Sara Perez of Mas Martinet is a paradox, diminutive in stature (about 5'2") and yet one of the most powerful and talented winegrowers in the world. She makes wines that demand patience, slow wine in a world obsessed with immediacy.
Universal is a small farm of 4 ha, located in the municipality of Falset (DO Montsant) on granitic acidic soils of very poor in organic matter. Terraced vineyards. Intense heat during the day with cool nighttime temperatures result in good levels of acidity; necessary to balance the high phenolic levels of these grapes.
Vines: 50% Garnacha, (60 years old) 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Syrah. The low fertile soils result in low vine vigour , low yields of highly concentrated fruit.
Sara- ‘I don't find wines that are like a sensory explosion when you uncork them particularly attractive. I like wines that thrive with food, wines that reflect animal or mineral sensations, the sort of subtlety that connects so well with the high points of Mediterranean cuisine.' 91 points Stephan Tanzer
‘Her wine-growing doctrine and the sensuality of the wines she creates single her out as the most important woman in Spanish wine.' Spain Gourmet Tour
Who is Dido?
Dido is the nickname for the widowed Phonecian Queen Elyssa who fled to North Africa in 14BC and established the powerful trading port of Carthage. As legend has it, when Dido arrived in North Africa, the locals told her that they would grant her the land that a bull's hide covered. Dido cleverly cut a hide into a very long narrow thread that encapsuled a site large enough to house her entourage.
She has been the subject and fed the fantasies of operas and numerous artists for the past thousand years. Dido is pictured left in a painting by Guerin (1744 - 1833) with her lover Aeneus, the Trojan hero and son of Anchises and Venus the Goddess of love. When Aeneus left Dido rather than live without him, she built a funeral pyre of all the gifts he had given her, stabbed herself to death with a sword he had left behind and threw herself into the flames.
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