Miguel A. Torres: "I don't think in Penedès vines will be uprooted like in Rioja or Bordeaux"

The president of the Família Torres winery, Miguel A. Torres, has just published his memoirs, A Life Among Vineyards (Planeta Gastro, 2026). Torres, who has been key in the transformation of Spanish wine in recent decades, recounts the milestones of his professional career and reveals intimacies of his family life. Although the winery's history dates back to 1870, the book mainly covers the period between the Civil War, when the winery was devastated, and the present, with Torres, 84 years old and the fourth generation of the family that has managed the winery, becoming one of the world's most involved winemakers in the fight against climate change.

Torres dedicates his memoirs to his wife, Waltraud Maczassek, to thank her for allowing him to dedicate himself almost exclusively to the winery. With an engaging style and a rich selection of photos, he has completed them now that, for the first time, the winery is under the direction of an external general manager, Fabrice Ducceschi, who works with the fifth generation of the family, with Miquel Torres Maczassek as corporate director and his sister Mireia as director of innovation and sustainability. We speak with Miguel A. Torres about his memoirs while he proudly displays on his jacket the insignia of the Creu de Sant Jordi awarded to him by the Generalitat.

Master of Wine Pedro Ballesteros highlights in the prologue that you were "a vector and inspiration" for many of the changes that transformed Spanish wine from the seventies onwards. For example, producing and bottling our own wines, purchasing unique estates in various DOs in Catalonia, or introducing cold fermentation in stainless steel tanks.

— I also think it was interesting to go to other Spanish regions. I didn't want to, I wanted to stay in Catalonia, but my family convinced me. We went first to Ribera del Duero and then to Rueda, Rioja and Rías Baixas. Luckily, because it has allowed us to ask for exclusivity from the importers of the 100 countries we work with. Listen to me, from Spain, we are us.

America has also been essential for Família Torres. After the Civil War, and with the winery devastated by a German bombing, the first thing his parents, Miguel Torres Carbó and Margarita Riera, did was go to Cuba, Mexico, the USA, and Canada to sell wine there. Subsequently, you created a winery in Chile and your sister, Marimar, in California.

— After the war, it was the market that made it possible for us to bottle. Our company dates back to 1870 and used to sell in bulk. My father, when he arrived in the United States in the early forties, wanted to sell wine in barrels there, and in New York they told him they wanted it bottled. France was occupied by the Germans – during World War II – it wasn't sending any, and they wanted Chablis, Sauternes, Burgundy... When I joined the company in 1962, Spanish Chablis was still being made.

In the memories, he reviews the iconic wines they have produced since then. Which one is he most proud of?

— From Mas La Plana (cabernet sauvignon). It placed us before the possibility of making great wines comparable to the best in Europe.

Is there any wine that hasn't gone so well?

— The first bottling I did of Viña Sol (white blend), which was a disaster.

When he started as the winery's oenologist, after studying in Dijon, he planted international varieties and in his memoirs he assures that "cabernet sauvignon yielded a much better wine than that from the traditional black grapevines of the time". Was it a successful bet?

— Yes. A cabernet sauvignon, compared to the traditional varieties we had in Penedès then... In the 60s, Penedès was a land of champagne, of white wine, and each vine produced many kilos per hectare. This was very complicated with red wine. There was no quality.

Why is Penedès such a dynamic region for wine and bubbles?

— Many things have happened. In the 60s, when I started working, every year the grape buyers went to Can Codorníu to hear Mr. Raventós tell us that this year the grapes would be paid at this price. They were the ones, the big buyers and the ones who set the price. Then Freixenet came. Now, there are bubbles that make cava, Corpinnat, Clàssic Penedès... I think there should be a consensus to create a DO and go out into the world with one.

What assessment is made of DO Catalunya?

— Very positive. Previously, the DO Penedès required that white wine be Penedès, but with red wine there was tolerance and we brought red wines from other Spanish regions. This ended, and the DO Catalunya allowed us to solve the problem, because we had the possibility of having quality grapes close to home and with a DO.

Ballesteros also emphasizes that you have always understood wine as "a business" and that you have been and are "a visionary of trends, both present and future". Where is wine heading?

— It will have to adapt to market trends. My children are already working on it. We cannot continue making the exact same wines we made 20 or 30 years ago.

