Cava Freixenet

Dark, cold, elegant, exciting, and fruitfully fragrant is how I would describe the Cava Freixenet winery in Sant Sadurdi D’Anoia Spain just west of Barcelona. Not to mention, delicious, but I will get to that later.
We came to the winery with some friends that live in Sabadell. It was an excursion planned during our trip to Spain. We are very glad we were able to experience this place first hand. If you are ever on holiday in this region of Spain, give this place a try. I was worried that the tour would be given in Spanish, however the host began speaking English and my mind was set at ease.
You begin by watching a short video on how the cava came to be. A family run business that took great pride in producing a quality product. All in English language too. The tour then takes you through the entire facility. My favorite is the subterranean aging rooms for the wines. This is were the smells get into you nose (good fruity smell). An amazing site to see hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine waiting to reach perfect age.
You then get to ride a small train that takes you from the depths of the winery to the modern bottling and shipping sections of the winery. Again, tens of thousands of bottles waiting to be shipped to all parts of the world.
The tour ends with a visit to the bar were you get to have one free sample of the delicious cava and more for purchase if you choose. They are really some great tasting sparkling wines. Then make your way down to the gift shop to buy, what seems to be, relatively inexpensive wines, depending on the type you purchase.
A great facility, great product, and a great experience.

A cava tour is a must for any visitor to Spain, and this one was a great choice. It was done entirely in English by both the video and the presenter. I was told this was due to very little Spanish visitors and most being English speaking. Works for me!
This cavas has been family owned and operated since 1914, and this tour explained the history and showed it all to us. Plus for the 7 Euro entry fee, we also got to taste a delicious glass of sparkling white cava in their beautiful dining area that also sold yummy looking tapas.
A few facts that I thought were interesting:
–They are now in 3 continents, 17 countries, and 38 sites (not 100% sure I heard this correctly, but I do know there’s one in the US!)
–120 million bottles per year are made around the world.
–20,000 bottles are finished per hour in their factory today.
The only reason I didn’t give it the full 5 stars is the presenter was asked a couple questions to which he didn’t know the answer. He just told them that he wasn’t sure. Perhaps he gave the person the answer later, but if so, I would have liked to have heard it too!
Definitely recommend this cava for a visit!

I’ve been here several times over the years and really enjoyed their tour, the tasting and the venue but the quality of their tour is heavily decreasing.
While even two years ago they still had a tour guide that’s been fluent in the english language, this wasn’t the case this year. In addition to that the train ride got shortened a lot (no more outside riding). All of this is topped by the tasting where you get a smaller glass than the normal paid glass. Not even a Freixenet glass anymore, just an Ikea like champagne glass.
When I read other bad reviews I felt they must have gotten a single bad experience, but this seems to be consistent.
To the management, it’s a shame how the quality suffered over the years. Fix it asap

We visited at Freixenet wine yard on our holiday in Barcelona. It’s worth for a visit, easy to reach, nice tour in their cellars and a glass of Cava and of course possibility to buy their wines.

Nach eigenen Angaben ist die in Familienbesitz befindliche Freixenet S.A. mittlerweile die weltweit neuntgrösste Weinkellerei mit dem Schwerpunkt auf der Produktion von Cava, einem nach Champagnermethode produzierten Sekt. Nahe Barcelona, direkt an der E15 nach Tarragona liegt die Kernzelle der 1914 gegründeten Kellerei, die ihre Trauben aus der Umgebung bezieht und dabei nach wiederum eigenen Angaben höchste Qualitätsansprüche an Traube und Herstellungsprocedere stellt.
Eine Führung durch die mehrstöckigen Katakomben der Kellerei dokumentiert den Herstellungsprozess des Cava sehr schön und lässt erahnen, dass Weinherstellung so ganz industriell noch immer nicht funktioniert. Und das ist ja auch sehr gut so. Unter der Erde geht es von den noch sehr manuell geprägten tradierten Prozessen per pedes und auf einer kleinen Ausflugsbahn zu den doch eher auf mehr Masse getrimmten Produktionsmethoden, aber reifen muss der Cava eben doch mit der Zeit und da hilft kein industrieller Prozess um die Reife zu beschleunigen.
In der Gastronomie der Kellerei kann man danach nicht nur die mehreren Produkte verköstigen (von herbem Rosé bis zum lieblichen Malvasia), sondern wird auch original katalanisch bewirtet. Die Speisefolge führt dann über eine (lokale Spezialität) gegrillte Lauchzwiebel (Achtung: Wird selber vom Gast entkernt !), die angereichert mit einem Mojodip recht lecker und interessant zu essen ist, zu einem Hauptspeisenteller, der mit Lamm, katalanischen Würsten, weissen Bohnen und ein paar Gemüsen auskommt dieser Teil war eher deftig (im Brauhaus hiesse das Schlachtplatte). Das Dessert nun das ist nicht schwer zu erraten, was es geben musste: Crème Catalan so gut, wie man sie eben kennt.
Tolle Location mit viel aha und achso, netter Weinverköstigung und originalem Essen. Sehr gute Erfahrung.

