Today's Wine: Al Gore, a Taxi License, and a Woman Who Became a Patriot

I'm still waiting to speak with Mireia Torres (from Torres), one of the people I know who best tastes and understands the soul of wines, their truth. We've chosen, from her collection, 3055. This number.

It's the taxi license number that Jean Leon drove to New York, because being a taxi driver was one of his first jobs in this city, where he stowed away on a ship. We're suggesting the 23rd vintage, and we're suggesting it precisely because it's not one of the most representative. Why? This young, fruity wine, for all types of audiences, ideal for sipping by the glass, began as a blend of Merlot and Pequeno Verdote, but Mireia's idea (with climate change in mind, and considering that Pequeno Verdote has adapted very well) is to increasingly make Pequeno Verdote wines and leave Merlot behind. "It's a very drought-resistant variety. We work with two clones, one Italian and one French, and I'd say I like the Italian one better. It withstands heat waves, but the problem is that the vines are fragile and we often get windy here. This variety, which is approved by the DO, is a very interesting substitute for Merlot,"

Appellations of origin approve and authorize varieties with tradition, the history of each territory, and adaptation in mind. Therefore, they have a blend in the glass that will soon change. Bottles that, for some reason, are historic, like this one, really excite me.

Whenever I talk to someone whose wine runs in the family, I like to ask them about their beginnings. Did they always know they would dedicate themselves to it? Didn't they?

Mireia tells me: "I studied chemical engineering because I was torn between this and veterinary medicine. When I finished, my father said to me: "Why don't you go to France and study oenology in Montpellier?" And I did. And there two things happened to me. patriot. I thought we have really good wines and we should value them. And the second... " He gives a broad smile before continuing: "I got the bug."

The winemaking bug

The bug is the bug of making wine. She's always liked, as you can see, to relate the chemical with the natural. Nature is chemistry. Chemistry is nature. "I'm very creative," she says. "I mean, I like to apply creativity to cooking, wine, innovation..." This part probably comes from her mother, Waltraud (who gives her name to a Torres wine that you've all surely tried), a photographer and painter, who captures things in a very moving way—and that's the word. I think of Mireia as the pioneers in raising awareness about climate change. "I wouldn't say I was the first," she says, looking down. "There's my father... In the 2000s, he already saw that it was getting hotter in the summer. In 2007, he saw the Al Gore documentary, and that changed his perspective. In 2008, I was the technical director." At that time, they launched the largest and most ambitious R&D project in the country.

"How would you pair it? I like it chilled," he says. And let's listen to him, please, when the French tell us that black wine should be served at "room" temperature (chambered) are telling us about the "atmosphere" of a castle winery where you could freeze like a bag of peas. "When I've gone to wine tasting in northern Europe, I've had it with salmon, but it can also be a good pairing with poultry, pasta..." It's a wine, it's true, with great versatility, cheerful, light in a good way. The vineyards are high in altitude, which is important these days; at about 600 m. And it's part of the winery's organic vineyards. "We do short macerations, only in stainless steel, and then contact with the mothers."

They have in their glass a spicy wine (and I always like this), floral and fruity, round, elongated, and with excellent acidity. A wine that connects you with the farmers of the Penedès and with this curious and magical variety. We are lucky, and I toast to that, that our wife of today, one of the influential women in this world, didn't opt for veterinary medicine.

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