After a series of twists and turns, and enjoying the beauty of Priorat, both humble and exuberant, I arrive at the Clos de l’Obac winery. Carles Pastrana receives us at the entrance. He is an affable and amusing man. We joke, because by profession he was also a journalist, but life had other plans for him: to be part of the revolution that the region would experience. A region that went from misery to creating some of the most valued wines in the world. To achieve this, the blend was as follows: many years of work and doing things according to his criteria, a pinch of recklessness, and two strokes of luck.

At 82 years old, Albert Boadella (Barcelona, 1943) does not stop working. He has finished a second version, adapted to the new times, ofEl retablo de las maravillas, and the theatrical adaptation of the bookJoven, no me cabree, published in 2022. The founder of Els Joglars has turned all sacred symbols into the object of his irreverence. Including, of course, Ferran Adrià's cuisine.¿Why did he parody El Bulli?

“The first wine list at the restaurant was made by Ester Nin. Everything I know, she has taught me. Drinking and tasting together, asking her many questions, and me being very persistent and her very generous”. Sincere and direct, that’s how sommelier Litus Raga is, who is retiring after twenty years at the helm of the dining room at La Cooperativa restaurant, in Porrera. “I still have an unpaid invoice from the first day; they were a group of very generous winemakers, but they never remembered to pay it”, he shares with a smile. “Working has been a hobby”, he states upfront. And then: “Whoever hasn’t come all these years, I don’t expect them before I say goodbye”. The last service will coincide with the upcoming Fira del Vi de Falset. He has clear ideas and is one of those sommeliers who, by reading gestures and looks, knows what each table needs, attending to the honest and sincere cuisine of Mia Vall Grau. A floral shirt – a choice surely unconscious but matching the tablecloth – and always precise and often sharp words. They serve as his shield to serve: “There are wines that haven’t moved since the beginning, Vall Llach, Cims de Porrera, Clos Mogador... But from classicism, we have opened windows to new ideas and concepts like those of Nin Ortiz and Terroir al Límite, to whites, to brisados, to bubbles. We have been selecting projects that dialogue with La Cooperativa’s cuisine, with civets, fricandós and roasts. From body, structure, and over-extraction, we have moved to wanting lightness. I think the DOQ Priorat wineries have approached Mia’s stews”, he shares without complexes.

It doesn't seem so long ago when it was common to consider Priorat wines as low-grade, only serving to give alcohol content and body to other wines or, in the best of cases, for bulk consumption. A historically widespread idea outside our regions, although even here there were those who defended it as a fighting wine. But, in reality, the good reputation of Priorat wines is not relatively recent. In fact, the possibilities for retail sales, as well as exports of this generic designation, were already part of the business concerns of a good handful of entrepreneurs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Officially registering the designation, especially for the retail market, would become the obsession of some producers and marketers of the time.

Fran Tudela (la Vila Joiosa, 1996) became known on social networks by imitating English teachers and Valencian mothers. Today, with almost 200,000 followers on Instagram, Cabrafotuda –as he is known– has become one of the reference content creators in the Catalan language, and has made Valencian popular culture his territory: parties, traditions, grandma's cooking and, above all, the diversity of a language that changes its name for each thing from one town to another. Drinks are no exception.There is a very close relationship between Valencian popular culture and drink.

Sílvia Bel (Barcelona, 1970) believes in authenticity and naturalness, and practices them. The actress, who has graced the major theaters of the Catalan scene and is currently known for her role as Marta in Com si fos ahir, alternates maximum expressiveness –gestural and linguistic– with introspective silence. Bel understands the arts as a space for sincere expression, far from affectations and hypocrisies; and it is also in this way that she speaks of gastronomy and wine.They made a Ribera del Duero for his daughter, Ainara Elejalde. How does Sílvia Bel imagine the wine?

