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 HISTORY
 

The wine-growing history of the Penedès goes back to the remote days of the first European cultures. It was Phoenician merchants who first acclimatised the vines of the Middle East to this balcony over the Mediterranean.

Greeks and Romans kept up and enriched this cultural tradition by spreading wine-growing along the imperial thoroughfare of the Via Augusta.

Dedicated to Bacchus - Taurus, the Bull, as he is called in Greek and Roman dionysian hymns - these vineyards produced, back in the early years of our era, the dark wine that was poured as an offering to the gods.

The Torres family has been cultivating its own vineyards in the Penedès ever since the 17th century.

By 1870 the products of our Bodegas had already reached markets in Europe and America, and those intrepid captains from Sitges and Vilanova, who transported our wines, were mooring their ships in Cartagena de Indias, Santiago de Cuba, Veracruz, Bremen, Hamburg and St. Petersburg.

The distillation of brandies, with origins that date back to the secret arts of the alchemist Arnau de Vilanova (13th century), was also an ancestral family activity. It took on increased importance in 1928 when Jaime Torres Vendrell started producing his vintage brandies, aged in Limousin oak.

It was in the first half of this century that Miguel Torres Carbó finally launched the wines and brandies of our firm on an international scale. Overcoming the crises of the Spanish Civil War and World War II, with intelligent and inspired perseverance he expanded his vineyards, excavated new underground ageing facilities, modernised the winery and production techniques, and - with the aid of his wife, Margarita - laid the foundations for a great exporting enterprise.

1979 saw the establishment of Torres Bodegas in the Central Valley of Chile (Curicó), where excellent wines from noble varieties are now produced in a naturally privileged climate.

In 1983 we acquired 25 ha. of vineyard in Northern California (Appellation Sonoma County - Green Valley), which now produces the elegant Marimar Torres Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Today, after so many centuries, TORRES wines continue to be exported to over 115 countries all around the world.

Since 1870 the house of TORRES has been passing down the secret of making great wines, from father to son, as a jealously guarded heritage and a family tradition.

History has left its indelible traces on the landscape of our vineyards. A visit to our best estates and properties also offers splendid opportunities to view mediaeval castles and monastery farms like Milmanda, ancient royal hunting fiefs like Mas La Plana, and mysterious retreats of Moorish alchemists like the old marabout of Mas Rabell, presided over by a magical age-old oak tree...

The "torres" or towers of history are the heraldic symbol of our family, and wines become history when they bear the TORRES signature.