Josep Roca

Sommelier at El Celler de Can Roca*** (Girona, Spain)

He likes to call himself a wine waiter, but he has been critically acclaimed by critics and the general public as a master of food and wine pairings and of the art of ceremony in the dining room.

One part of the trio making up the Roca brothers, Josep was just a child when he developed a special relationship with wine in the wine cellar of his parents’ eatery. That dark nuance-filled place seduced him and instilled in him a lifelong passion. Today, he is one of the most renowned sommeliers, and has ensured that at El Celler de Can Roca wine is part and parcel of the conceptualisation process when it comes to developing dishes.

His academic training, like that of his brothers, was at the Escola d’Hostaleria de Girona. He has won the National Gastronomy Prize for Best Maître d’ (2004), the National Gastronomy Prize for Best Sommelier (2010), the International Academy of Gastronomy Award for Best Sommelier (2005 and 2011), and the Gueridón de Oro Award for Best Maître d’ (2013).