Freixenet

   Freixenet is an internationally known label for a light sparkling cava wine. The Freixenet company was founded at the beginning of the twentieth century producing cava using the Méthode Champenoise and marketing its products under a variety of labels until it adopted the Freixenet label exclusively from 1915. The company produces 70 percent of the cava sold outside Spain in some 120 countries. It has subsidiaries in the UK, Germany, the USA (producing one million bottles from its own vineyards annually) and Mexico (producing 400,000 bottles annually from its own vineyards). In 1985 the company acquired the French champagne producer, Henri Abelé, and in Spain it owns three cava producing and two winemaking companies. Its turnover in 1994 was 35,000m pesetas, of which 12,500m came from exports.

   EAMONN RODGERS