Visit Celler Hospital Sitges winery
Malvasia wine.
Legend has it that the first Malvasia vines arrived in Sitges by the hand of an Almogàvar who, at the beginning of the 14th century, went to fight in the eastern Mediterranean under the orders of Roger de Flor.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Malvasia vines occupied a quarter of the land cultivated in the municipality.
During that century and the following one, malvasia was exported throughout Europe and also to the overseas colonies, thus becoming one of the most appreciated Catalan wines outside our borders. The arrival of phylloxera and the appearance of champagne in the last quarter of the 19th century marked the beginning of the decline of malvasia.
Aware that malvasia would eventually disappear completely, shortly before his death, the Sitgetà diplomat Manuel Llopis y de Casadas (1885-1935) wanted to prevent it by bequeathing a vineyard located in Aiguadolç to the Hospital de Sant Joan Baptista, as well as the family business of malvasia production.
It is, therefore, thanks to this legacy that today Sitges, through the San Juan Baptista Hospital Foundation, continues to enjoy this product, which, today, is the most genuine thing we can offer our visitors.
