A few months ago, Ryan received the first of many email correspondences from Excel Wines, asking for more information about Catavino. Who is Excel Wines, you ask?! Anna Axén from Sweden, Sandy Tay from Malaysia and Ane Miren Lambe from Ireland manage and run this Internet Spanish wine retail shop in the incredibly windy region of Bilbao, Spain. I’d say the windy and rainy northern region, but sadly, rain seems to be a distant memory of Spain’s past. Having spent several years lovingly devoted to the growth and development of their children, in 2006, both Anna and Sandy decided it was high time to get off their haunches and start on the road to their true passion: wine (smart women!). Having no experience in the wine trade, little understanding of the Internet and few connections (or enchufes) in Spain, they decided to take from the guidance of Sandy’s husband, a Spanish national, along with the trusted support and friendship of Miguel Merino to create Excel Wines in 2006. It wasn’t until many months later that Ane came on board with her intense and professional style to both support and bolster the team. Together, these three have created a perfectly interwoven team that is bound by the inescapable desire to both explore and educate Europeans about Spanish wine.

What makes this company different from your average online wine retail shop? As I see it, two very important factors: unique Spanish wines and exceptional customer service. Let’s start with the obvious, Spanish wines. As a result of their rather convenient location in the heart of Spain, Excel Wines has worked hard to compile a portfolio of wines that not only represent a vast diversity of Spanish wines including Cava, …

As promised for the New Year, we are committed to broadening our discussion on wine beyond Spain and Portugal. One way we’re attempting to do this is by both contributing to Dr. Debs Wine Book Club and by doing a little research on our own as we find books of interest to us. And fortunately, our new plan couldn’t have come a moment too soon considering that my father-in-law was kind enough to surprise me over the holidays with Natalie MacLean’s book, “Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass.”

Cracking open the book in Norway next to a roaring hot fire, which are much needed on those cold blistery days; I was reminded how much I enjoy holding a physical book in my hand. It’s funny how often you forget that these objects exist when information is so readily available at click of a mouse.

The book is broken down into eleven chapters, two of which are solely dedicated Natalie’s observations as to how she both entered the wine world and what she intends on doing now that book is finished. Both sections are a fun read, but don’t compare to the meat of her story which describe her roaming adventures through wineries, vineyards, cellars, restaurants, retails shops, wine tastings and interviews.

But before I comment on my impressions, allow me to give you a general overview of what you’ll encounter when reading this book. Natalie begins her journey in Burgundy, where she uncovers some of her deep resounding questions about Pinot Noir and its relationship to some of the most coveted wines in the world through her conversations with Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and …

Every blogger loves comments, as infrequent as they may be at times. Without them, our job becomes relatively meaningless, as if we get up in the morning to write only for ourselves. Comments give us perspective, direction and a gauge to understand if and where our stories are hitting most profoundly within cyberspace.

But for niche bloggers like ourselves, who are writing for a foreign market, when we do have the great fortune of receiving a comment, it almost always comes from outside Spain and Portugal. To receive a comment from a wine aficionado here in Iberia is like hitting the jackpot. Granted, language is obviously the main barrier that detracts Spaniards and Portuguese from commenting on Catavino, but equally true is the idea of communicating via the Web simply because Latin culture thrives on personal interaction using eye contact, hand gestures and words to convey meaning. Consequently, you can imagine how elated we were when we received this comment on a post approximately a month ago:

It is very nice to see that the Portuguese wines have these kinds of critics. I have a little wine shop here in Portugal, where I try to have some “pearls” that are hard to find at the large surfaces [in the big wine shops] that we have in our country. Our objective is to give personalized treatment to our customers…

So what did I do when I got this comment? I hounded this poor man with questions! Vitor Mendes is one of four partners of a small Portuguese wine and tea shop located 40 km south of Oporto in Santa Maria da Feira. Over the past month, I’ve had the honor of corresponding with Vitor, learning of his passion for Portuguese wine, his upbringing …