It’s crunch time here at the Spanish office of the European Wine Bloggers Conference. Every day a new issue, a new question, and the realization that we forgot to do something! That combined with a now ever expanding desire from non-delegates to join the already full ranks, is leading to us working long hours and wondering how we keep Catavino alive. All that said, we are having fun and learning a lot. The best part though is that this conference looks to be shaping up nicely and will lead to some new conversations that need starting. I’m sure the US based conference 2 months later will also lead to great new opportunities too, and we hope that both prove to be models for what wine bloggers can do to change the wine world.

So today, we want to point out a few things that we have been wanting to talk about but just haven’t found time to put fingers to keys yet!

Vinus TV Records the first EWBC for Posterity

For all of you who can’t make it to Rioja for the Conference, and for all you readers out there who are just curious as to what a bunch of wine bloggers might do if put in one room together, well don’t worry, VinusTV is here to help. During the entire conference, they will be recording and interviewing participants for you to see live. They have promised to try to even have the 3 roundtables on the web by the end of the day on the 30th. So though you won’t be there, you can participate. We’ll also have many people twittering away and I want to put up a live chat room on the …

Editor’s Note: Andrea Smith is one of our newest additions to the Catavino crew. A 25 year old budding wine enthusiast, chef and linguist, Andrea is no stranger to seeking out great food and wine combinations. Having grown up in Northern Virginia, 10 minutes outside of the capital Washington, DC and in a highly diverse international setting, she was taught the basics of food and wine appreciation from her Italian background, where she inherited a deep love for culinary exploration. Now, living in Campo de Ourique, Lisbon, she will draw upon her CIA and sommelier studies, as well as her intimate knowledge of the Portuguese culture to bring us her favorite Portuguese food and wine combinations. We’d like to warmly welcome Andrea and hope that you will provide her with feedback as to what Portuguese cuisine you would like Andrea to seek out.

It’s another beautiful weekend in Lisbon, and I’m off to lunch to with my boyfriend - something I have been looking forward to all week. In a wealthy, historical part of the city called, Belem, near the outer rim of the city and down by the river lies Cais de Belem. Cais de Belem is an outdoor restaurant with a splendid view of the park, which serves not only some wonderful Portuguese wines, but also my favorite grilled fish - Dourada Grelhadaa.

What makes this area so special is the amount of restaurants lining the streets grilling freshly caught fish. This is Portuguese for grilled Dourade, a light, white fish found on every menu. The fish is simply grilled whole, rubbed with coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper and usually served with melted butter, boiled potatoes, vegetables or salad. Now, many people might be turned off by seeing an entire …

Awhile back, Catavino ran a feature we called the 2 + 1 Iberian Wine Survey. The idea behind the survey was not only to get wine bloggers feedback on Spanish and Portuguese wine, but also an opportunity for readers to gain a better perspective as to what’s available outside the big peninsula.

To be honest, we had originally intended to run these surveys while we were on vacation in France, but as it currently stands, it may be a little while before Catavino can actually unplug itself from all the action flowing through our headquarters. That said, we’re going to run some of these anyway and invite all of you who still want to participate to please send us your responses. We’re interested in your feedback!

First up is Joe “1WineDude” Roberts. The way our game works is that Joe answered two of our questions about Iberian wine, and in return, he asked one of us. Hopefully we did a decent job answering him

1) What were your preconceived ideas of Spanish wine when you first started blogging, and what do you think of Spanish wine now? If you haven’t had an opportunity to try many Spanish wines, are you interested in diving in and doing some more exploring?

I had a very high opinion of Spanish wines before I started blogging (which wasn’t all that long ago, after all). Nothing has changed! Basically, once I tasted Cava and Priorat, there was no going back. I have had some absolutely killer, smokin’, lights-out wines from Spain. IMO, Spain continues to be the rising star of the wine world, with even formerly bulk-wine-type areas like Jumilla offering some kickin’ wines now.

2) Very similar to the first question, but …