From the tendency to adopt the English word, even though the Catalan one already exists to designate the same thing, not even a drink as traditional as wine escapes it. In Catalonia, the production of white wines fermented with the skins –and sometimes with the grape stalks– has returned with force, which can present a striking orangey hue. This is how whites used to be made in past times and in Catalan they are called "vins brisats" (brisated wines), because during their production "brisa" has been used, which is the residue left after using the whole grape during production. However, even here they are often identified as orange or orange wines."An English word seems to be more common", asserts Marc Picanyol, author of the book Amb pells. Guia dels vins brisats de Catalunya (Cossetània, 2025). Accustomed to moving around Barcelona, Picanyol sees how orange proliferates among the wine bars –another expression that may be making inroads instead of wine bars–, both perhaps a result of the increase in the number of expats that the Catalan capital hosts, but he does not resign himself to this trend. He has written the book to publicize the increasingly extensive Catalan heritage of brisats –among the main references for these wines are Georgia, Slovenia, and northern Italy–, but also to "normalize" the word brisats. In his opinion, there is no doubt that it is much prettier than orange: "To me, vi brisat sounds a thousand times more attractive than hearing orange wine".When defining what a "brisat" is, there is no consensus. It may even be that a "brisat" and an orange" are not always the same. Picanyol details that the concept of orange wine likely arose to identify orange-colored wines, but over time it has become more open and at least in Europe it is now used more generally for wines made with white grapes that ferment with their skins. In the book, he has included all those Catalan wines that have fermented with skins for at least three days, although some would find it essential that it also be done with the stems or for a longer period. Be that as it may, Picanyol has named the book Amb pells" because "it is the only point where everyone agrees" and with it he aims to promote still minority wines. "Outside of us, of those of us involved in the world of wine, people don't know what they are," he states.Even so, in recent years Catalan "brisats" have multiplied. The book is a very exhaustive work that incorporates 137 wineries that produce them, but Picanyol has already located about thirty more that do not appear yet. Wineries have produced new ones and do not always communicate that they make them: there are many "brisats" in which it is not stated anywhere that they are, and hence the relevance that there is now a hitherto unprecedented guide that collects the majority of them. Often they are produced by small wineries, they are of low production and are included within the so-called natural wines, so they may not have added sulfites: they are wines to which it is appropriate to be natural, because fermenting with the skins and the stems can help protect the wine from oxidation.

It is difficult to think of happiness in Catalonia without this name coming to mind. Tortell Poltrona (Barcelona, 1955) has just returned from Ukraine. In the words that the Rokada association has dedicated to Clowns Without Borders for his stay, there is a precise synthesis of a lifetime dedicated to the happiness of others: the gratitude for offering children not only laughter, but "the reminder that joy is still possible". Tortell Poltrona —or rather, Jaume Mateu— says he is getting old. But this does not inhibit his desire to keep traveling, nor does it prevent him from moving forward before he can ask the first question.The clown is like wine. Did you know that?

The writer Najat El Hachmi (Beni Sidel, 1979) responds gracefully to the proposal of this interview: "You invite me to weddings." The winner of, among others, the Ramon Llull, City of Barcelona, ​​and Christmas prizes, who has just published a new edition of The Body Hunter (Ediciones 62, 2026), not only relates to the world through the embellishing filter of literature: it also does so through taste.

For work reasons, I live and share meals with a group of young people in their twenties and thirties. I've cooked with young people before, of course, but the meals were always prepared or paid for by me. This is different—we eat with a few scrapes from work—because I can observe their culinary habits and customs.

A good harvest after three years of drought and an expansion in the number of wineries boosted Corpinnat's sales in 2025. The collective brand of sparkling wines from the Penedès region grew by 27%. compared to the previous year...to €34.13 million.

I interview winemaker Álvaro Palacios at the Marejol restaurant in Vilanova i la Geltrú on a Friday night. A few hours later, he'll be having lunch with people who want to share his wines at an unforgettable dinner, both for the food and the wines served. Álvaro speaks in both Spanish and Catalan. He's lived in Gratallops for many years, and he knows the language and likes it. He says he has employees at the winery who have built human towers (castells), and he's interested in the Vilanova castellers group, the Bordegassos.

The founding family and the former honorary president of the Freixenet cava producer, José Luis Bonet, have agreed to sell their remaining stake in the company to the German group Henkell, which will thus control all of the capital, as Freixenet itself announced in a statement on Tuesday. "After eight years of close cooperation, the Ferrer family and José Luis Bonet have sold the remaining shares of Freixenet by mutual agreement to Henkell Freixenet, which will thus become the sole owner of Freixenet as of March 2, 2026," the statement reads. The price of the transaction has not been disclosed. Henkell acquired a stake in the cava producer Based in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia (Alt Penedès), Henkell Freixenet acquired 50.7% of the shares from various branches of the Ferrer family, descendants of the winery's founders, for approximately €220 million. Since then, the company has been led by Andreas Brokemper as co-CEO alongside Pere Ferrer, who will now become honorary chairman of the company, a position previously held by Bonet, to whom he is a first cousin. "The sale of our shares marks an emotional moment for us. As two family businesses that share the same values, we have found in Henkell Freixenet a trusted partner who will preserve our legacy while leading the company into the future," Ferrer stated in the press release. The businessman will remain involved in the wine sector through his personal company, Ferrer Wines.

