Winemaker Dies After Falling Into Vat of Beguiling Spanish Red
A 25-year-old wine specialist died Monday after she was overcome by fumes from a fermentation tank, causing her to lose her balance and fall into the vat.
Nivea Perez's body was discovered by her uncle, famous winemaker Raul Perez, at his warehouse in the Spanish village of Salas de los Barrios. Emergency workers said she was observing the fermentation process when she slipped and fell, and must have been too intoxicated by the fumes to pull herself out before she suffocated.
The New York Times raved in 2013 about the "beguiling" reds of the Bierzo region, with particular attention to the "great purity and definition" of Raul Perez's wines. Nivea had been working in the family winery for two years, since graduating college with a chemistry degree, according to The Drinks Business.
Aside from her career in viniculture, Perez was the secretary of the Socialist Youth of Bierzo, who suspended their campaign activities for a day in her honor.
