The economist Miquel Puig (Tarragona, 1954) is one of the voices that most frequently participate in the country's debates, also on the ARABeyond the articles and controversies about regional funding, immigration, tourism and wages, Puig maintains a long-standing relationship with another part of the Catalan economy.

This is the story of the miracle of wine in Priorat, however. On May 2, 3, and 4, the starting gun is being held in Falset for the thirtieth edition of the Wine Fair, which will continue to organize tastings at the various wineries in Priorat throughout the month. The anniversary comes in a rather complicated context: wine consumption is declining—younger people aren't drinking—and the drought, which has passed but everyone is certain will return, has reduced the grape harvest by 35%. The only thing missing from this reality are US President Donald Trump's threats of tariffs, which will complicate wine exports to the United States, one of the countries that sends the most (and most expensive) wines to Priorat. However, thirty years after the first Falset Wine Fair, it is a good opportunity to look back and take stock. ARA has spoken with some of the people who, more than 30 years ago, believed the region had an unmissable opportunity and who bet everything on the vineyard, which can only thrive in this terrain of difficult slopes dominated by native slate. "What happened in Priorat couldn't happen anywhere else," says winemaker and viticulturist René Barbier, almost 40 years after acquiring his first estate in the region, of which he has nothing but love. "There is extraordinary intelligence in Priorat," he asserts.