MARIMAR ESTATE VINEYARDS AND WINERY: LA SUCESIÓN Born into one of Spain’s most important winemaking families,
Marimar Torres left her native Catalonia to pursue her dream of becoming a winemaker at her own estate in Sonoma County. As she passes the baton of running the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Albariño specialist to her daughter Cristina, Anthony Rose tells the stories of a dynamic duo
A
s I approach Marimar Estate through the pine woods of Sonoma County, the rhythmic thwac of a tennis ball grows louder. It’s Marimar Torres, practising her serve. “Don’t come too close, I’m very sweaty,” she grins. Her three-year-old
English Springer Spaniel, Chico, rushes over with no such social distancing inhibitions. Arranging an interview at her home overlooking the Don Miguel vineyard at first proves tricky. “I’ve got a tennis lesson in the morning and a German lesson in the afternoon. But I can move them,” she volunteers, effortlessly accommodating. At 79, Marimar is brimming with vitality, a girls-just-wanna-have-fun spirit lurking beneath the polished exterior.
Finding her own way and making her own luck The youngest of three children, Marimar grew up under strict parents. As a child, she wasn’t allowed in the vineyards, and there was no television at home. When her two brothers went skiing, she was left behind. One memorable night in her early teens, her older brother found her at a disco in Sitges. He promptly sent her home. Her mother, Doña Margarita, was a quiet advocate for women’s education. “She was too smart to let my father think so,” Marimar recalls with a smile. A firm believer in the value of languages, Doña Margarita sent Marimar to a German school when she was six. By 13, after failing an exam, Marimar was sent to boarding school as punishment. In hindsight, it served her well. Today, she speaks six languages—one more than her mother. In 1973, Marimar, then 28 years old, accompanied her
father, Don Miguel Sr., to San Francisco for a wine convention. The day before he left to return to Spain, they had dinner with their distributor. He arrived brandishing a newsletter from the wine critic, Robert Finigan. It claimed that the Torres 1955 Gran Coronas was the best wine in Spain. Flattered, Don Miguel told Marimar she had to meet him. Despite her moaning that it was her vacation, a lunch date was arranged. “I expected him to be fat and bald, but he was anything but,” Marimar laughs. Finigan called her after her return to Spain, inviting
Opposite (clockwise from top left): Marimar and Cristina Torres with Chico; the sign to the family home overlooking the Don Miguel vineyard in Sonoma; Doña Margarita, Marimar, and Cristina in Spain; Filiberto, vineyard foreman; Doña Margarita Vineyard; Florence Avenue neighborhood in Sebastopol.
her on a trip to Bordeaux. She agreed—on condition that he arrange separate bedrooms. Don Miguel Sr. could see the potential in the US market for
the Torres brand, so it was easy for Marimar to concoct a reason to stay in San Francisco for three months. The relationship broke up just as she was leaving for Spain. But, on arriving at her apartment from the airport with her mother, a telegram awaited her under the door. It was from the United States. “My mother knew at once but advised me not to shout from the rooftops that I was marrying Robert.” When Don Miguel Sr. found out, he was dismayed. “He expected me to marry someone very rich or very noble. Robert was neither.” Despite his doubts, the wedding went ahead. Marimar relished being thousands of miles from her parents. The marriage, however, had its ups and downs. ‘He was brilliant and charming, but very laid-back, while I was ambitious for him to succeed. The fact that he remained close to his first wife didn’t help matters. On one occasion, when I accidentally damaged his beloved Alfa Romeo, he went ballistic. On the plus side, although my father gave the marriage a year at most, it lasted four.”
About this time, Marimar’s older brother, Miguel Torres Jr., had scouted Chile. He returned convinced that it was a viticultural paradise. With memories of the Franco regime still fresh, Don Miguel Sr. was eager to invest in overseas projects. Miguel Jr. persuaded his domineering father to invest in Chile. Miguel Jr. then took over the business on condition that he was given a 51% stake in it. “I didn’t realize that 51% was so much more than 50%,” says Marimar. She and her brother Juan Torres received equal shares of the remaining 49%, although Juan had never worked in the business. After the Torres investment in Chile, Marimar convinced her father to invest in California. “I had disobeyed him, but he got over it.” By this stage, it mattered to Don Miguel Sr. that Marimar was no longer married. He gave Marimar the money to acquire a 56-acre (22.7ha) piece of real estate in Green Valley, in the cool southwest corner of Sonoma’s Russian River Valley. The area was renowned for its Gravenstein apples and plums. After consulting a viticulturist, Marimar called her brother—she had found a property suitable for growing wine grapes. The apple orchard that once stood on the property had been cleared for planting. With only one vineyard nearby and not a Pinot Noir vine in sight, he deemed it a risky venture. Soil samples,
THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025 | 149
All photography by Anthony Rose
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