Virtual Wine Tasting featuring Marimar Torres with Special Guest Marimar and Cristina Torres

“Just like becoming an expert in wine, you learn by drinking it, the best you can afford.”

―Julia Child

We drink only the best and money is not an option when it comes to “Drinking the Good Stuff First”.  We just added an event to the calendar featuring Chateau Petrus on Friday, August 21st with our good friend and Covid 19 survivor Dr. Robert Maliner. 

Friday, August 21, 2020 - 7:30 PM
Super Merlot Tasting featuring Chateau Petrus, Ornellaia Masseto and more with Special Guest Dr. Robert Maliner – check out www.winewatch.com for more details on this and all the other great wine drinking events we have coming up.

It’s Wednesday and that means Virtual Tasting Time!

We are hosting virtual tastings every Wednesday on Zoom and Instagram live which will be posted to Instagram TV.  So, if you can’t make it at 6pm to chat with Trevor Durling, the winemaker for Beaulieu Vineyards on Wednesday, July 29th you can tune in any time after that by checking out the video posted to Wine Watch’s Instagram page.  The virtual tasting packs are up on our web page under the gift box selections and you can purchase them before the event and taste along with us or purchase them any time after the event until the wines are no longer available and taste the wines and watch the interview at your leisure.

In two weeks, we have both Marimar and Christina Torres here from the Marimar Estate in Sonoma California.  Join us as we welcome this mother and daughter team on Wednesday, August 12th at 6pm EST.  We will be showing five wines from the Marimar Estate and we have a five pack listed on this e-mail and in the Wine Watch gift Box section of the Web page if you want to follow along you can purchase all five wines in one pack or any of the wines individually on our web page just type in Marimar and you will find the selections we are showcasing for the event.

Virtual Wine Tasting featuring the wines of Marimar Estate
with Special Guest Marimar and Cristina Torres
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
6:00 PM

https://www.winewatch.com/wine-gift-boxes-d1/virtual-wine-tasting-kits-c128/virtual-tasting-5-pack-kit-for-marimar-estate-p29317/
Price: $195.00
2017 Marimar Estate Albarino Russian River Valley
2018 Marimar Estate Chardonnay Marimar Acero Russian River Valley
2017 Marimar Estate Chardonnay La Masia Russian River Valley
2015 Marimar Cristina Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
2016 Marimar Estate Pinot Noir Mas Cavalls Sonoma Coast

Topic: Virtual Tasting Featuring Marimar Torres Winery
Time: Aug 12, 2020 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/95514187272?pwd=UW1tQ1FvYWNzTUQxKzhUcVpBZGt0QT09
Meeting ID: 955 1418 7272
Passcode: 8euKmf

A bit about Marimar Estate:
Marimar Torres is the driving force behind her California winery, named after herself. Born in Barcelona, Spain, she is fluent in six languages and holds a degree in Business and Economics from the University of Barcelona.  She is also a graduate of the Stanford Executive Program, and studied Enology and Viticulture for a year at the University in Davis.  At Marimar Torres Estate, she directs the activities at the winery and its Don Miguel Vineyard (named after her late father) in Sonoma County's Green Valley.   As a young woman, Marimar was of strong will and iron determination to make her way into the family business.  That being the multi-million dollar Spanish wine empire built up by her father, Don Miguel Torres, from the ruins of the Spanish civil war into one of Spain's finest.  As she was the youngest of three children and the only daughter, her intrusion into the traditionally male Spanish wine business was not welcomed by her family.  She was raised to play tennis and marry a rich lawyer. Marimar, however, had other plans.  After threatening to leave home, she started out traveling with her father, representing the family's wines overseas.

