FUNERAL EULOGY
1943 – 2024
Josep Puig, born in 1943 in a village north of Barcelona, is without doubt one of the most original and colorful figures in the world of Catalan wine.
His life was entirely devoted to wine and gastronomy. As he liked to say, “I was born in wine, I grew up in wine and I’ve spent my life revolving around wine, whether making it, selling it or traveling.”
His father was a winemaker, and Josep, the fourth generation, began working with him at an early age. His first business was in catering with his brother Miquel, then he moved into the hotel business in Tossa de Mar and England, where he met the Beatles and other famous people. However, his aim has always been to work in wine.
Between 1979 and 1984, he was founding director of the Torres company in Curicó, Chile. Then, as Export Manager at Torres for ten years, he traveled to 75 countries, sometimes even camping in Europe! Josep was fluent in English, French and German.
Josep was an outstanding and original salesman. His goal was to get Torres’ great wines listed in every Michelin-starred restaurant in the world. To achieve this, he would travel with a large paella dish, big enough to feed 50 people, along with the ingredients and a field hockey stick to even out the cooking! He would gather together as many restaurateurs and sommeliers as possible to enjoy his paella in each location. He also organized outings in search of porcini mushrooms, another of his passions. In France, he first visited Troisgros by bicycle, before becoming a great friend of the Troisgros family.
In Spain, after founding his own winery, Puig et Roca, in the Penedès region with his friend Joan Roca, he would invite restaurateurs to do some harvesting before enjoying a grand paella dish.
Endowed with a strong personality and a touch of extravagance, Josep had other talents. He invented a corkscrew(Puig Pull) and wrote numerous books on wine. The best-known, The World’s Best Wine Salesman, is a series of tips for wine salesmen: organization, product knowledge, intelligence, patience, tenacity and, above all, modesty.
The Penedès winery, now Celler Augustus, is also famous for its Forum vinegars. Thanks to Josep, these vinegars, made from Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, can be found in almost every top restaurant in Spain and around the world.
In 1999, Josep sold his shares in Augustus and set up a Priorat winery, Viñedos de Ithaca, with his daughter Silvia, who now owns her own winery in Gratallops. She is also the oenologist at Clos Figueras.
Josep, who died in January this year at the age of 80, was very attached to the Academy. Some may remember the trip he organized to the Priorat region. But it was his thirst for knowledge, his sense of humor, his generosity and his enthusiasm for everything to do with the world of wine that he shared with the members, and which undoubtedly marked his presence within the Academy.
11 December 2024
