Vins el Cep was founded in 1980 by Josep Esteve, Pere Parera, Gil Masana, and & Josep Carreras. All four men, pictured in the photo to the left, were the figureheads of agricultural families in the Alta Penedes, friends, and collaborative viticulturists that owned land on the slopes of the Anoia River in the municipalities of Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, Sant Llorenc d'Hortons, and Gelida.
The vineyard estates owned by the four families – Can Castany, Can Simon, Can Miquel de les Planes, and Can Prats were all founded between 1448 and 1568 and together totaled 200 Ha. of old vineyards located in prime real estate of the Alta Penedès. While these families had historically sold their grapes to large corporate cava producers, in 1980, they decided to join forces to produce and bottle quality-oriented, premium estate Cava.
They built their bodega in a historic estate named Can Llopart de les Alzines after an impressive forest of Quercus Ilex that surrounds the property. Since then, Vins el Cep has been at the forefront of quality sparkling and still wine production in Penedès. In 2001 Vins el Cep pioneered organic farming in Penedès and, in 2003, became the first producer to release a biodynamic farmed Cava. As of 2017, the entire estate was certified organic (on the bottle), and 60 of the 200 Ha. are certified biodynamic by Demeter.
While invited several times to join CORPINNAT, Vins el Cep has decided to stay in Cava and push for a revolution of quality from within. To that end, Maite Esteve established a certification for estate producers within Cava called Elaboradores Integrales. As of 2022, Vin's el Cep is one of only 12 certified 100% estate-grown and bottled Cava producers. Today, Vins el Cep is managed by the daughter of Josep Esteve, Maite Esteve, who has been the head of the company since the late 90s.
