Marta Clot is not only a very talented sommelier, but also a highly acclaimed influencer with a young audience, not necessarily passionate about the subject. Through a nonchalant, and unprejudiced approach, the 30-year-old is breaking down the barriers of the elitist world of wine, and is working to ensure that small, local producers in Catalonia are known and appreciated.
The sommelier
Many wine enthusiasts will already be familiar with her, given her hundreds of thousands of followers, but for those who don't yet know who she is, mark this name down: Marta Clot, the 30-year-old Catalan woman who for some time now has been one of the most important and original sommeliers and influencers in Spanish oenology.
Renowned for narrating the wine world in a nonchalant way and without a lot of frills, Marta wants to bring wine closer to and introduce as many people as possible to the “nectar of the gods,” and to free it from the halo of elitism that has always shrouded it. "It seems that to drink wine you need to know it meticulously or take a course. Wine is scary and we need to put an end to that. I like to talk about wine in general, in a direct and casual tone, as if I were talking to my friends. I think it is important to make the approach to this industry lighter. How many times do you hear people say, 'I don't know about wine,' but who knows in depth about cheese production or other products?” he tells El Pais.
Marta began her career as a pastry chef and only a few years later, when she felt the need for a change, she joined a tasting course in Barcelona. "I really enjoyed it. I saw that course as an opportunity to connect wine to my work as a pastry chef to create pairings." She decided, thus, to become a sommelier and start working at the Wine Palace in Sant Cugat, where she put her studies into practice and learned how to relate to people.
Right around that time, she started making content on social media until she created Vi & Companya, the project she started with Mike Cano, her partner and associate, to talk about her passion. Through videos, posts and funny gags Marta talks about wine at 360 ranging in content: from “5 tips to go to a wine fair,” to “how to store wine at home” or “how to look like a wine expert.” Each creation signed by Clot boasts numerous views from a rather diverse audience.
"On both networks (TikTok and Instagram]) more than 80 percent of our followers are between 18 and 44 years old. Most are from Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil, and there is almost no gender difference. I believe that the “sober generation” is also attracted to my content because it also reaches those who are not necessarily wine consumers. I would then like to dispel many clichés. Wine is scary, and we need to put an end to the plastered approach of yesteryear. Other preconceptions also bother me, such as that white is for fish and red for meat; that white wine is drunk too cold; that the more expensive a wine is, the better; and then...Why can't you drink wine in a plastic glass? Someone explain it to me. I am a wine activist and I will even drink it from a plastic glass if there is no better alternative," she explains. Marta also wants to promote Spanish winemaking and in particular that of her region, Catalonia. “Only four out of ten bottles opened in Catalonia are Catalan wines, that's why I want to focus on small producers in the region.”
The Catalan influencer-sommelier is in constant turmoil, and studying is a constant presence in her life to allow her to pursue her “mission” so much so that she feels the need to go “across the screen.” "I want to dedicate myself to homemade tastings; they are amazing. People are super nice and I like to narrate and enjoy drinking some wines so that people feel free to ask questions and I can answer them," she confides.
