Freixenet

The roots of Freixenet run deep, entwined in the Penedès region of northeast Spain and in the history of two of its most prominent wine families. 16th Century – The Ferrer family establishes La Freixeneda, a winegrowing estate in the Penedès. Mid 19th Century – Francesc Sala marries Josepa Tubella and they settle in her hometown of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, also in the Penedès. He converts his father in law's barrel-making business into a wine distributor, eventually exporting wines all over the world under the name Casa Sala. Early 20th Century – The youngest son of the Ferrer family, Pedro, marries the only daughter of the Sala family, Dolores, forever uniting two respected wine lineages. Seeing a unique opportunity in sparkling wines, which were not common in Spain at that time, Pedro and Dolores release their first cava in 1914 under the Freixenet label. Early 1930s – Pedro travels to the United States in search of land to build a winery. He establishes an office in New Jersey but, on returning to Spain, he loses his life in the Spanish Civil War, leaving his wife and children to run the winery. 1940s – Dolores continues to build the business in the tough post-war era, launching Carta Nevada in 1941. The unique frosted golden bottle goes on to become one of Freixenet's most popular cavas. 1950s – Dolores' youngest son, José Ferrer, takes the reins of the family business with the goal of realizing his parents' dreams of introducing Freixenet to the world. 1970s – Following the Casa Sala tradition, the family ships the first bottles of Freixenet to the United States. José Ferrer, with a keen intuition, introduces Freixenet Cordon Negro in 1974, a new cava bottled in a radically distinctive dark frosted bottle, which would become known as the "Black Bottle Bubbly". 1980s – Through the constant efforts of José Ferrer and his sons and nephews, Freixenet becomes the world leader in sparkling wine produced in the traditional method. Today – A century since Freixenet released its first cava in 1914 the company remains 100% family owned, with the fourth generation now entering the business, ready to celebrate 100 years and many more to come.

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