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On the east flank of the promenade, almost touching the station, extends the long and imposing façade of the Caves Montesquieu — a historical mark that we know today as Montesquius. The complex was born in 1918 by the hand of Ramona Roig i Manubens, heir to a botany lineage who, after emigrating to Cuba and making a fortune with the manufacture of barrels and the wine trade, returned to the Penedès with the desire to produce quality sparkling wines. The family christened the brand with the medieval place name of their native Urgell, the castle of Montesquiu, and built the first naves near the Athenaeum.
The original building, now the heritage nucleus of the complex, responds to an industrial classicist language: symmetrical facades of light brick, large cobblestone windows that flood the wine-making areas with natural light and a four-water roof that resolves the roof in sections on a single slope. The openings, grouped three by three, are framed by pillars and sardine lintels that are both a structural solution and an ornamental motif. In the upper strip, made of red and brown brick, geometric reliefs and a central bull's-eye that ventilated the attic originally stood out.
In 1945, after the Civil War, the Santacana-Roig family moved production to the current site to gain aging capacity. The move coincides with the opening of the first underground cavas and the gradual replacement of the Coll de Juny brand by Montesquius. The building receives successive extensions: a contemporary central body that solves the access of trucks and visitors; and, at one end, a covered cylindrical tower that acts as a corner and acts as an urban pivot. Despite the additions, the frontage retains the alignment and unitary reading thanks to the predominance of the exposed brick.
During the 1960s and 1970s, new expedition and aging tunnels were dug, reaching three levels below ground level, taking advantage of the compact clay of the Sadurninian subsoil. Today, the galleries exceed one and a half kilometers and host hundreds of thousands of bottles that rest in rhyme. The tour allows you to see historical presses, a manual slaughter wall and an archive of forges, as well as documents and photographs that explain the pioneering export to Latin America.
On the facade, the logo of the house dialogues with modern compositions of xarel·lo and macabeo that grow in the ceramic pots of the railing. The interior maintains pillars attached regularly to the walls and barrel vaults with lowered concrete arches that generate diaphanous naves, ideal for natural air conditioning. The complex enjoys BPU heritage protection within the POUM (file 61) and is listed in the Inventory of Architectural Heritage of Catalonia (IPAC 38299).
Today Montesquius continues to produce long-aged cavas and welcomes visitors all year round through themed tastings that explore the organic vineyard of the Font-Rubí estate. Among the curiosities, it is worth mentioning the small collection of export posters from the 1920s, where the brand was advertised in Spanish, French and English with the legend “champagne éthode champenoise” —testimony to a time when DO Cava did not yet exist. The visit ends at the tower, a privileged viewpoint over the sea of vines that surrounds Sant Sadurní.
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