The winemaker María Isabel Mijares, the first woman to chair a wine Regulatory Council in the history of Spanish wine, died yesterday in Madrid at the age of 81. Rachel Pardo. Images: Archive and @iwcmerchantawards
Considered a great lady of wine, as portrayed ten years ago by her editor at Equipo Team, Elena Patiño, Maria Isabel Mijares leave a memory like pioneer woman in a male world, in which he knew how to handle himself with ease and a permanent smile on his lips. Yesterday he died in Madrid at the age of 81, surprising the entire sector, since until the last moment he retained his usual energy.
Maribel, which is what those who appreciated her called her, was born in Mérida, to a father from León and a mother from Extremadura and part of a family where there were eight siblings. She studied oenology in Bordeaux and there was a student of Émile Peynaud, considered one of the fathers of the discipline in a modern key. She belonged to the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, was a winery advisor with her company Equipo Team and author of articles in national and international magazines, coordinated and directed the Campsa Guide (later Repsol) of the Best Wines of Spain, in addition to signing her own book , Wine, from the vine to the glass and hold various positions in organizations and entities in the world of wine. She has received numerous recognitions and medals for a long and fruitful career, one of the latest being the International Wine Challenge Merchant Awards for Lifetime Achievement, last year, which she collected herself.
In an interview for Dessert Ten years ago, Mijares felt satisfied for having brought “excitement” to the world of wine, to whom he confessed to having dedicated not only his professional but also his personal life. He remembered having tasted with Mario Moreno, Cantinflas and Pope John XXIII, among other personalities, and valued training when criticizing a wine.because, he acknowledged, “there are also those with little training and information.”
His friend and countryman, winemaker Jesús Flores, prologue to his book, considers it “a woman ahead of her time, professional, transgressive, poet of wine, but with extensive knowledge on the subject. Ambassador of Spanish wine and capable of transmitting knowledge with a unique genre, coined by her” and concludes that she was “a great communicator who will be missed by many of us.”
The Royal Academy of Gastronomy highlights his “impeccable resume” and its president, Luis Suárez de Lezo, points out that the entity “loses one of its great references, which over the years has contributed decisively not only to the dissemination of the wine culture of our countrybut to the positioning of the Academy itself.”
The former technical director of Vinoselección and president of the Spanish Union of Tasters, José Luis González Cledera, remembers her as “a great professional, very intelligent, gifted with a sixth sense who made everything he proposed viable and successful” and adds that he was a “kind, altruistic, fun and very friendly person to his friends.”