Here you can visit Freixenet and see the storage part of the production.
They start with a movie explaining the company history and the different company values.
Afterwards there is a guided tour. First they start in the old part where sparkling wine is done the old way. The caves are too small to host the modern storage robots. Via a channel you enter the modern part. It is so big that you need to use a electric train that carries you around.
They have about 140 Mio bottles here and are getting daily 1 Mio rapes delivered. It is between 14 – 18 degrees. I have enjoyed it. If you are familiar with wine and sparkling wine production the details of the explanations are high level. And it is not so easy to ask questions. Therefore only 4 stars. The volume and the size is impressive.

The Freixnet Bodega is a gem situated in the middle of the Penedes country-​side, with a castle-​like entryway. It’s very vast and beautiful.
Our tour started off with some pictures and backgrounds of the wine making processes and machinery, then we ventured deeper in to the old cellars, where we saw the out-​dated tools of wine-​making, as well as 100+ year old bottles of cava (not drinkable).
Then we took a trolley to the new cellars, that have modern, higher capacity machinery. It was cool, because with the background information that we had, and having seen the antiquated riddling method, we were able to easily recognize the new machines that allow them to produce millions of bottles per year.
The tour ended with a taste of a single glass of one of their cavas (their choice, but other glasses are available for a charge).
For this, they lose one star, because my friend went to a different cava tour, and their tasting finale included a variety of the estate’s cavas. So they really got a chance to compare the minute nuances between different bottles.

Hop off the train and you’ll feel an inexplicable pull towards the gates of Cava Friexenet — a softly humming, finely-​tuned winery in the gentle Spanish countryside.
The tour started off with a short film covering the history of the winery… they are super proud of their advertising through the years. It ranged from hilarious to nostalgic.
Our guide was sweet and friendly. Her English was great and she was even able to yuck it up with our mix of professors and students.
We followed her further and further into their cellars and the smells were fantastic! Each level had it’s own unique aroma to complement the different stage of the wine’s life.
They are keenly aware of the tourists’ need to photography all that is in front of them and they provide plenty of chances.
A trolley ride through the larger, more industrial parts of the factory round off the tour and you’re dropped off at the gift shop where you can splurge to your hearts desire. Their signature stuff is super cheap.
All in all, a nicely padded and tourist-​friendly excursion! My only regret is that I didn’t stay to explore the little town…

Hier wird Freixenet hergestellt…
und man kann die Fertigung besuchen und das Produkt verkosten. Als ich den Keller besucht habe, geschah das noch kostenfrei. Heute wird eine Gebühr von ca. 5 Euro verlangt. Dafür kann man dann das Glas mitnehmen.
Als erstes sieht man einen kurzen Film über die Firmengeschichte. Der dauert ca 15 minuten und wurde im Wechsel in Englisch oder Spanisch gezeigt. Danach ging es über steile Treppen in den Untergrund. Dort wurde dann die Lagerung erklärt. Irgendwann (sehr tief unten) steigt man dann in einen Wagen und wird durch die Keller gefahren, man sieht Millionen von Flaschen. Danach geht es durch die Produktion und am Ende geht es in den Probierrraum. Zu guter letzt geht es durch den Shop nach drausen.
Beeindruckend. Und wer nicht genug hat: Es gibt noch 16 weitere Kellereien (u.a. Cordonui) im Ort. Fast jede bietet eine Besichtigung an.
Jacke oder Pullover mitnehmen, da es in den Kellern schön kühl ist. Besonders wenn man aus 30 Grad Sonnenschein kommt.