Catalan Wine

Catalan wine is wine made in the Spanish wine region of Catalonia. More rarely, the term may also be used to refer to some French wines made in the Catalan region of Roussillon, once joint with the southern territories that currently are part of Spain. The city of Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and the focal point of the Catalan wine industry, serving as its primary consumer market, an exporting coastal port and source of financial investment and resources. The area has a long winemaking tradition and was the birthplace of the sparkling wine Cava, invented in the early 1870s in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia by Josep Raventos of Codorníu Winery. At the turn of the 20th century, the Catalan wine industry was at the forefront of Spain's emergence as a world leader in quality wine production, being the first Spanish wine region to adopt the use of stainless steel fermentation tanks. The area is also an important cork production region, with output aimed primarily at the region's Cava houses.