Marimar Torres of Marimar Estate Vineyards & Winery
Our speaker for January 26, 2023, was Marimar Torres, the founder and proprietor of Marimar Estate Vineyards & Winery on Graton Road in Sebastopol. Marimar is a member of a Spanish family with at least 5 generations of winemakers. She is a native of Barcelona, Spain, speaks 6 languages, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business from Barcelona University. She has worked in the family wine business, Familia Torres, since graduating, and became the Export Manager in 1973. She is also the author of 2 cookbooks, The Spanish Table and The Catalan Country Kitchen. In 1974, she married a California wine critic and moved to California. Familia Torres is an international wine company that got its official start in 1870, and Marimar is a proud descendant of the founders of the Familia Torres group.
In 1981 Marimar’s father purchased property in Sonoma County and started growing wine grapes. By 1984, the Torres Family was producing 150,00 cases of wine in the United States. Marimar began planting her Don Miguel Vineyard in 1986 in the Russian River Valley. She started building the winery on Graton Road in 1991 and opened it in 1993. She then began planting the Dona Margarita Vineyard in the Sonoma Coast appellation between Freestone and Occidental in 2001. The business typically makes between 5 and 16 thousand cases of wine per year. They also sell grapes for approximately 8-10 thousand cases of wine per year to other winemakers.
Marimar’s wines include several varieties of pinot noir and chardonnay. Marimar is also very excited about three new ancestral wine varieties she’s brought from Spain. She expects to make their first wines from these varieties this year. She invited us all to come and visit the winery and taste the wines. Tasting is by appointment only. And, she told us that she hosts a tour of Catalonia every year, with trips to the Torres Estate and Barcelona.
Many thanks to Marimar for her presentation of your Catalan-style vineyards and winery. We wish you great success in your vibrant and interesting business.
Click HERE to watch the recording of Marimar's presentation for a limited time.
