Design
OPHELIA Special Reserve Cherry Balsamic Vinegar is not only the fruit of organoleptic work, but of an encounter, an initiatory adventure that led its protagonist, Uriel de Pastors, to be who he is today.
Uriel De Pastors met Ophelia in Ciego de Avila Cuba when he was 14 years old. Ophelia was an Afro-Cuban lady known for her incredible spiritual gifts and sensitivity. She was a counselor and friend of Isauro-Uriel’s great-grandfather-a direct descendant of the Tainos Indians and like Ophelia possessed special spiritual gifts from birth. The special relationship that bound Ophelia and Isaurus had bonded the two not only during their lifetimes, but also endured through successive generations of the De Pastors family to the present day.
Uriel was born in Cuba on March 26, 1996, and at the age of five moved with his mother to Italy, the country that raised him, formed him and to which he is deeply attached. Like many expatriates, he did not know his country of origin or his family members during his childhood. Only at the age of 14 did he travel to Cuba for the first time. This trip will be such a profound experience for him that it will change his life forever. It will arouse intrinsic, even conflicting, but revelatory emotions. Especially because of his encounter with the legendary lady Ophelia, whom he had heard about.
At the time, Uriel did not possess Cuban culture in himself; he was simply an adopted boy from Italian culture. Moreover, upon meeting Ophelia he was particularly skeptical of all those incredible, filmic tales he had heard from his grandmother and mother. To his surprise, Ophelia’s words resonated intensely in his soul. Not only had she been able to relate particularities that only Uriel knew, but she had also predicted, in minute detail, facts that would later come true. In an equally incredible way she predicted the birth of Cerasus Sanguine.
The story told by Ophelia not only accompanied Uriel in the years that followed, but also made him a protagonist and witness to something unique and rare, capable of shaking consciences and posing countless questions to oneself.
In Uriel’s professional and personal life, Art and its research processes play a major role. Today OPHELIA has become a Special Reserve Cherry Balsamic Vinegar that is the result of the contamination between different cultures and historical personal and otherwise events, and that aims to commemorate the iconic figure of Ophelia.
It’s a perfect synthesis
of Cuba and Italy cultures
enclosed
in a glass ampoule
inside
a wooden treasure chest.
OPHELIA reminds us through its essence that we are all soul creatures, and as such we are special and are much more than we think. Inside us is a treasure that we must cherish and savor.
Today’s OPHELIA has the same complexity as Ophelia’s personality of yesterday. It holds within it a rich heritage of meanings and stories that can be heard through its contemplation. Like all of Cerasus Sanguine’s products, OPHELIA has its own artwork: an oil on canvas that features on the product label. The face of OPHELIA is meant to be a praise of beauty in spirit, human sharing, and multiculturalism that mixes Tianos with Africans and Europeans. All encapsulated in a single narrative in the form of a Design object.
The treasure chest holds a Special Reserve Cherry Balsamic Vinegar that enhances the senses and intoxicates the palate created specifically to accompany the tasting of Cigars. The design of the ampoule is sensual and captivating, coexisting with the bold and characteristic shapes of the Cerasus Sanguine brand and enshrining the scents of earth, tobacco, cedar wood and Cherry.
