In the archivolts of the south portal of the fortified church of Ujué there is a grape harvest scene on the left side where you can see the vine leaves, the birds pecking, the pack animals and the women working. The detail may seem insignificant, but it is a chronicle written in stone that shows that women already participated actively in the tasks of the field and that these were lands of wine in the Gothic centuries. And not just any wine: according to Luis Correa in his History of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Navarre, in 1512, while Louis XII was in San Juan de Pie de Puerto (in New Aquitaine), he had to send a note to the Duke of Alba requesting "wine from San Martín, because what he drank was very bad". It is unknown what wine the Dauphin of France had there, but luckily the one from San Martín de Unx was.
From Ujué to San Martín de Unx it takes less than 10 minutes by car. When you arrive, it already smells of wine, as if the trace of all the past vintages had been left stuck to the stones of the houses. The town is both a geographical and wine-growing rarity. It is because of its rugged topography and because in the epicenter of Navarre's depopulation there are five wineries (within the Navarra Denomination of Origin) in which women have a lot to say. This is the bet of San Martín de Unx to try to stop depopulation: they have gambled everything on Grenache and the bet is turning out well.