It was at a dinner in San Francisco that Marimar's life took a major turn.  She was told by one of her distributors that an American wine and food writer, Bob Finigan, had rated a particular vintage of Torres Gran Coronas among Spain's finest wines.  Marimar was encouraged to meet the man in person.  She married him.  She and her husband settled in the San Francisco bay area in 1975.  In California it is difficult not to become interested in food; and, through Finigan, Marimar met chefs and restaurateurs who were sweeping away decades of tradition and establishing new ways to grow, buy, cook and eat food.   She began to study cooking and became known for her paella, a Spanish dish in which poultry, seafood and sausage are combined with rice and flavored with saffron and other spices.  She is currently the author of two books.  Her first, The Spanish Table: The Cuisines and Wines of Spain was published in 1986.  She followed it in 1992 with The Catalan Country Kitchen.  It dealt with food and wine from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean seacoast of Barcelona.   Although Marimar's marriage to Finigan didn't last, they are still friendly and have a daughter together.

Marimar Torres, far from resting on her family's laurels, made her own dynamic contribution to the family business.  In 1975 shipments of Torres wines to the U.S. totaled 15,000 cases; ten years later they reached 150,000.  But she had her sights set a little higher.  Her vision, not surprisingly, was to have a vineyard of her own.  On the advice of her brother, renowned winemaker Miguel Torres, she enrolled at the University of California at Davis to study enology and viticulture.  During this time she spent two years looking for the perfect site to grow grapes.  In 1986, with the help and financial backing of her family, she purchased land in the Green Valley in Sonoma County.  Ten miles from the Pacific Ocean, with a climate comparable to that of Carneros, the Green Valley afforded Marimar with a long, cool growing season that would produce elegant wines of intense flavor and finesse.  Committed to making her vineyard unique and totally European, she embraced farming practices that encouraged low yields and full flavors. (These same practices yielded her a zero on a few quizzes at Davis.)  Long years of research in Spain had shown that if yields are kept low, wine quality is improved through high-density planting.  The Marimar Torres estate is planted with 2000 vines per acre, more than four times the average California density.  It requires highly skilled vineyard management and is very labor intensive.

The first release, a 1989 barrel-fermented Chardonnay debuted in April 1991 to great acclaim.  In the 1992 vintage a new component was added, a native Spanish varietal named Parellada, used mainly in the production of Spanish sparkling wines, to give the wines a bit of Catalan personality.  In 1992, a 15,000 case winery was built, and the Estate's first Pinot Noir was produced, which was released in September 1994.  Today, the dream Marimar envisioned more than a decade ago, when her father was still alive, to dedicate the estate to producing only top-quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from a vineyard unique in California, has taken another step forward.  Bill Dyer, formerly of Sterling Vineyards, has come on board as a consultant responsible for the wine production. Dyer's reputation was established with a series of vineyard-designated wines from Sterling's holdings within what was at the time an Estate winery.

The Marimar Torres Estate has acquired additional and adjoining property that will be planted with more Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  This has solidified Marimar's commitment to a single-vineyard, top-of-the-line bottling of only Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Having only two labels may not be ideal to get lots of attention from the wine market, but it reflects her serious commitment to this long-term, focused project. 

It is good to see the next generation of the Torres family getting involved in the family business.  Born in 1988, Cristina is the daughter and only child of Marimar Torres and a member of the fifth generation of the Torres family, whose winegrowing roots trace back to the 17th century. Cristina has inherited her love of the vineyard from her family and has grown up working alongside her mother her whole life. In early 2020, after gaining several years of experience outside the family business, she joined the company as Director of Sales & Marketing. The Torres family business has been handed down from father to son for five generations, but this is the first time that the baton will be passed from mother to daughter.

From a young age, Cristina learned about the wine business from her mother: working alongside her and receiving clients and visitors at the winery, coordinating events for the wine club, planning distribution strategies in collaboration with the sales teams and promoting the Marimar Estate wines both in the United States and abroad.

Cristina graduated from Princeton University in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics. She spent the first two years after finishing her undergraduate studies in the world of fashion and worked in marketing and sales for ShopStyle (San Francisco), Georges Rech and Mango (Paris).

