Marimar Torres, heiress to the Torres wine dynasty of Spain, came to California in 1975 and fell in love with the Sebastopol hills. She planted her first estate vineyard in 1986, bringing Spanish farming discipline to Green Valley's Goldridge sandy loam soils. Today the estate farms two vineyards, Don Miguel in Green Valley and Doña Margarita in Sonoma Coast, with a commitment to biodynamic principles and Spanish-influenced winemaking. The Albariño, Godello, and Tempranillo set Marimar apart from every other Green Valley producer. Consistently one of California's most original estate voices.
La Masía Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley: the flagship estate Pinot from the Don Miguel Vineyard in Green Valley; layered and silky, in a Catalan-meets-California style.
Mas Cavalls Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast: from the cooler Doña Margarita Vineyard near Freestone, a more structured, savory coastal Pinot.
Acero Chardonnay, Russian River Valley: unoaked and stainless-fermented ('acero' means steel), preserving bright, pure fruit.
Albariño, Russian River Valley: a crisp, aromatic Spanish white, a nod to founder Marimar Torres's Catalan roots.
Tempranillo, Russian River Valley: a rare cool-climate California Tempranillo from the estate.
Every bottle is 100% estate grown. The Don Miguel Vineyard now covers 81 acres, 50 of them planted, and the estate has been certified sustainable since 2017. The first release was the 1989 Chardonnay, and the estate lineup also includes a Godello, a white grape from Galicia.
Marimar Torres, fourth-generation member of the Torres Spanish winemaking dynasty, built a traditional Catalan "masía" farmhouse as the winery in 1992, with room for 15,000 cases. Today her daughter Cristina (fifth generation, Princeton-educated) leads the estate as General Manager, the first time in the 400-year Torres family history that the baton has passed mother to daughter rather than father to son. Walk-ins are welcome and reservations suggested, and the patio looks out over garden, vineyard and redwoods. The Estate Tasting pours a flight of estate wines; the Tapas & Wine Pairing matches wines with recipes from Marimar's own cookbooks (The Spanish Table, The Catalan Country Kitchen); the Collector's Tasting includes a cellar tour, and the Estate Walking Tour takes in the house, the cellar and the vineyard. One of Sonoma's most culturally distinctive visits.
