For thousands and thousands of years the land from the Penedès region has been associated with vineyard cultivation and wine production. Getting to know the Penedès region means getting to know a landscape and its people, generation after generation of whom have preserved the vineyard as the main economic, social and cultural engine.
The viniculture history of the region dates back 2,500 years, as archaeological findings show: the Wine Museum of Vilafranca exhibits many testimonies such as amphoras, pottery containers and tools related to wine production and transportation, proceeding from Iberic, Greek, Punic and Roman cultures.
During the late Middle Ages instability in the region due to its boundary location made it very difficult for agriculture to be maintained. However, once dominion was consolidated agriculture recovered its importance and enjoyed a new period of expansion during the 13^th century. Nonetheless, there was a decline in the population due to the Black Death and social upheaval at the end of the medieval era, resulting in a remarkable step backward for the wine industry and the implication of important transformations in social and labour structures. One of them was the contract of “rabassa morta”, which specified that land be assigned to the farmer only during the time that the wine stocks were alive. When the wine stocks died, the farmer had to give back the lands. The judgement of Guadalupe meant the end of this situation, creating a better situation for farmers.

The start of the modern era did not bring economic prosperity, neither to Catalonia nor the Penedès region: continuous wars, banditry and natural catastrophes left the lands in a bad way. Circumstances did not improve until the mid 18^th century. It was during this period when the Penedès region experienced an important recovery, with external commerce and the introduction of wines and liqueurs to the English and Dutch markets, finally reaching America, when commerce with this continent was authorized. Population increase, along with the development of new watering techniques, fertilizers, tools, etc. fostered vineyard cultivation in lands which had previously not been worked.

At the beginning of the 19^th century vineyard cultivation was the number one farming product in Catalonia and represented 70% of the farming lands of the Penedès region.  The euphoria in wine production was supported by exportation to America, undertaken from Vilanova i la Geltrú, resulting in huge fortunes for the Indianos – Spaniards who returned to Spain after making their fortunes in Latin America. The Filoxera plague in France during the last 30 years of the 19^th century lead to a glorious, golden age for the Penedès region and the expansion of the export market towards the rest of Europe. It was also a time when the production of sparkling wine started; based in the champanoise method it became consolidated at that time as one of the area’s main industries. However, this glorious period finished when the Filoxera plague crossed the Pyrenees and arrived in Catalonia, destroying the vineyards. Thankfully, the population knew how to react. 

Nevertheless, during the first half of the 20th century, the “rabassa morta” agreement – which still survived in part - was the object of many conflicts and arguments between farmers and landowners. Although the contracts signed by the two parties seemed to be in agreement different interpretations resulted in a violent period of social agitation and a radicalization of positions which lasted many years. The Law of Cultivation Agreements was enacted in 1934, establishing that farmers – with compensation to the previous owners - should be the new landowners. The CEDA and the beginning of the civil war brought an end to the law before it had a chance to be applied.  
The post-war period was very hard in every sense and the situation only started to get better during the 1950s. During that time the sale of wine in bulk was gradually transformed into an industrial wine bottling process, vineyard cultivation was intensified and new technologies were put into practice. In this context, the foundation of the Regulator Council of Penedès Origin Denomination in the 1960s definitely fostered the consolidation and improvement of the Penedès wines. Nowadays the Penedès region is internationally renowned for wine production.  The Sparkling Wine Regulator Council was created in 1972, recognizing cava as a quality sparkling wine and the Cava Regulator Council was created in 1993 in accordance with new European Union regulations.