Absolute euphoria for Álvaro Ribalta and Thomas Luke Parker, the winning pair of the 18th wine competition held at the Llotja in Barcelona and organized by the shop and distributor Vila Viniteca. The winners took home €35,000 for blind-tasting fourteen wines, divided into two rounds. In the morning, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, participants had to guess seven wines, and in the afternoon, starting at 4:30 p.m., seven more. Of the fourteen wines, the winners correctly identified the country, region of origin, appellation of origin, grape variety, vintage, producer, and brand. In other words, an immeasurable feat, within reach of the very best, and probably also a matter of luck, because in a competition of this kind there is a very high percentage of study and professional expertise (hence the large number of participants being winemakers and sommeliers) and another of unconscious courage.

Julià Guillamon (Barcelona, ​​1962) keeps about ten empty bottles at home. The writer and critic of The Vanguard He copied the idea from an exhibition that the National Library of Spain dedicated to Camilo José Cela, in which the bottles, mostly antique ones, that the Galician writer had decided to keep were displayed. Guillamon has published around twenty books – the latest of which, Scrapers (Galaxia Gutenberg, 2026), has just arrived in bookstores—in which many topics coexist, including, inevitably, wine.

What I like about strolling among the stands of the Wine Week, the international wine fair in Barcelona, ​​is where everyone coming and going has a trained nose. If you never smelled thyme, rosemary, or even savory as a child, you don't know what thyme, rosemary, or even savory are, and then, as an adult, they are foreign and incomprehensible to you. Sniffing is opening the doors to our most secret and complicated sense, more so than hearing, more so than touch. Sniff a classroom, with the mixture of smells from pencils, room-temperature snacks, and lice treatment. Sniff a newspaper office at lunchtime, where you often smell mandarin oranges. Sniff a wet dog. Sniff a stable. Sniff leather. Sniff, if you can, of course, a strawberry, a cherry. Sniff lavender. Think about what happens when you take the Wine SET tasting course. They talk to you about acacia, and perhaps you've never smelled it. Sniff Marina Rossell's perfume, which is very specific (I'd say it's the same one Mònica Terribas uses) and makes her who she is, and makes you think of her when she leaves a room. Sniff the Leslie cologne by Sírex, a cologne many men wear. Sniff and smell, the wild perfume of a fricandó (that cinnamon), smell the forest and say: "It smells like boiled rice," because there's bay leaf.

Today marks the start of another edition of Barcelona Wine Week, an international gathering for the wine sector, so important economically and culturally in our country. In a context of changing consumption habits, of hoppy New Year's Eve celebrations, of lumping vodka and cheap wine together, this fair is a brilliant and elegant, suggestive and attractive, positive showcase of this part of our culture, which in the case of the Mediterranean has very, very ancient roots, without which we simply "are not." The landscape of Catalonia, from sea to mountains, cannot be understood without the vineyard. The religion that has accompanied and shaped us over these 2025 years, precisely, celebrates the Eucharist with bread and wine, commemorating the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples, where he gives them wine to drink, which is his blood, and bread, which is his body (and which serves, if you'll excuse the joke, as the... peaks that we nibble on today when we go to the tastings). The Gospels are full of wine. Please don't miss Roser Omar's brilliant and extraordinary translation ofGospel of MatthewPublished by Blackie Books, and you'll see that in one passage, Jesus' enemies call him a "drunkard."

Barcelona Wine Week, the Spanish wine congress held annually in Barcelona, ​​will once again grow this year in terms of exhibitors, visitors, and square footage, organizers announced Wednesday. The sector is meeting at a time of challenges due to climate change, trade tensions between the European Union and the United States, and concerns about declining wine consumption worldwide. A total of 1,351 wineries from across Spain are registered, a 5% increase compared to last year. the 2025 edition and 880 international buyers, 14% more than the previous edition. The fair, which will be held next week from February 2nd to 4th, will occupy 10,900 square meters, 800 more than last year, at the Plaça d'Espanya venue of Fira de Barcelona. With 320 wineries present, Catalonia will be the autonomous community with the largest presence at the event, followed by Castile and León, La Rioja, and Castile-La Mancha.

Laura Grau (Blanes, 1995) has established herself in recent years as one of the most prominent Catalan-language communicators and content creators on social media. After working for RAC105, Catalunya Ràdio, and iCat, she has created her own platform from which she addresses social issues that concern her and also discusses popular culture, with a particular focus on the world of castles. Hours after the interview, Grau got in touch to add a detail she had forgotten to mention: she loves the summer red wine, although its name in Catalan – black summer cocktail – hasn't quite convinced him.

Four months ago, Francesc Garriga (Súria, 1983) returned to Catalonia after working for four years as a correspondent for Catalunya Ràdio in Washington, a period marked by Donald Trump's return to the White House. In addition to his day-to-day work, this period has resulted in a book. In Washington by parachute (Portico, 2024), but above all a very concrete way of looking at the United States through everyday details, contradictions and small – and large – cultural clashes.