DFNI was recently on location with global market leader for sparkling wine Henkell Freixenet to visit its wineries Segura Viudas and Cavas Freixenet in the Penedès region of Spain.

The wineries are located around an hour’s drive from Barcelona, the company’s “door to the world” and the familiarisation visit took place following the DFNI Cruise Conference in the city last month, which the company supported as Drinks Partner.

Pictured left to right: Jep Bargalló i Torres, Ramon Olive and Núria Robles

The company’s Head of Global Travel Retail Sales, Ramon Olive and Marketing Manager GTR & Africa, Núria Robles attended the conference and hosted the tours at the wineries, that were led by Freixenet Wine Educator & Brand Ambassador, Jep Bargalló i Torres.

DFNI Digital Editor, Jill Sayles; Essence Communications Executive Assistant, Ben Holland and Kounter Retail Project Manager, Callum Todd were in attendance.

Segura Viudas

The tour began at the Segura Viudas 11th- century winery manor house and vineyards. The Segura brothers began marketing their own cava in 1969 and today, following its acquisition by Freixenet in 1984, the winery produces five million bottles per year.

The Penedès region in Catalonia, Spain is where the world’s largest cava production takes place. There are nine grape varieties that are allowed to be used to make cava and it must be aged for at least nine months.

Left to right: Ramon Olive, Callum Todd, Ben Holland, Jep Bargalló

The Segura Viudas cava portfolio includes Brut Reserva Heredad, Brut Reserva, Brut Rose and Organic Brut, as well as three wines Homenaje Blanco, Hemonaje Rosado and Homenaje Tinto.

Tastings of the Segura Viudas cavas included the Brut Reserva 2021 that was given away as prizes at the cruise conference. Ramon Olive noted that this wine is one of the bestsellers at Dubai Duty Free.

At the Segura Viudas cava tasting, from left to right: Ben Holland, Callum Todd, Jep Bargalló and Ramon Olive.

Elsewhere in travel retail, Segura Viudas wines are available with Avolta and Lagardère, with prominence in main airports in Spain and Brazil and also onboard airlines Lufthansa and Condor.

Cavas Freixenet

The next stop was the nearby Cavas Freixenet winery that was developed in 1861 and has been producing sparkling wines since 1914.

It offers a wide range of both sparkling wines and still wines, speciality cuvées and more, from Spain and Italy.

Freixenet has historically been the world’s biggest exporter of cava and 60 million bottles of it are produced there per year, of which around 25 million bottles is the Cordon Negro. This is the biggest selling cava worldwide and the top cava brand in the UK. It marked its 50th birthday last year and the celebrations included activations in airports worldwide.

Freixenet wines are currently available with Heinemann, Dubai Duty Free, Avolta, Lagardère, Ospree Duty Free and some airlines.

The group enjoyed a presentation and tastings of some of the Freixenet portfolio

A selection of Freixenet wines were enjoyed by delegates during networking events at the DFNI Cruise Conference

Ramon said: “With these wines you are making a memories, we are tasting products, but also sharing moments…; we want to connect the wineries with travel retail.”