In early 2013 Cristina moved to London, where she joined John E. Fells, the U.K. wine importer and distributor. She spent two years there, first working as a member of the London Sales Team and then as Brand Manager for the French brands imported by Fells, which included the likes of Hugel, Guigal, Champagne Henriot and Bouchard Père et Fils.

In 2015 she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to pursue an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated with a degree in Management in May 2017 and did a summer exchange program that same year at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Upon her return to Sonoma County and, after working the 2017 harvest in the cellar at DeLoach, Cristina joined the Brand Marketing team at Jackson Family Wines in November 2017. In January 2020, she joined her mother at Marimar Estate as Director of Sales & Marketing, with a focus on the US market and Direct to Consumer sales, especially through Club Marimar and the tasting room at the estate.

Cristina achieved the WSET Level 3 certification from the renowned Wine & Spirit Education Trust and is in the process of obtaining the WSET Level 4 Diploma. Her other interests include yoga, skiing, travel and of course Bonita and Chico – the two English Springer Spaniels at home. She is fluent in Catalan, Spanish, English and French.

A bit about the wines we will be tasting:

2017 Marimar Estate Albarino Russian River Valley
Price: $33.75   Your Price: $29.70      Quantity in Stock: 12

Albariño has been known to produce outstanding wines in the cool, rainy climate of Galicia, in North West Spain. We first planted it in our Sonoma Coast vineyard, but that proved too cold for ripening even a cool-climate variety like this. After four years, we gave up and grafted the budwood from those vines onto our slightly warmer Russian River Valley estate. We are very excited that it is now thriving in the Don Miguel Vineyard!

The Don Miguel Vineyard Named after the late patriarch of the Torres family, this vineyard is located in the Green Valley — the coolest, foggiest region of the Russian River Valley, only ten miles from the Pacific. The Albariño is trained in a cordon style with alternating spurs (we call them alligator teeth), which adds width to the fruit zone and provides optimum air flow and light quality.

The Vinification The grapes were harvested September 1-5, then gently whole-cluster pressed and fermented in stainless steel. After the primary fermentation, the wine went 100% through malolactic fermentation and was bottled in April 2018.

Tasting Notes Classic intense aromas of lime, apricot and stone fruit, with floral notes of star jasmine and a minerality reminiscent of wet stones, or crushed gravel. Fresh, lively and mouthfilling, with bright acidity that follows through with an elegant, crip finish. I would recommend serving it at 45°- 48° F with raw or grilled seafood (it's a classic with oysters and clams), smoked salmon, sushi and Asian cuisine — and for sure, with tapas!   

2018 Marimar Estate Chardonnay Marimar Acero Russian River Valley
Price: $33.75   Your Price: $29.70      Quantity in Stock: 12

Why "Acero"? Acero is the Spanish word for steel and it refers to the fact that this wine has never seen any oak. Especially selected for fruit intensity and aromatics, the grapes are fermented in stainless steel to capture the purity of the flavors. After completing malolactic fermentation, the wine is kept in the tank until bottling in early spring.

The Don Miguel Vineyard: Named after the late patriarch of the Torres family, this vineyard is located in the Green Valley — the coolest, foggiest region of the Russian River, only ten miles from the Pacific. The European-style high density of over 2,000 vines per acre provides low yields and requires intensive labor; but the vines live longer and the grapes acquire better balance and greater concentration, as well as more elegance and finesse than with the traditional low density.

The Clones: The clones we used for this vintage of Acero are 87% See, 8% Rued and 5% Spring Mountain.

The Vinification: The grapes were harvested September 14 - October 4, gently whole-cluster pressed and cold fermented, using our own indigenous yeast, in stainless steel tanks at 55 degrees F. After completing the primary fermentation, the wine went through 100% malolactic fermentation in the same tank. It was bottled in March 2019.

