Maria Xinxó: "Glasses of cava should be served in nightclubs."

What is your first memory linked to wine?

— I'm pretty sure one of my earliest memories of wine is the porrón on the table, because my mother drank red wine from a porrón. Over time, I've realized that perhaps it wasn't very common, but it normalized the porrón, which perhaps wasn't as prevalent in my generation.

Do you think this influenced your first sips of wine?

— No [laughs]. Like many other people, I started drinking Lambrusco with friends. But unlike them, I still like it, and if I go to an Italian restaurant and there's no good Lambrusco, I'll want to order it.

Speaking of restaurants, how does ordering a beer or a glass of wine change the atmosphere of a meal?

— It creates a different situation, for sure. But the truth is, I'd hardly ever order a beer with a meal. I'd much rather order a glass of wine or even cava. Because something that really annoys me is people who only bring out a bottle of cava to welcome us at the start of a meal or as a farewell, during dessert. I'm a huge advocate of drinking cava while eating, and I especially love rosé cavas. It's a drink that goes very well with many foods; I think it accentuates the taste.

Is it always a good time to start a bottle of cava?

— Of course. In fact, we should be able to open more. I've long believed that glasses of cava should also be served in bars and clubs. I think that, like me, many people would order a glass of wine or cava, because apparently when you go out you should drink stronger alcohol, and that's not always the case. In fact, because I want them to realize there's demand, when I'm in a bar I ask them about the wine list, to see if I can motivate them to serve it.

You are running a good campaign.

— Yes [laughs]. I don't know how they knew, but they were right when they made me a Cava Merit Brotherhood member last year. The truth is, when they told me, I didn't know exactly what it entailed, but the day of the proclamation was impressive. I wasn't expecting it. The day of the ceremony was incredible; I didn't know there was all that liturgy behind the Cava Merit Brotherhood. They put a cape on me, placed a sword on my shoulders, gave me a diploma, and hung a medal on me, and everything. The truth is, before becoming a member, I was already dedicated to promoting cava, but now, even more so!

One of the things you do with cava is toast it. Do you remember any special toasts?

— One of the most unusual things we do in my house is, precisely, toast. The Xinxo family has always had the grace that when we toast, instead of saying xin-xin, we say xinxin-xinxó. It's an anecdote, but I think it's beautiful because toasting is already a ritual, but doing it this way makes it even more unique.

Do you have any anecdotes that you particularly remember in which wine was present?

— Well, I have an anecdote that still resonates even though it's been a while! A while ago, two friends and I went to La Rioja for a wine tasting. Of all the wines we tried, we liked one, and we saw that it was also quite reasonably priced. We took the plunge and decided to buy several cases of that wine, because we believed the value for money was a great buy. But when we tried it at home, we realized it wasn't as good as what we'd been given to try, and today we still have cases of this wine that we don't know how to use.