Freixenet Group

Pedro Ferrer

Freixenet is a Spanish, family-owned company whose roots stretch back to 1861.

In 1889, Dolores Sala Vivé, heiress to the Sala wine emporium, married Pedro Ferrer Bosch, a boy from the neighbouring vineyard of La Freixeneda (meaning “ash-tree grove” in Catalan) in the wine region of Penedès. Dolores and Pedro went into business together, producing traditionally crafted, bottle-fermented sparkling wines and, in 1914, began selling their products with the Freixenet name as a nod to the nickname El Freixenet given to Pedro by the locals.

By the 1920s, the family's flagship sparkling wines were experiencing great success domestically and internationally. Business was booming until the start of Spain’s Civil War, during which time the family suffered the loss of both Pedro Ferrer and his oldest son. With great determination the widowed Dolores Sala Vivé took over Freixenet to provide for her four young children.

In the 1920’s, their son, José Ferrer took over the family business and by the 1980’s grew Freixenet into a world leading producer of sparkling wine. 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. 

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. In 2018, Freixenet joined forces with Henkell & Co to become one of the leading sparkling wine companies in the world.