El Cucuraucho del Mar – Seafood Restaurant Review in Madrid

Normally when walking down the street in Spain, if I see a restaurant with a giant crayfish sculpture outside its  doors, I laugh and keep walking. This type of attraction is generally an indication that the food inside is less than stellar and is trying to make up for its own inadequacy in some way. […] Continue Reading →

Planning Your Ultimate Roadtrip in Spain: Where Automatic Cars are the Exception, and Not the Rule

When it comes to driving, I was a late bloomer.  Even though I grew up in a suburban town (with little to no transportation options) I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 20.  The only reason I got it then was that I was about to leave Canada to see Europe and I […] Continue Reading →

Top 10 Tips for Traveling Spain – Don’t Forget the TP!!

If you’ve ever traveled around Spain for any length of time, you’ve most likely found yourself without toilet paper at key moments. That’s right, the Spanish do not believe in restocking toilet paper. I have no idea if they go out TP-ing historic statues at night, or if they’re stockpiling for the next uprising, but […] Continue Reading →

Catavino is off to London – Enjoy These Wine Links While We're Gone!

As we’ve mentioned before, we’re headed to London to do what can only be called a “social media junket”. 5 days of meeting new people, drinking new wines, and visiting a city that I’m ashamed to say, I know so little about. Our line up so far goes a bit like this: Tuesday we head […] Continue Reading →

El Almuerzo: The Spanish Version of Paddington Bear’s Elevenses

When I was a child, I was enthralled with the persona of Paddington Bear.  My sister had the books on tape (remember cassettes?) and I would borrow them over and over, keeping them on as quietly as I could long past my bedtime to hear about the adventures of this little Peruvian bear. Looking back […] Continue Reading →

Part 2: The Best Wine and Tapas Bars in Madrid

Editor’s Note: Although you might imagine that two food lovers would have very similar jaunts where they savor mouthwatering bite-sized tapas, but with over 20,000 bars in Madrid, variety is easy to encounter. Adrienne Smith, author of A Gastronomican in Madrid,  is a self proclaimed: “former restaurant owner, sommelier, dubber, translator, writer, convincing at accents, […] Continue Reading →

Part 1: The Best Wine and Tapas Bars in Madrid

Editor’s Note: As many of you know, through Valentine’s Day, we are hosting a contest for a free print of the Douro by submitting a question into our new Q&A section on Catavino. If the question can be answered, we’ll do our level-headed best to find it. For more information, check out this post.   […] Continue Reading →

Spanish Festival of Carnival in Galicia: Complete With Biting Ants, Torched Hay, Men in Lingerie and Ample Amounts of Cow Bell

When we invited you to participate in our Q&A competition, we had no idea of the number of challenging, thought-provoking and all around bizarre questions that would be filling our inbox. Rather than a simple question regarding the adequate age of utilizing an oak barrel for sherry, we instead, were asked about odd festivals we […] Continue Reading →

Vinarium: A Novelty of a Wine Shop Utilizing Social Media in Madrid

On Saturday, after a long, and rather arduous day of perusing FITUR, a gigantic tourism fair in Madrid, we decided to give Luis Alonso-Lasheras a last minute call to see if he was available to provide us a personal tour of is his wine shop, Vinarium. And despite the pressing needs of his very young […] Continue Reading →

New Catavino Correspondant, Ivan Larcome: An Expat's Exploration of Spain

Editor’s Note: Today, we are very proud to announce a new addition to the Catavino team, Ivan Larcome. A writer by trade, and a Spanish culture enthusiast by passion, I trust he will be bringing you plenty of insightful and witty writing from his current home Valencia, Spain. Welcome Ivan!! My feet first touched Spanish […] Continue Reading →