but what does Kosher actually mean? According to Jessica, Kosher law requires that, “the processing must be handled by Sabbath-observant Jews. Kosher law also calls for harvesting from vines more than 4 years old, leaving the vineyards fallow every seven years, and growing no fruits, vegetables or grains between the vines.” Having seen only a handful of kosher wines here in Spain, I was intrigued by this article because the author highlights Spain as one of the upcoming wine regions for producing great kosher wines that pair well with traditional Jewish foods such as grilled beef, cumin-and-dried-mint lamb burgers and brisket. Check out her article for more information on specific Iberian kosher wines.

Calling all Port lovers! For the Love of Port has recently launched its new and improved website, which includes: producer profiles, a blog, featured articles, …

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 …

From time to time, we like to stop for a moment and check in with our readers. Lately, our readership has been soaring, in addition to a boatload of new RSS subscribers, which of course, makes our hearts warm and fuzzy. We hope that you’ve been enjoying what we’ve been creating. And fortunately, we’ve had a great time providing you with new information. However, we’re a little curious. With all of our talking, we haven’t taken a moment to listen to you.

So humor us. Tell us what you’ve been reaching for to quench your thirst for vino? Any Spanish wine treats or Portuguese wine delicacies? Is there something you’ve tried that was terrible? Amazing? Unexpected? Maybe you have a question or a request for a story that we’ve failed to cover. The Opai clan what to know.

Hey all you RSS subscribers, can you take 5 minutes and come visit us, say hi, and let us know that you’re human and not a robot? With all these new faces, it’s nice for us to know what makes you tick, what you drink, and what made you want to peruse our site!

For our part, we promise to respond, and maybe even take up one of your article ideas as fodder for a future posting here. Catavino will be back soon. In fact, we promise to finally get out this Rioja report we keep talking about. You’ll understand the sweat pouring down our brows right now when you see what we’ve done. Hee hee, but we promise, you won’t be disappointed.

Hey, why not add …

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, I was brought into this world during a snowstorm in Chisago City, Minnesota. By some accounts, I was the furthest one could be from the European wine culture. Growing up, I had parents who were never wine geeks, though not tea totellers either. It really wasn’t until late into my college years that I started looking into wine beyond the 1.5L that cost 10$, allowing myself to look more sophisticated at college get togethers. My first real purchases of wine didn’t occur until I turned 24. Therefore, I would have to say that in my life, wine has held a pretty important significance for only the past nine years. Seems like a lot longer than it is, but hopefully, my passion will last for many more years.

I say this as I head out for martinis tonight in downtown Barcelona. Here in Spain, cocktails are a rare entity, and with most of our money going to wine, we don’t have a liquor cabinet to make our own. Not that I mind. When I do finally sit with a good dry martini or Manhattan, it tastes all that much better; yet this is not why I’m typing. My intention is to talk about a couple of wines.

This past month, these two wines have reminded me why I love wine so much. Often, I look at wine too closely and fail to really enjoy it for what it …