TWO MINUTES WITH | Marimar Torres

What is your ‘last supper’ wine? 
Vega Sicilia Unico, I have a couple of bottles in my cellar in Spain that I’m holding on to – though I must admit I can’t recall the vintage. Here in California I have an empty bottle of 1970 and a magnum of 1953 Unico, both signed and dated in 2011 from one of my first visits there, and I’m holding onto them because it was such a great memory. I admire the Alvarez family so much. They’re part of the Primum Familiae Vini of 12 family-owned estates that my brother Miguel set up with Robert Drouhin and Piero Antinori to showcase the top family-owned wineries across the world, and they’re so dedicated to the quality of the wine. I took some members of our wine club from here in California over there last year and they loved it. 

Where is your dream vineyard? 
I have to say it would be right here in West Sonoma County, probably in Russian River Valley. I love it. It’s a place of growers. Napa is more fancy, like Bordeaux, whereas Sonoma is more about the earth, like Burgundy. When I started looking for land in California, I had to decide between 18 acres in Napa and 56 acres in Sonoma for the same price. I’m so glad I chose here.  

Who is your wine hero? 
Steven Spurrier. What a great man. So elegant, so respectful, so sharp and to the point. He visited here once, and stayed in our guest house, and also at my home in Sitges in Spain. I remember that the hot water wasn’t working and I felt awful, but he was so gracious about it.

What’s the next big thing in wine?  
I’m afraid to say that the biggest issue we face is the challenge from the health lobby. It’s terrible, and I’m very worried by it, but also fascinated by how the ground seems to be shifting – from a glass or two a day being fine to ‘wine causes cancer’. The World Health Organisation is not impartial, and of course they’re going to err on the side of caution if they sense danger. American consumers are easily influenced, and happy to admit they don’t know everything – unlike the Spanish – so it makes them susceptible to this. That can be a good thing too though. Back then, in Spain, men wouldn’t listen to a young woman talking about wine, whereas when I came out here in 1975, I was immediately accepted. 

What’s your favourite wine memory? 
Visiting Domaine de la Romanée-Conti for the first time. Aubert de Villaine was so humble, so straightforward. I had met him with my father in Paris over a very nice dinner, but when I went to visit the estate years later, with my daughter Cristina, everything was so simple and authentic. ‘We’ll have lunch,’ he said – and it was just a plate of cold cuts. ‘Let’s go to the cellar,’ he said, and he picked out a bottle from his old reserves – from my birth year, 1945. It was wonderful…