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By Alfredo Espinola
Enogastronomy – i.e., food expertly paired with wine – is a massive trend, and Freixenet Mexico has tapped that trend with the opening of the new Food Garden at Finca Sala Vivé, its winery in the Mexcan state of Querétaro.
The Mexican Wine Council (CMV) in coordination with the country’s restaurant association, CANIRAC, organized a press event for the inauguration of the food garden on June 13.
Finca Sala Vivé by Freixenet Mexico is considered one of the most visited wine cellars in the world, and Food Garden offers a diverse gastronomic offer for visitors. Guests can enjoy fine cusine along with wines from the Henkell Freixenet Group in its Wine Bar.
Food Garden, which was three years in development and is located in a comfortable outdoor area, is made up of four restaurants:
- Casa Topa, which offers traditional Spanish fare, such as paella and jámon serrano, paired with wines such as Sala Vivé Semi Seco and Doña Dolores Chardonnay.
- Pizzeria Mamut, featuring innovative Napolitan pizza – such as Pizza Freixenet, with goat cheese, orange honey, figs and prosciutto.
- De Costa a Costa, a seafood restaurant (consider the Taco Guero, containing a yellow pepper stuffed with smoked trout and wrapped in bacon).
- Pecaos, a casual Mexican restaruant with tacos, empanadas and other traditional fare.
“The Food Garden is not only a food area, it is a dream come true,” said the Garden’s coordinator, Sommelier Yesica Morales. “This project was born out of the love we have for good food and our thoughts for our visitors.”
As part of the event, we enjoyed a guided tour of the facilities, where we learned the following important facts about Freixenet Mexico:
- Freixenet was founded in Spain in 1914 by the married couple Doña Dolores Sala Vivé, from the former Casa Sala, and Pedro Ferrer Bosch, from the family estate La Freixeneda.
- In 1978, Don José Ferrer Sala, son of the Ferrer Sala couple, recognized the ideal conditions for growing grapes in the municipality of Ezequiel Montes, Querétaro, and a year later created what today is the Sala Vivé Estate by Freixenet Mexico.
- The Freixenet cellar consists of a Catalan-style vault with a depth of 25 meters, considered the deepest in Latin America. This provides an ideal environment in terms of humidity, temperature and lighting for the production of its wines.
- Its vineyard has 50 hectares where 12 types of grapes are grown. Per hectare, the production of red grapes reaches 6 to 8 tons, and white grapes from 8 to 12 tons.
- Freixenet Mexico produces 4 domestic wines:
- Sala Vivé, with 3 types of labels.
- Viña Doña Dolores, with 16 types of labels.
- Vivante, with 4 types of labels.
- Petillant, with 4 types of labels.
- In 2007, its wine Sala Vivé Brut obtained 87 Parker points, the first and only Mexican wine to do so.
- In 2016, the wine Viña Doña Dolores Brut won the Great Gold Medal for a sparkling wine at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.
- In 2018, Henkell and Freixenet join forces to become the world leader in sparkling wines.
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