Although it was probably the Phoenicians who were the first to bring vines to Catalonia, it was during the Roman occupation that vines were first cultivated seriously, particularly in the area around Tarragona (then Tarraco), the Roman capital of occupied Spain.

Catalan wine was exported to Rome, until the fall of the Roman empire from the fourth century onwards devastated the Catalan vineyards. The barbarian tribes that drove out the Romans were not wine drinkers, and later when Spain was invaded by the moors, the Koran prohibited its consumption. Not until around the tenth century were vines actively cultivated again, unusually starting in the foothills of the Pyrenees (there are currently no vineyards there, but it was safely far from the coast - and the Muslim influence). This time it was the monasteries that provided much of the impulse. Gradually the vineyards began to extend towards the coast, and the areas which are now Catalonia's primary wine regions.

The sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw considerable development in the sector, as the use of glass evolved, and later the discovery of the cork (and of Champagne in France) revolutionised the sector. Indeed it is rumoured that Dom Perignon - a monk more famous for the discovery of Champagne - discovered the uses of cork during a stay at a monastery in Girona. The region is today one of the principle cork-producers in the world where the bark of the Alsina Surera (cork holm-oak) is used to make corks for wine bottles. Despite the defeat of Catalunya in 1714 and the subsequent repression (and loss of the British and Dutch markets), the Catalan wine sector flourished until the plague of the Phylloxera.

Phylloxera is an insect that arrived in Europe in the late nineteenth century via vines brought to Europe from America. It attacks the roots of the vines, eventually killing them, and it is still present in the soil today (hence the need to graft vines). In a relatively short period of time it obliterated the vineyards of Europe. It first struck in France in 1872, and in the 10-15 years it took the French vineyards to recover, Catalan wine was in such great demand that vineyards were planted all over the country. This may well have been the great opportunity missed, as whilst there was a world shortage of wine due to the problems in France, the vast majority of Catalan producers increased production with the corresponding drop in the quality of the wine. Thus they missed the chance to establish a worldwide reputation for Catalan wine as a quality product.

The phylloxera plague moved gradually southward, reaching the Penedès region in 1887, and as it had in France destroying the vineyards in its path. Recovery was faster than in France however, as the French had already piloted the technique of grafting European varieties onto American rootstock (which is immune to the insect). Debate arose as to which varietals should be used as grafts, and largely inspired by the work of Josep Raventós and colleagues in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, they decided to experiment with the local (white) varieties Parellada, Macabeu and Xarel·lo. At the same time, they experimented with wine making techniques learnt in the French Champagne region.

The Montserrat mountain, one of the symbols of Catalunya, seen from the road to Sant Sadurní

Thus was born the Catalan bubbly - originally called "xampany" but now consolidated under the name (and Denominació d'Origen) Cava.