History of Hard Work
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, in 1870, they founded the family company, in Vilafranca del Penedès, where the company still has its head office. One of Jaime Torres’ ideas was to build a 600,000-litre wine vat, the largest in the world.
1870: The company's foundation by Mr Jaime Torres Vendrell.
During the Spanish Civil War the winery was bombarded, leaving everything in ruins, including the enormous vat. Miguel Torres Carbó, a fourth generation member of the family, 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 reconstruction, when France was under German control and unable to provide wine, Miguel Torres travelled to the United States to promote his wines. It was in this period that the brands Sangre de Toro, Viña Sol and Coronas first came into being.
1966: The start of modern wine-making and oenology.
In 1966 work started on the planting of imported grape varieties: at first Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon and later on Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Gewürztraminer. That same year, Miguel A. Torres married 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.
In 1975, Bodegas Torres began growing organic grapes for wine.
In 1991, after the death of Miguel Torres, the winery passed into the hands of his son Miguel A. Torres, the company’s current President and Managing Director.
Legacy of a Dynasty
Torres is the family winery with the most extensive vineyards in the Denomination of Origin (DO) of Penedès and the largest winery in Spain. Outside of the Torres family's native Penedès region, they own vineyards in DO Conca de Barberà, DO Toro, DO Jumilla, DO Ribera del Duero, DOQ Priorat and most recently in DOC Rioja - in the last three areas with new wineries or wineries under construction. Likewise, Torres is also Spain's largest producer of DO wines under its own label, exporting to more than 140 countries.
Mas La Plana vineyard in Pacs del 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.
Torres signed up to the Barcelona Declaration at the WCP in 2011; pledging to reduce their carbon footprint per bottle by 20% by 2020, as well as to make all buildings sustainable, recycle and recover materials to reduce waste, reduce the ‘water footprint’, to use only renewable energy, to conserve biodiversity and to limit the use of chemicals. Miguel A Torres, one of the architects of the Declaration, and Torres as a principle sponsor, strongly believes that, ‘wineries should put self-interest aside for the good of the environment.’
Every week, the winemaking team and the Torres family taste the wines to ensure their optimal evolution and decide on the next steps.
Presenting Four Wine Icons
The only way to do credit to such a family business is to make available a top selection from them off the bat. No faffing – here are four icons from Torres that highlight the best of a company on the verge of celebrating 150 years of Spanish winemaking.
Torres Purgatori 2014
Grapes: Cariñena, Garnacha and Syrah.
Tasting Notes:
Dark cherry red with impressively intense fruit pigment. Torres Purgatori has a delicious ripe forest fruit aroma (blueberries) with fine smoky (roasted coffee) and dried fruit (dried plums) notes. Exquisitely elegant with very fine fragrant tannins. Persistent, intense and potent, yet subtle too.
Food: Torres Purgatori is great with a platter of flavoursome cheeses and cold cuts, especially Ibérico ham. More elaborate dishes could include: duck confit over small roasted potatoes and green onion, duck fricassee on egg noodles, grilled goose breast with cherry coulee.
Availability: 180 bottles
Torres Priorat Salmos 2014
Grapes: Cariñena, Garnacha and Syrah.
Tasting Notes:
Full, even, purple-hued, dark ruby-red colour. Torres Priorat Salmos' nose is softly full and voluminous with extraordinary fruit expression (cassis, wild blackberry jam) and exquisite dried fruit notes (figs), entwined with complexing nuances of earth and nutty oak. Medium-full bodied, the palate is broad, silky and mouth-filling with very fine ripe tannins that provide presence and fullness and soft acidity that contributes roundness and richness. Savoury berry, mulberry and plum fruit feature prominently with an underlying power which leads to a long, soft, nuanced finish.
Food: Torres Priorat Salmos pair well with slow-cooked game meats. Alternative dishes could include endive and ham in Mornay (white) sauce, chicken a la king, tagliatelle with ham.
Availability: 120 bottles
Torres Mas La Plana 2013
Grapes: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Tasting Notes:
It is now 40 years since this mysterious Spanish wine was first released. Torres Cabernet Sauvignon Mas La Plana is now sometimes known as “The Black Legend” with its black label and dark Burgundy style bottle. Few had much faith in this project. Certainly nobody, back in 1979, could have dreamed that it would triumph in a Parisian blind tasting against some of the world’s most famous wines. In 1979, at the Gault-Millau Wine Olympiad, the 1970 vintage triumphed over some of the most famous wines in the world, including Chateau Latour and Chateau Haut Brion. This success has been repeated on many other occasions.
Deep, dense cherry colour, with a touch of mahogany. Fragrant and enticing on the nose, with spices and blackcurrant as well as complex hints of cranberries, cherries and truffles and an incense-like quality developed during ageing in wood. On the palate it is svelte, polished, focused and harmonious, with plum, cassis, liquorice, tobacco and mineral notes that mingle gracefully over well-integrated tannins. Great texture and structural depth as well as refinement. This wine marries density and freshness, presenting a long, plush finish.
Food: Torres Cabernet Sauvignon Mas La Plana pairs well with grilled, stewed or roast meats and game dishes. More elaborate dishes could include: Boneless free-range rooster with cured ham and red wine sauce; Lamb shoulder with spiced red wine sauce.
Availability: 12 bottles (Limited; FCFS)
Torres Grans Muralles 2014
Grapes: 44% Cariñena, 31% Garnacha, 17% Querol, 5% Monastrel, 3% Garró.
Tasting Notes:
A beautifully deep brooding red with a wild and savoury, almost leathery nose, the fruits perfumed with juniper and cistus; its olfactory complexity broadens to encompass suggestions of coffee, liquorice, black cherry jam, mint and orange peel with flecks of red fruits and savoury spices. On the palate the wine is very rich, fat, dry but supple with excellent intensity. Full-flavoured with cassis, chocolate, peppery, black raspberry, minty, black cherry, meaty vanilla flavours with a dried fig and orange peel finish. But – despite such powerful attributes - the key to this wine is its mid-palate elegance and balance. Delicious and packed with style it has the grace and balance to age for a decade and beyond. In the words of renowned wine critic Andrew Jefford “An exciting success, and it will be fascinating to see how this Catalan thoroughbred evolves in the years to come”
Food: Torres Grans Muralles pair well with grilled, stewed or roast meats and game dishes. More elaborate dishes could include: Pork fillet with honey, rosemary vinaigrette and glazed spring onions; Lamb shoulder baked in its juices with potato and shallow-fried onion.
Availability: 12 bottles (Limited; FCFS)
|