Tasting Notes: Engaging, intense aromas of honeysuckle, gardenia and Meyer Lemon, white peach and pie crust; perfect acid balance and refreshing minerality reminiscent of wet stones. On the palate it is seamless and silky, long and round. Easy to drink and perfect with foods like tapas, seafood and light dishes. I would recommend serving it at 46-48 F.

2017 Marimar Estate Chardonnay La Masia Russian River Valley
Price: $40.50   Your Price: $35.64      Quantity in Stock: 12

La Masía means The Farmhouse in Catalonia, my home region, as our winery is designed to resemble a classic Catalan farmhouse. The intense nose is delicate and very focused, with aromas of star jasmine and white peach, nicely framed with the elegant oak that contributes notes of hazelnut. The palate is rich and savory yet crisp and mouth filling, reminiscent of baked apple and lemon custard. The finish is long and perfectly balanced. The vineyard’s 30 acres of Chardonnay are planted with three different clones. The blend of clones in the 2017 vintage is 39% See, 38% Rued, and 23% Spring Mountain.

2015 Marimar Cristina Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
 List Price: $65.25       Your Price: $57.42      Quantity in Stock: 12
Why "Cristina“?
Named after my daughter, Cristina, this wine is a barrel selection from a unique blend of our Pinot Noir clones that we feel best represent the terroir, or personality, of the Don Miguel Vineyard and show the most potential for aging.

The Don Miguel Vineyard: Named after the late patriarch of the Torres family, this sustainable vineyard is located in the Green Valley — the coolest, foggiest region of the Russian River Valley, only ten miles from the Pacific. The European-style high density of over 2,000 vines per acre provides low yields and requires intensive labor; but the vines live longer and the grapes acquire better balance and greater concentration, as well as more elegance and finesse than with the traditional low density.

The Vinification: The grapes were harvested August 31 - September 3. After fermentation, using our own indigenous yeast, the wine was aged for four months in new French barrels, coopered by Remond and Rousseau from the forest of Bertranges. In January the blend was assembled and the wine went to 12 month old barrels, where it aged until bottled, unfined and unfiltered, in April 2018.

The Clones: The vineyard’s 30 acres of Pinot Noir are planted with several clones, which yield wines with complex layers of flavors. The blend of clones in this vintage is 70% Swan and 30% Pommard.
(91 Points) The 2015 Pinot Noir Cristina Don Miguel Vineyard is pale to medium ruby-purple colored and offers up baked cherries, warm mulberries and raspberry pie scents with nuances of tobacco, wild thyme and tilled soil. Medium-bodied with bags of elegance and freshness, it has a chewy frame supporting the earthy fruit and finishes on a mineral note. 255 cases produced.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2016 Marimar Estate Pinot Noir Mas Cavalls Sonoma Coast
Price: $48.00   Your Price: $42.24      Quantity in Stock: 12

Why "Mas Cavalls"?  We have named this bottling Mas Cavalls after the Catalan name for Horse Farm, since our equestrian center lies right below the vineyard.

The Doña Margarita Vineyard: Named after the late matriarch of the Torres family, this 20-acre vineyard is located on the Bohemian Highway, between Freestone and Occidental, in the Sonoma Coast appellation of origin. The cool breezes and drifting fog from the Pacific Ocean, six miles away, make it an ideal site for Pinot Noir. Planted in the European style of super-high density, with 2,340 vines per acre, the yields are low and labor is intensive; but the vines live longer and the grapes acquire better balance and greater concentration, as well as more elegance and finesse.

The Vinification: The grapes were harvested September 6-30. After minimal crushing, they fermented in small stainless steel tanks, with no whole clusters. The wine was aged in premium French oak barrels, 49% new, coopered by Remond from the forest of Bertranges, Marchive and Rousseau from the Center of France. It was bottled, unfined and unfiltered, in August 2017.

The Clones: The vineyard’s 20 acres of Pinot Noir are planted with three different clones. The blend of clones in this vintage is 48% Dijon 115, 45% Pommard, and 7% Dijon 667.