Bodegas Torres

Founded in 1870 by Jaime Torres, Bodegas Torres is a historical wine growing company located in Pacs, some 4 km from Vilafranca del Penedès, where the company has its head office. At the present time Torres is the family winery with the most extensive vineyards in Denomination of Origin Penedès. They also run the Miguel Torres Chile winery in the Chilean Central Valley, and in the United States (California) where in 1986 Marimar Torres founded Marimar Estate. In Spain outside of the Torres family's native Penedès region, they own vineyards in DO Conca del Barberà, DO Toro, DO Jumilla, DO Ribera del Duero, DOQ Priorat and most recently in DOC Rioja - the last three areas with new wineries or wineries under construction. Likewise, Torres is also the winery that produces the most famous table wines in the whole of Spain, exporting them to one hundred forty different countries.

Under the Torres brand name they trade wine based on a range of different varieties, as well as brandies. Some of these are Viña Sol, Sangre de Toro, De Casta, Coronas, Atrium and Viña Esmeralda, with their best known brandies being Torres 5 and Torres 10.

This company is currently managed by the fifth generation of the Torres family. Miguel A. Torres Riera is the company’s current President and Managing Director.

History

Jaime Torres emigrated to Cuba in 1855. On the island he made his fortune through the flourishing oil industry and seaborne trade. In 1870 he returned home a rich man and went into business with his brother, a wine grower. Together they founded the family company, in Vilafranca del Penedès, in 1870. One of Jaime Torres’ ideas was to build a 600,000 litre wine vat, the largest in the world. During the Spanish Civil War the winery was bombarded, leaving everything in ruins, including the enormous vat. Miguel Torres Carbó, a member of the fourth generation of this family saga, rebuilt the winery in 1940 and started business up again. He brought an end to the sale of bulk wine and started to market it in labelled bottles. In the year of the reconstruction Miguel Torres, accompanied by his wife, crossed the Atlantic and set about trying to sell their wines personally, visiting the restaurants and insisting that their owners should taste the wines for themselves. It was in this period that the brands Sangre de Toro, Viña Sol and Coronas first came into being. In 1991, on the death of Miguel Torres, the winery passed into the hands of his son Miguel A. Torres Riera, the company’s current President and Managing Director. In 1966 work started on the planting of imported stock: at first chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon and later on merlot, pinot noir, Riesling and gewürztraminer. Since 1975 Bodegas Torres have been involved in ecological wine growing. On the other hand, in their history, Torres have made two significant contributions to the development of enology: firstly, the use of fermentation at controlled temperatures, and secondly, the maturing of the wine in small oak barrels during a scrupulously defined time, as has been a habitual practice in Bordeaux. In 1966 Miguel A. Torres Riera got married to Waltraud Maczassek, a German artist, who has also collaborated in the sale of Torres wines on the German market. When Torres produced their first Riesling they named it in honour of Waltraud.

At the present time this Spanish family company exports wines to over 140 countries.

Estates

The Mas La Plana vineyard, in Pacs del Penedès, within the borders of DO Penedès –which in the Middle Ages formed part of the fiefdom of the Count of Barcelona-, is planted with cabernet sauvignon stock, with an average age of about 30 years. It is one of the first vineyards cultivated in Spain based on this variety of grape. From this fruit the wine, which bears the name of the estate, is made. Today, La Plana is recognised as one of the most prestigious red wines in the world, as claimed –among others- by Julian Jeffs in his book, “The Wines of Spain”.

Located on the Cister Route, the mediaeval castle of Milmanda provides the name for another estate, from which a white wine of the same name comes. Milmanda is made using traditional methods, and fermented in barrels of new French oak. The Milmanda estate is located in the municipality of Vimbodí, in DO Conca de Barberà, and consists of 37 acres of vineyard.

At the Fransola estate the sauvignon blanc vines share the space with plots planted with parellada. The blend of these two varieties, although with a predominance of sauvignon, gives us Fransola, through an elaboration that requires considerable care, given that part of the must is fermented in wooden barrels and the other part in stainless steel, before they are finally brought together.

Located alongside the historical Cistercian monastery of Poblet, the wine Grans Muralles takes its name from the vineyard that used to surround the walls of the monastery. Historic varieties, now almost extinct, such as garró or samsó share the land with rows of garnacha tinta, monastrell and mazuelo.

Owned by the Torres family since 1983, Mas Borras includes a vineyard of pinot noir. This variety of grape demands tireless and meticulous care, while imposing an implacable and severe limitation of yield.

Very small, covering only ten acres, production of the estate where Torres Reserva Real has its origins is extremely limited, producing barely more than 6,000 bottles a year. Furthermore it is only made if the harvest has been particularly promising.

Acknowledgements

European Winery of the Year, by the American magazine Wine Enthusiast (2006)
Wine Personality of the Year for Innovation, by the English magazine Wine International (2005)
Principe Felipe Prize for Business Excellence (2004)
Miguel A. Torres named Man of the year, by the British magazine Decanter(2002).
Bodega Miguel Torres named Winery of the Year, in Guía de Vinos Gourmet (Gourmet Wines Guide) (2000).
Wine Spectator Prize for the Most Important Winery of the Year (2000).

Sources

The Wines of Spain (Vinos de España), Julian Jeffs, Spanish edition by Editorial Tusquets. ISBN 84-8310-695-1
Paisajes y Bodegas de España (Landscapes and Wineries of Spain) PI& ERRE ediciones. Madrid. 2004. ISBN 84-95203-20-0
Leading Brands of Spain. ISBN 84-607-7104-0
L' Esperit del vi. El gran llibre dels vins de Catalunya (The Spirit of Wine, the Big Book of Catalan Wines). Àngels Casas and Francesc Navarro. Grup editorial 62. ISBN 84-9787-063-8
Los Grandes Vinos y Bodegas (Great Wines and Wineries). Planeta Agostini, S.A. 2003. ISBN 84-674-0063-3
Larousse Encyclopaedia of Wines. Editorial Larousse, 20001. ISBN 84-8016-327-5
ABC. El gran libro de los vinos de España (Big Book of Spanish Wines). 2000.
Wine Atlas. Oz Clarke. Editorial Leopold Blume. 1996. ISBN 84-8076-22-7
Diccionario salvat del vino (Salvat Dictionary of Wine). Mauricio Wiesenthal.Salvat editores. 2001. ISBN 84-345-0932-6

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