Marta Cortizas: "I won the first sommelier competition with tonsillitis."

GironaMarta Cortizas Fernández (A Coruña, 1992) won the final of the Spanish Sommelier Championship, which took place today in Madrid. Other finalists included Anna Casabona from Vallecas, head of training at the Juvé & Camps winery, and Diego Tornel from the Canary Islands. However, it was Marta Cortizas, sommelier from El Celler de Can Roca, who emerged as the overall winner.

Cortizas, as usual, was accompanied by sommelier Josep Roca, who was moved by the victory. "It moves and touches me," he confessed, adding a reflection on the craft they carry out daily at El Celler de Can Roca: "Knowing that if it serves you, you'll feel better; this is what it does to the person who serves, this is triumphing every day, at every table, with every person, accompanying them with the utmost respect and care." It so happens that this year Marta Cortizas has graduated with cum laudo in the prestigious Master Sommelier Certificate in the United Kingdom. And Josep Roca commented that the next challenge is the World Cup, which he would also like to join her for.

In February 2024, Marta Cortizas became the best sommelier of the year, according to the Catalan Sommelier Association. Also among the audience was her boss, Josep Roca, from El Celler de Can Roca, where she's worked for four years, who encouraged her to enter from day one. In fact, the sommelier joined El Celler for a four-month internship and hasn't left since.

We interviewed her one day. in Girona's Wine Square, at the Vii bar, directed by her teammate at El Celler, Audrey Doré. The first thing she tells me is that she was born in a town that was connected to nature, with a farm, a vegetable garden where she grew vegetables, and animals she had seen being born. She also really likes Girona, she says.

You came to El Celler de Can Roca as an intern after completing the advanced sommelier course in Galicia, but your previous training had nothing to do with wines.

— I studied fine arts in Pontevedra, and I never thought I'd dedicate myself professionally to the world of wine. I drank at home, as a Sunday family gathering, but my partner, who is a cook, told me I had a special sensitivity when tasting dishes because I recognized the flavors of the ingredients. It was he who recommended I study to become a sommelier.

It's always been said that wine is art, and you could argue that better than anyone.

— Wine is art because it requires an extra sensation to understand it beyond the first sip. There are several interpretations with a sip of wine: the first, that it's a refreshing drink. The second, that it has a different flavor depending on the grape variety it's made with, that it comes from a specific landscape with a unique soil, and that the connection with the soil where the vine is grown makes it special.

How does a sommelier prepare to always remember the wines he or she tastes every day?

— Sommeliers have memories and also notebooks where we write down everything. When I visit a winery, I write down everything they tell me, and if there's something I want to delve deeper into, when I get home, I look for more information.

Do you write down wine tasting notes in your notebook?

— No, I don't. I'll write down what I've tried and the words that drinking it has suggested to me, and also the associations it has awakened in me with other wines I know. The sensations I write down can be three words, which I write along with some interesting information about the winery or the winemaker that Josep [Roca] has told me. In fact, I have to tell you that every time I speak to Josep, I take out my pen.

Memory trains, would you say?

— Sensory memory is trained daily, and I do this when I drink wine, but also when I drink water and coffee. I make connections with other sensations I've experienced.

And always in handwritten notebooks?

— Always, and I keep them all jumbled up, even though I know how to find the wines I'm looking for in each one. I tried writing it on my iPad, but it wouldn't work; I realized I need to write by hand to understand myself.

I'm asking you about the 2024 contest. How did you come to enter?

— Josep Roca told me to do it, and I replied no, that I wasn't interested because I wanted to enjoy the profession without competing for anything. But he insisted that if I did, it would force me to study, to continue growing in knowledge. And it was with that last idea that he convinced me.

How did you prepare?

— Every day I dedicated two hours to studying, which meant tasting wines, reading, writing summaries of what I read, and searching for information in national and international publications and magazines about the latest developments in wineries.

How was the day of the contest?

— It was very intense. I won the 2024 Best Sommelier competition with tonsillitis, which prevented me from smelling anything. I also felt generally unwell. I took the theory test and answered everything, but I felt so bad that I was convinced I wouldn't make it to the next round. So I sat back calmly as a spectator when they called my name. I didn't think I'd make it, and that's why I hadn't prepared for the final.

How was the final test?

— It's a timed tasting in which you're evaluated on decanting, serving, and pairing. Since I don't have stage fright, I treated it like what I do every day at El Celler de Can Roca. I love talking to people, and serving and counting wines is what I enjoy most about my job. In the service test, using a magnum bottle, we had to fill twelve glasses so that they were all the same, without the possibility of going back and correcting the volume in each one. In this test, the service test, I came in second, and I relaxed.

What other evidence existed?

— The one about recognizing the location of vineyards in photographs. They showed us photos of urban vineyards, and we had to say where they were. There were some from Collserola and Montmartre. There were also questions about gastronomy, such as which breeds of duck are used to make foie gras, and one about wines. One that I remember surprising me was the level of residual sugar in Canadian ice wines.

Finally, you win. What impact have you noticed from becoming the best sommelier of 2024?

— First, a personal satisfaction, and then, I realized that the competition has a great impact in Catalonia, because I would say that's where wine is most valued compared to other places in Spain.

I'm asking you about your work at El Celler. At three-star restaurants like El Celler de Can Roca, red wines have traditionally been the most popular.

— At El Celler, no, because our menu is more plant-based and has little meat, so we serve white wines more often. We also have to keep in mind that the heat and the fact that people want lighter menus leads to white wines. However, it's true that more traditional tables order red wines.

Are rosés left in no man's land?

— I find them very interesting, and there are some incredible ones. It's true that it's not customary for people to ask me for them, but when someone tells me they don't want a pairing, that they prefer wines by the glass, then I select them and offer them, both rosés and oranges. But, look, now you've made me think I'll start drinking only rosés to show my support.

What do you offer to the teetotalers who eat at El Celler?

— There are many alternatives: must, non-alcoholic cocktails. I'd say there are more and more people who drink less, because they're athletes or for whatever reason, and they tell me that what they don't like about wine is the alcohol.

With El Celler's incredible pairings, you'll have seen someone who is...

— I've seen tables where service is complicated by alcohol, yes.

And what are you doing?

— I try to serve slightly less, take breaks, and tell them they shouldn't drink every glass, that they shouldn't feel obligated, and that they can save one they liked more for the end of the meal. Above all, I insist that they shouldn't drink the entire glass I serve them.

Finally, what would you recommend to someone who wants to start as a sommelier?

— You have to be very curious; you have to try wines, investigate what lies beyond the labels. In fact, I'm a big fan of labels that tell you very little, because they force me to search for information. If a label tells me everything, I'm no longer interested in researching.