Freixenet

The history of Freixenet dates back to 1861, the year in which the family business Casa Sala, the predecessor of Freixenet, was founded by Francesc Sala Farrés, who was succeeded by his son Joan.

In 1911, the heiress of Casa Sala, Dolores Sala Vivé, married the youngest member of the Ferrer de la Freixeneda family, Pedro Ferrer Bosch, nicknamed Freixenet; the couple, together with Joan Sala, began to produce sparkling wine using the traditional method.

In 1914 the first bottle of Freixenet sparkling wine was launched on the market. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Freixenet was already the second-largest producer of "champagne" and had built a modern cellar in the station quarter of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia.

However, the war brought with it the collectivisation of Freixenet and the disappearance of Pedro Ferrer and his eldest son Joan Ferrer Sala, leaving the family without a company, without a visible head and without a natural heir.

In 1939, after the Civil War, the company was returned to the family and it was Pilar Ferrer, who at the age of 20, took charge of restoring the business. When Pilar Ferrer married, the company was left in the hands of a proxy and Dolores Sala.

In 1959 José Ferrer Sala joined the management of Freixenet to begin modernising the company, with an expansion of the winery, the implementation of greater mechanisation and the first attempts to internationalise the brand.

In 1965 José Luís Bonet Ferrer joined the company as Commercial Director; uncle and nephew formed an unbeatable tandem. In the years to come, they would launch such popular products as the Carta Nevada and the Cordón Negro, the brand's most universal bottle, currently distributed in more than 140 countries.

In 1981 the Freixenet Group was created and gradually incorporated different international wineries, from Champagne to Mexico, Argentina, Australia and Bordeaux. The Freixenet Group currently has 18 wineries in 7 countries on 3 continents.

In 2017, Can Sala was recognised as one of the first twelve Cavas de Paraje Calificado, the highest possible qualification for Spanish sparkling wine. At the same time, Freixenet consolidated its position as the world's leading company in terms of production volume of quality cava made using the traditional method.