The cava giant Freixenet has requested a temporary employment regulation file (ERTE) due to force majeure that would affect up to 615 people from Freixenet S.A. and Segura Viudas S.A.U due to the drought. The mechanism, which still must be authorized by the Department of Business and Labor of the Generalitat and negotiated with the unions, has been presented to address the drastic reduction in grape production due to the lack of water that especially affects the area. of the Penedès, according to what the company announced this Monday.
It is one of the first companies in Catalonia that requests to benefit from an ERTE due to the persistent drought, which has forced the Generalitat to activate the emergency phase in a large part of the provinces of Barcelona and Girona (239 municipalities and six million people in total). If approved, the file would be activated starting in May and would have an impact of between 20% and 50% depending on the area of activity. The 60 commercial area workers will not be included in this.
"The intensity will vary depending on the period of the year and the evolution of the causes that motivate it," Freixenet stressed. The objective, they insist, is to guarantee "the operation of the business and preserve employability to be able to face external causes and force majeure caused by the serious drought."
The grape harvest in the DO Cava for Freixenet has decreased by around 45%, which has already forced the group to look for alternative products to cava for some of its main markets, such as Germany. In March, the group announced the launch of a new sparkling wine in Germany, Austria and Switzerland - “Freixenet Premium Sparkling Wine – Cuvée from Spain” - given the impossibility of supplying all of its cava demand. This product will be made with Catalan and Spanish grapes (outside the Cava DO) mainly in its UCSA winery, a Freixenet Group company, located in Sant Sadurní. The group plans to start selling this sparkling wine in August and its production will depend on market acceptance.
The Cava sector in particular and agriculture in general is being especially affected by the drought. The DO has a deficit of 60 million bottles - the usual amount is about 250 million a year - which has led it to approve new regulations to try to weather the situation.
Henkell Freixenet, the sparkling wine company of the German Geschwister Oetker group that controls half of Freixenet, registered a turnover of 1,230 million euros in 2023, 4.1% more than in 2022. In the communication of results, the co-director general of Henkell Freixenet and vice-president of the Freixenet group, Pere Ferrer, has already warned of the "concern" with which they face this exercise due to the "lack of grapes resulting from the severe drought".
