Retire from serving Priorat

“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.

“Customers often ask for a wine they will remember for a long time. And that forces you to recommend by thoroughly reviewing everything you know and never out of obligation”, he reflects. He has always sought the diner's complicity, but hasn't always found it: “You are my guest, you will pay me at the end of the service, let yourself be taken care of”, has been his mantra. “Working with Mia is an intense learning experience. She has a very big heart, she is honest and radical like no one I've ever known, and she's from Priorat with all that represents, also for the authenticity of her cuisine”, he says with admiration. He feels dizzy on the first working day without service, but admits he already needs time for himself: “The hospitality industry is too demanding”. Among his plans, to eat alone, at a discreet table, at La Cooperativa. “I'll choose a lamb curry or a guinea fowl or a capipota, and I'd drink some of those forbidden bubbles or a bottle of Les Manyes”, he confides. On the musical thread, Death is not the end by Nick Cave. And to continue being an outsider in a Priorat that always invites strong emotional bonds.