Freixenet

FREIXENET IS A SPANISH FAMILY OWNED COMPANY WITH ROOTS THAT STRETCH BACK TO 1861. THE FREIXENET BRAND, NOW THE NUMBER ONE SELLING SPARKLING WINE IN THE WORLD, AROSE FROM A GREAT LOVE STORY.

IN 1889, DOLORES SALA VIVÉ, HEIRESS to the Sala wine emporium, married Pedro Ferrer Bosch, a boy from the neighboring vineyard of La Freixeneda (meaning ash-tree grove) in the Catalunyian wine region of Penedès, just south of Barcelona.

Dolores and Pedro went into business together, producing traditionally crafted, bottle-fermented sparkling wines and, in 1914, began marketing these as “FREIXENET” (from Pedro’s nickname, el freixenet).

In the 1920s, their son José Ferrer took over the family business and by the 1980s grew Freixenet into a worldleading producer of sparkling wine. With José now semi-retired, today his son Pedro leads the family business.

As well as the original winery in Sant Sadurni, the Freixenet Group has winery operations throughout Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Sonoma Valley, California, Champagne and Bordeaux, France, and Coonawarra and Mildura in Australia.

Today, Freixenet is the world’s largest sparkling wine brand, available in over 150 countries. Whilst immensely popular, Freixenet has managed to keep its family character and remain faithful to its roots of producing sparkling wines in the traditional method while focusing on quality improvement, innovation and progress.

When José Ferrer took over the reins in the 1980s, he changed the way the Spanish cava industry operated. Looking to maximise quality, José focused obsessively on innovation and Freixenet was the first company in Spain to pneumatically press grapes, use refrigerated vats to control fermentation and develop an automated system to stack bottles.

After primary fermentation and bottling, the wines are sealed with crown caps and undergo a second fermentation process referred to as “ageing on lees”. Freixenet wines are made exclusively using this traditional method. This double fermentation ensures the highest quality wines, with more layers of complexity and finer bubbles.

The wine bottles are then placed on special racks at a 45 degree angle so that the yeast sediment, or lees, can collect in the neck of the bottle and be disgorged. The wine is aged for two or more years in the 54 kilometres of caves under the Freixenet winery in Sant Sadurni.

Freixenet wines also adhere to a rigorous quality control established by the Spanish regulatory board. Grapes are sourced from both estate and local grower vineyards in the Penedès region, characterised by chalky, fertile soils and plenty of sunshine.

The history of the Ferrer family and roots of Freixenet are deeply entwined in the Penedès region in Spain. The house of founder Pedro Ferrer Bosch still sits on the original vineyard “La Freixenada”. This location is integral, not only to Freixenet’s superior quality, but also the brand character: Freixenet embodies the passion, the spontaneity and the Mediterranean joy for life, just like the people in the area. ❧

Freixenet Winery, Sant Sadurni, Spain