The elegant, courtly Miguel Torres has mild blue eyes and dresses in the tweedy style of the English country gentry, also favored by the chatelains of Bordeaux. At the age of sixty eight he seems to retain a youthful sense of curiosity; he has recently decided to take up Japanese and holds his own in a conversation with his Japanese importer, whose annual visit to the sprawling winery...
more »

The elegant, courtly Miguel Torres has mild blue eyes and dresses in the tweedy style of the English country gentry, also favored by the chatelains of Bordeaux. At the age of sixty eight he seems to retain a youthful sense of curiosity; he has recently decided to take up Japanese and holds his own in a conversation with his Japanese importer, whose annual visit to the sprawling winery complex in Penedes coincides with my own. He drives a Prius, which seems as much a testament to his modest demeanor as to his passion for environmental issues. He stopped using pesticides 20 years ago and he's committed to reducing CO2 emissions at the winery thirty percent by 2020. He's also bought land in the cooler highlands near the Pyrenees, in case global warming makes the lowland vineyards in Penedes too hot for viticulture in the future.

From the website: "The Torres family surname has been linked with wine for more than three centuries, during which time our ancestors have worked vineyards in Penedès, a land with a millenarian tradition of wine.

Our family has been dedicated to working the land, passing on their commitment from generation to generation.

Some years went by before we actually began trading with our wine. Our commercial activity began in 1800, with a horse-drawn carriage used to transport our wine in wooden barrels.

It was when Jaime Torres Vendrell returned from Cuba that the Torres family began its domestic and international expansion. Jaime Torres, after more than 10 years of hard work and saving, arrived at the idea of exporting his wines to countries such as Cuba, Argentina and Puerto Rico.

In 1870, Jaime and Miguel Torres Vendrell form the Torres & Company association, and work begins on building the first winery in Vilafranca del Penedès."
« less