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, Roy’s tasting notes, a photo gallery, Port facts and their newsletter. Other than for the moving images in the header, Ryan and I feel that the site is a major improvement to his old one and highly suggest you play around in his site when get a chance.

In other news, Wines of Spain recently reported that Bodegas Dagón in D.O. Utiel-Requena has recently been awarded for becoming the first European winery to use cork stoppers harvested from responsibly managed forestlands. Only two other wineries in the world have received the FSC forest certification award, promoted by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): African Dawn Wines in South Africa and Willamette Valley Vineyard in the USA. Bodegas Dagón uses corks made from Espadan Corks , who manages 1,000 hectares of FSC certified cork oaks located in the El Parque Natural de la Sierra de Espadán in Castellón.

In the mood for some delicious tasting notes? Dave Worthington, our Spanish wine adoring mate located down under, recently attended The Spanish Acquisition 2005 Premiums Tasting were he tried a wide range of Spanish and Portuguese wines. Today he’s only posted his Spanish wine notes which include wines from Cillar de Silos, Flor de Pingus, Telmo Rodriguez, Palacios Remondo, Descendientes de José Palacios and Capanes, promising a follow up of his Portuguese tasting notes tomorrow.

Finally, one of our favorite Portuguese wine blogs, The Algarve Buzz, posted their impressions of the Quinta da Esperanca 2004. Wine tasting has always been part of their site, but in the past few months, it appears its taken greater precedence, which is great considering that they’ve been able to introduce us to wines that we’ve never tried. It’s worth taking a look when you have a chance.

That’s it for now. Enjoy the weekend!

Cheers,

Gabriella