Freixenet

Freixenet is one of the most famous and largest cava producers in Spain, located west of Barcelona in Catalonia. The company produces cava in similar quality, quantity and importance to France's Moët et Chandon. (Cava is the Spanish sparkling wine equivalent to France's champagne).

Freixenet was started after the union of two Spanish families with a lengthy history in winemaking: the Ferrers, owners of La Freixeneda, a 12th-century farming estate in Sant Quintí de Mediona in the Alt Penedès, and the Salas, winemakers since 1830 and the founders of Casa Sala, a wine exporter to Latin America, in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Dolores Sala Vivé, the granddaughter of the founder of Casa Sala, married Pedro Ferrer Bosch of La Freixeneda. This era saw the gradual loss of Spain’s colonies and grape production diminishing due to the phylloxera plague that had destroyed red grape vines across Europe. Inspired by the success of Champagne, Codorniu and others encouraged vineyard owners to replant with white grape varieties like Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel·lo to use for sparkling wine production. These grapes are still the primary grapes of Cava today though some producers are experimenting with the use of the Champagne wine grapes of Chardonnay and Pinot noir.

As a result, the newlyweds joined forces with Dolores' father to switch the focus of the Sala family business to sparkling wines made under the traditional method, or méthode Champenoise. The name comes from "La Freixenada" - a family wine producing estate located in the Alt Penedes region since the 13th Century.

In 1941, Freixenet launched its leading product, the cava Carta Nevada and in 1974 the cava Cordon Negro.

Around 95% of Spain's total Cava production is from Catalonia with the village of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia being home to many of Spain's largest production houses. [Oxford pg 144-145]

External links

* [http://www.freixenet.co.uk/ Freixenet official site]

References