Pere Mas: "After the heart attack, the thing I'm least worried about is the fatwa against alcohol."

You invited me to Bodega Sepúlveda for the interview. What made you decide to come here to talk about wine?

— It's a wonder we chose this place to talk about wines because, honestly, I almost always try the same wine when I come here, which is the house wine. But I chose it for different reasons: because of the pile of bottles in the private room, because it's one of the restaurants I frequent most, and because after fifteen years of being a customer at Bodega Sepúlveda, I already know the sisters, the parents, and the whole family. I love the service, I love the food, and it's a restaurant where they still cook.

What is that wine you always order?

— It's a Viña Alberdi, a Rioja that's a real pain. I feel bad about mentioning this wine, even though it's the house wine, because I mostly order Catalan wines, for ideological reasons, but also especially for gastronomic ones. Empar Moliner would make a very clear point here on this point, but it's obvious. We should consume local produce; we have many high-quality designations of origin. The era of Rioja has passed, and so has Aznar's Ribera del Duero: we've already surpassed it.

Are you one of those who takes the lead when it comes to choosing a wine in a restaurant?

— I'm a big fan of going with the flow. Now, let's not kid ourselves about the price. I don't mind being called the price, on the contrary, but then it seems like I'm calling someone a poor guy. I think as consumers, it's okay to be called the price. But it depends a lot on the person I'm with. Depending on who I'm with, I'll give up on choosing the wine.

Like who?

— If I'm going to eat with Xavi Coral, he chooses it because he knows what he wants. The same goes for Carles Fité, a fellow journalist who owns a wine shop—ViconVino. There's a moment when Fité is going over the wine list, and I say, "Okay, man. You choose the wine, but choose now." If I'm not with either of them and the head waiter or sommelier asks me what I want, I like to be led by their questions and be surprised by them discovering a new wine.

Do natural wines surprise you?

— There's been a certain effervescence of this; you find it everywhere now. But I don't know if it's because I've had very bad luck with this, but I used to get natural wines that smelled a bit like feces. Sometimes some also had a certain acidity or a bit of spiciness at the finish, which could even make you think there were bubbles. And I particularly remember one day I went with Fité to a restaurant where the food is very good—I won't name it—and they brought us an organic wine that flattered us with the good food. What has really worked for me lately are sweet wines.

A year ago you had a scare, which forced you to have surgery. urgentlydue to a partially blocked artery in his heart. How has your relationship with wine changed since then?

— Just last week, a year ago, I was discharged and leaving the hospital. It was a tremendous feeling. It changed me a lot because everything happened so fast, from the diagnosis to the operation and leaving with a cut on my chest a foot wide to do double duty. bypass preventative measure to avoid a heart attack. Obviously, my lifestyle had to change. I was already diabetic before and had to be careful, also with alcohol: I preferred to drink it black. After this, I had to add pack Heart patient. But after the heart scare, the last thing I care about is the fatwa against alcohol. On paper, I'm supposed to have one unit of alcohol per meal at most, which is 150 milliliters of wine.

And how do you put it into practice?

— After the summer, I felt like I was letting myself go a bit, so I went to the cardiologist and said, "Tell me the truth about your alcohol consumption." We negotiated, and I said, "Doctor, neither you nor I." I promised him I would significantly reduce his consumption and made a specific proposal, which is a secret between him and me. There were certain ratios, and I told him to plan for four exceptions a year. And he said no, that he didn't want any excesses. As a result, today I ate here at Bodega Sepúlveda, without wine, and above all, I've cut down even further on liquor, because I used to drink a lot of gin and tonics after dinner or when going out for drinks with friends.

Do you think you'll be able to continue maintaining this reduced consumption?

— I think I can. But the thing about "it won't happen overnight" does happen overnight. Because it's a sum of days that won't happen overnight. So, from time to time, I've made an effort at rationalization, even if it's a bit difficult to put into practice. Now, it's true that man is the only animal that stumbles twice over the same stone.

There are also non-alcoholic wines.

— The other day I tried a very good non-alcoholic white wine, Neverwine, at Marc Ribas's El Ciri restaurant, which is also a very good restaurant. We drank a non-alcoholic white wine and I was very pleasantly surprised; it had a nice bouquet. But in the end, I don't know, you also like wine for the joy and the mood it gives you. It's both. And I think if I have to drink non-alcoholic wine, I'll have the pleasure, but, listen to me, maybe it won't be necessary, and I'll drink water and let's not mess up the comedy.