The sommelier Meritxell Falgueras stars in the new chapter of the podcast Stay to eat, where she talks about her vital need to communicate. “I like to explain what is behind each bottle, tell what I feel and put labels on emotionsâ€. It is something that he does not only when he collaborates with the media but also through social networks, where he assures that he has the opportunity to feel more free and be able to unite the knowledge that he has acquired over the years, combining everything and showing what which she describes as a lifestyle. “Because the people who like to know more about some wines are usually people who like the good life, food and good trips.”
Falgueras, who has just published his first novel, Cátame. Wines and the City (Cathedral) explains that he is aware of the frivolous part that the networks transmit but claims that mixture and that way of bringing people closer to an area that is not at all easy. And do it by resorting to metaphors with a colloquial language so that it is much closer and understandable. He likes the concept of “wine lover” to which his colleague and wine communicator on the networks Santi Rivas always resorts, who promotes a “wineloverismo” card in which there are attitudes or even areas or styles of wine that add or subtract points . Falgueras jokes about it, defending the fashion for orange wines, “which undoubtedly adds points” or areas like the Jura, or aging wines under water, “because if you don’t age a wine under the sea, you’re nobody.” .
The Catalan sommelier stresses the importance of talking not only about great wines but about other much simpler ones that are uncorked without having to make a great financial effort and that are easy to drink because they are good. “There must be interesting wines for everyday lifeâ€, she assures, and points out the success of the commitment to recover forgotten grape varieties. “Because there had come a time when it was all chardonnay, cabernet souvignon and pinot noire.”
She also talks about the role of Sara Pérez, whom she describes as a highly intelligent, intuitive and free maker, who has been an inspiration for her and many other women, as a professional and when it comes to incorporating motherhood into her professional life with absolute naturalness. “Because they ask us to work as if we didn’t have children and have children as if we didn’t work.”
Falgueras points out as positive that many people in the sector have begun to talk about their addiction problem, such as his great friend Raül Balam, who has explained his experience in the book Enganchado (Cúpula), written by the journalist Carme Gasull, or as the sommelier David Seijas, who told his own case for the first time in this podcast. However, and although she knows women who have explained the same thing in the first person, she acknowledges that it is not so common for women, despite the fact that “we are more able to express our feelings and accept advice”, to give visibility to these issues. “I want to work on this topic, talk about those hyper-responsible women who come home and need a drink to disconnect and use it as an anxiolytic.”
Falgueras talks about the problems that addiction to social networks can also generate, which in her case she sees as work, “and for me luxury is not being connected.” And he explains that there was a time when he did have a problem with the networks but of a different nature: “I had to go to the psychologist because I came to envy the Meritxell Falgueras of the networks, who had a wonderful life, at a time when my life real was bullshit.” It was a problem that she overcame, she explains, and that evolved. “Until you find out you don’t need a prince charming anymore. You rescue yourself and celebrate with your friends.â€
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