Marta Cortizas Reveals Her Five Essential Catalan Wines

Marta Cortizas Reveals Her Five Essential Catalan Wines

Marta Cortizas, recently crowned Best Sommelier in Spain 2025 at the Tierra de Sabor Championship in Madrid, is reshaping the world of Spanish sommellerie from her celebrated post at El Celler de Can Roca. With a selection of Catalan wines that surprise as much as they captivate, Cortizas offers an unguarded look at the enological potential of her adopted home.

Marta Cortizas is more than a name in sommellerie — she is a genuine ambassador for Catalan wine. Born in Galicia and forged professionally in Catalonia, her passion for wine is matched by an impeccable technique, qualities that propelled her to distinction at the prestigious Tierra de Sabor Championship during Madrid’s Salón Gourmets. There, Cortizas excelled not only in tasting and service competitions but in communicating her deep knowledge of and affection for the wines emerging from Catalonia’s rich enological culture. From her post at El Celler de Can Roca, a three-Michelin-star institution, she has curated a selection that invites the palate on a genuinely fascinating passage.

The first jewel she presents — the Llopart Brut Rosé Reserva 2021, a sparkling wine produced under the distinguished Corpinnat designation — is the ideal opening for any evening. Having spent twenty months on lees before disgorgement, it delivers a disarming freshness, with aromas of red fruit: strawberry, cherry, and wild raspberry. Cortizas describes the Monastrell used in its composition as a characteristically Mediterranean grape that contributes depth and intensity, offering guests an aperitif of genuine character.

Exploring the Vinous Treasures of Catalonia

Her selection continues with the Torres Varietat Recuperada La Forcada, a remarkable expression from the D.O. Penedès that navigates the challenges of climate change with considerable grace. Its fresh, subtly vegetal profile is a testament to the Catalan terroir’s capacity to produce wines of uncommon quality. Alongside it stands the Familia Torres Salmos 2020 — a tribute to the winemaking history of the region, its bouquet a quiet homage to the Carthusian monks who laid the foundations of viticulture in the Priorat. Meticulously crafted, this wine is a delicious study in the tradition and modernity that coexist so productively in this singular landscape.

The Purgatori 2015 warrants equal attention — a wine that is at once a direct expression of history and legend, drawing its identity from the Abbey of Montserrat. Intense notes of wild berries and a subtle smoky undercurrent evoke a rich narrative and an exceptional terroir. Rounding out this curated five is the Floralis Moscatel Oro, a sweetly persuasive wine perfectly suited to dessert or served alone as an aperitif, its floral aromas rendering it genuinely irresistible.

This selection does not merely reflect the diversity and sophistication of Catalan wine — it challenges received assumptions about what Spanish viticulture is capable of producing. Each bottle Cortizas champions is a narrative in itself, one that speaks of the landscapes and culture from which these singular flavors originate. With her authority and discerning palate, Marta Cortizas extends an open invitation to discover — or rediscover — the endlessly fascinating world of Catalan wine.