What is he thinking about?

— Personally, I wouldn't rule out making a sparkling wine. I don't know if it should be cava or just a wine with a few bubbles, but it's up to them – the children – to decide.

You already have the Vardon Kennett sparkling wines, which your sons promoted, and your daughter Mireia has also produced within Jean Leon a first sparkling wine with the recovered forcada variety, which they plan to bring to market before the end of the year under the umbrella of Clàssic Penedès.

— Vardon Kennett is done, we have sold the property and for now we will not do more. Sparkling wines are not the main focus of our business and these could have had better positioning.

Therefore, plan a new project from scratch.

— Let's see how Mireia is doing with the foamy forcada.

White wine is booming, to the detriment of red. Does it represent a headache for them?

— It has been many years that we do a little more white than black, but black also works.

In general, wine consumption is declining. The solution is to uproot vineyards or make more 0.0 wine?

— The 0.0, our Natureo, was Mireia's idea. I told her it was a mess, but in the end we did it and it's going very well. Nowadays it's still below 10% of wine sales, but it continues to grow and works very well. There's also brandy, which continues to work very well.

Will it be necessary to resort to uprooting vines?

— I don't think that in Penedès vines are being uprooted because we have this and cava, other sparkling wines, and wine. But it's true that vines have been uprooted in other Spanish regions, like in Rioja, or in Bordeaux. Wine has also been distilled in other regions. That is not the case here.

You have always understood wine as a business, but is it profitable to produce it today?

— Perhaps it was more years ago, but I would say that we can still hold our own; however, we need young people not to lose interest in wine. Wine drunk in moderation is good.

What image does Família Torres project?

— Could they have made wine in any other country?

Could they have made wine in any other country?

— In India they insisted a lot that we make wine there. We also looked into it in Peru, Mexico, and China, but if you want to maintain quality, you have to concentrate, you can't make wine in 50 countries.

It's been almost a year since the winery brought in an external general manager from outside the family, Fabrice Ducceschi. How have they been doing?

— Very good. He is a great director. I am very happy. He does a very good job.

Nevertheless, you are still a family winery. Is doing business as a family difficult?

— Yes, there can be things. I believe that each generation must know its place. Now sometimes they ask me things and, listen, you [the children] decide, it's their turn. They are doing very well.

In the book, he delves into the relationship with his father, which "was not always cordial," to the point that upon returning from his sabbatical year in Montpellier, he removed you from the management.

— It became very complicated. We argued a lot, we had different points of view and, for that reason, by agreement, I went to Montpellier. I saw there that surely father was right, that I had to be more flexible, and I delved into the studies of viticulture.

His son Miquel, who was general manager of the winery from 2012 to 2023, has rejoined it in 2025.

— He is corporate director [in charge of marketing, communication and enotourism]. I call him president, but he wants to be called corporate director, and Mireia is director of innovation and sustainability [the novelty is that she has taken over the sustainability part from her father].

As happened with his father, he has also had a falling out with his son.

— There has been some discussion, it's evident, between parents and children, this is normal, but we understand each other very well. Everything is solved.

In the memoirs, she also publicly reveals that you suffered from breast cancer in 2010.

— Every year I have the check-up and so far it's going well, but cancer never ends. I had never hidden it, but before I wrote the book I didn't go to an interview to talk about cancer, I talked about wines or the vineyards we had bought.

Climate change could end wine if more decisive action is not taken?

— This is the most important, the most serious. I believe that what could happen is that it ends humanity.

As a flagbearer for the fight against climate change, what would you say to Donald Trump?

— That he retire, that he step down, and in fact that is what American voters are telling him. Besides, he doesn't drink wine. What can be expected of this gentleman?

To Pope Leo XIV, who visited Barcelona this week, what wine would you offer him to taste?

— My father made sacramental wine in the sixties. He made quite a bit because in Colombia it was the only wine that could be imported into the country. I have a bottle from those days and I would let the Pope taste it.

After having received the Creu de Sant Jordi this year, what is left for you to do as president of Família Torres?

— In the family, everyone has to try to help. Wine is not going through a good time, but together we must achieve the return of the culture of wine drunk in moderation. Let the glass of wine return to the table, at noon or in the evening. Every time there are better wines and much to choose from.