A Casa Portuguesa: Slice of Portuguese Heaven in Barcelona

We love small businesses! We adore family run establishments that envelope you in their struggles, triumphs, heartbreaks and joy. It’s a rarity in a world being swallowed up by big chain conglomerates, and one that I’m thankful for everyday as I walk the streets of Barcelona, washed in a sea of small tiendas. Mind you, […] Continue Reading →

Senseless Crime: A Priorat Winery is Hit with Vandalism

Not an hour ago, Catalan blogger, Joan Gomez Pallares of Devinis requested that we hit the internets with an important Press Release. Normally, we’re not ones to republish PR’s verbatim, but in this case, we feel you should hear it directly from the winery itself. We tried to call the winery, Terroir al Limit, for […] Continue Reading →

Redefining Spanish Tapas: The Fine Line between Quality and Price

Part of the advantage of living in Barcelona is that I have an inordinate amount of tapas bars to choose from; we’re talking in the ballpark of 10,000, which includes restaurants that serve tapas. And of these restaurants, a vast majority will get you a few tapas at a very reasonable price. Therefore, you can […] Continue Reading →

Choosing Your Top 50 Portuguese Wines?

Every year, ViniPortugal elects a UK journalist to choose their top 50 Portuguese wines. In 2010, our friend Sarah Ahmed created a fabulous list of wines and was followed up this year by an equally impressive list by Tom Cannavan.  A few days ago, the wines were announced in London at the Portuguese Ambassador’s Residence […] Continue Reading →

The Cuisine of Hungary: Yet Another Culinary Paradise Just off the Iberian Peninsula

From recent posts, you would imagine that Ryan and I don’t actually live in Barcelona. Our pictures display shameless images of us savoring delicious cured meats in Zagreb, gorgeous red wines in Dijon, heaps of olive oil drizzled pasta paired with sparkling Franciacorta wine in Brescia, unctuous and rich foie gras of Hungary, and most […] Continue Reading →

Vibrant Rioja Tempranillo LIVE TASTING in New York on May 5, 2011

Are you a Rioja wine fanatic? Do you stay up late at night itching for that next bottle of vinous pleasure? If so, we have the event for you no matter where you are in the world! This Thursday, May 5th Tempranillo will be featured at the Vibrant Rioja 3rd Annual Grand Tasting in New […] Continue Reading →

The Assemblage: The Art and Science Behind Blending a Cava Wine

Before we dive into this article, I’d like to invite you to play with me for a moment. Imagine that I’ve placed three buckets of red paint infront of you named: Burnt Orange, Fire Engine Red and Sunburst Yellow. Each of these vary slightly in vivacity, purity and tone, and your job is to mix […] Continue Reading →

La Vinateria del Call: A Hidden Gourmet Den of Catalan Perfection

Whenever we have visitors come to Barcelona, requesting the most authentic of food experiences, we have a list of old standbyes that we keep snug in our back pockets. These restaurants are not always the trendiest, nor necessarily hailed as Barcelona’s best, but for us, they embody everything we believe in:  value for Euro, fabulous […] Continue Reading →

Croatia: A Wealth of Flavors and Experiences! (Part 2)

Editor’s Note: As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, although this article is not directly related to either Spanish or Portuguese wine, we feel it’s important to occasionally give you a head’s up on various other wines we stumble across around the world. This article is based on a trip we took to Zagreb […] Continue Reading →

Croatia: A Wealth of Flavors and Experiences! (Part 1)

Editor’s note: Occasionally, we take a trip far from the Iberian Peninsula to explore uncharted territory for Catavino. Croatia was one such country. Hence, though not directly related to Spain or Portugal, this 2 Part series hopes to provide you with a glimpse as to what lies outside the Iberian border. When I say Croatia, […] Continue Reading →