Ok, jetlag is done, culture shock is mitigated, and my life is starting to get back to its crazy usual self. I’ve inoculated my system with some fresh Iberian wines and assorted tapas. So what happened in Minnesota you may ask? Well a lot. One wedding, one 60th birthday party and at least 4 wine filled dinners. So rather than give you a play by play, I’ll bullet point some of the highlights and ask you a few questions, or rather, state some observations from the visit.

Jason Kallsen, the man behind the World Class Wines Blog, invited me to talk about blogging and Iberian wine on the second night I was in town! Thankfully, it was a great success. Held at the cafe across the street (space purposes) from SoloVino in St.Paul, we talked about wine, blogging and the intersection of the two. Take away thoughts? Well, I was shocked by how few of the “wine geeks” in attendance actually read blogs. While about half had read a blog, very few actually frequented them. If anyone who attended has anything to say about this, please chime in!

I tasted wines twice with old buddies/wine geeks. First night, I tried two Pinot Noirs, one of which was a Bergstrom 2002 PN that was beautiful, seductive, and well worth it. The other, as a result of my desire to carry over wines that were unique and different, was a Kosta Brown RRV 2005 that was undrinkable, or at the least, not a wine that I would ever purposefully go out and buy. Hot, thick, clunky, this was a wine that was better distilled than consumed. Oh, and at 14.7% alcohol?! Give …

How To articles are nice. How to save money. How to drive a car. How to make a million dollars in one week (maybe we should say 2 million at this point). How To articles can help, and can also waste, a fair amount of your time. How to be happy the rest of your life, inherently, is impossible, but we’ll still buy the book only to be left with another dust collector in our office study. So why am I offering a how to? Well, why not? The “How to drive more traffic to your site” reference tool, which told me that “how to” articles are great viral tools, and we all want more traffic, right? So, I’m going to offer a “how to” that you don’t have to buy! It’s totally free! The subject: How to enjoy a Spanish wine! Even if you’ve never tried it, don’t like it, or are indifferent to it, you may find something here that is of use to you. Beyond that, you now have something to share with your friends who will inevitably beg you to, “teach me something about wine“. This way, you can just point them to this article and wash your hands of the responsibility. So without further adieu:

How To Enjoy Spanish Wine

1) Buy two different bottles of Spanish wine. What kind you ask? Preferably the one you’ve never tried. I say this because if you need to learn how to enjoy Spanish wine, you probably haven’t had one yet that you’ve liked. So pick one out that you’re unfamiliar with, that looks a little different, or simply has a label that peaks your interest. …

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, …

I’ll be the first to admit that I can only take so much wine while on a business trip. After awhile, my eyes glaze over and I feel an intense craving to either down a gin and tonic, or at the very least, stay as far as humanly possible from a fermentation tank. And god forbid if I actually start dreaming about wine, like having the winemaker lecturing me on whether one should place a single row of grapes in a bin during harvest or two. Then, there is that one nightmare where I’m chained to a long wooden table adhering labels to each bottle as a raspy female voice sounds over a speaker, “You now have 981,872 labels remaining…you now have 981,871 labels remaining… Yeah, that’s when you know that you’ve visited one too many wineries in a day!

However, over the years, I have realized that it is not so much wine that I tire of, but it’s the way in which I am enjoying it. Sitting in a tasting room with a notebook in hand and my glasses propped low on my nose, a potentially remarkable wine loses its magic. It becomes something sterile and empty, one of the millions. Something I analyze and critique with the winemaker anxiously sitting in front of me wondering if I am giving his liquid child an “A” for stellar quality or an “F” for pure plonk. And when scheduling three wineries a day, this process can get tedious rather quickly.

Hence, on our last trip to Rioja, we decided to start incorporating new ways in which we could enjoy Spanish wine, rather than solely in restaurants, cafes or …

When we first decided to commit two months to La Rioja wine, I had a lot of concerns. First, I didn’t know how we were going to cover the subject in such a short amount of time with important events not La Rioja related thrown into the mix. The answer was simple, it’s impossible. The second, and more difficult concern, was how to define La Rioja wine, not by geography, climate or style, but as a general concept. Imagine this question, which I’m sure more than one of you retailers have had asked of them, “What does it taste like? What is the flavor of La Rioja?” Initially, my answer would have been something like this: Rioja reds tend to have oxidized notes from prolonged aging with some exceptions for wines made in a more modern style where big fruit plays the primary role. Would I have been wrong? No. But would I have done this historic and culturally rich region a disservice? Definitely!

After a full week of tasting, talking and sightseeing, my attitudes have changed. I have now adopted a new outlook on La Rioja. In typical high school essay fashion, I have three points I want to make clear about “the taste of La Rioja” as I see it now. But first, I want to preface my thoughts by sharing with you how much I’ve learned as a result of this trip, and how I have acquired a new appreciation for the region. La Rioja wines, both in their past and future styles, are wines that deserve praise (not that they needed telling). And without a doubt, these wines are some of the best in the world; however, La Rioja wines need to …