Freixenet

From Wikipedia,

Freixenet headquarters

Freixenet is a Cava producer in Spain, located west of Barcelona in Catalonia. Cava is a sparkling

wine produced in Spain.

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 Penedès 

region since the 13th Century.

In 1941, Freixenet launched its leading product, the Carta Nevada. In 1974, the company

achieved international success with another cava, the Cordon Negro. Nowadays Freixenet

offers public tours of the winery in which both cavas are produced; visitors are shown the

underground cellars and the bottling plant before tasting the finished product. The winery

is situated opposite the main train station in the Catalonian village of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia.

Around 95% of Spain's total Cava production is from Catalonia and Sant Sadurní d'Anoia is

 home to many of Spain's largest production houses.^[1]

The brand is well known because of the Christmas spots. Every year, a celebrity is invited to

star in the 2-minutes spot and congratulate the Christmas of all the people.

Marketing

Each year, this Cava company taps into a world-famous celebrity to be the face of its much-

awaited Christmas TV commercial. Shakira became the face in 2010, other celebrities who

have appeared in Freixenet's Christmas sparkling wine include Antonio Banderas, 

Sharon Stone, Demi Moore, and Kim Basinger.^[2]

External links

• Freixenet official site