WINE AS A DECLARATION OF LOVE
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Familia Torres
Love is multifaceted and comes in all sorts of guises, with different intentions and intensities. Its expressions are as varied as the “objects of affection” themselves. And wine is no exception.
The ability to choose well is seductive, and in that spirit, we would like to introduce four wines which will say a lot about the person giving or receiving the gift. Our selection springs from the stories that reside in each one of these wines.
A couple enjoying a meal paired with Pazo das Bruxas, a Familia Torres property
Mas la Plana (DO Penedès)
In 1979, Mas La Plana entered the Paris Wine Olympics, organized by the Gault & Millau magazine, with the 1970 vintage, the wine’s very first. Against all odds, the wine beat the world’s most acclaimed and distinguished Cabernets and took home the top prize, an honour once reserved for the great French chateaux. The stunning victory put Penedès on the wine map. This was only the first in a long line of international accolades that have made Mas La Plana synonymous with fine Spanish wine and its creator, Miguel Agustín Torres, one of the most respected and recognized individuals in the global wine sector.
Although every vintage reveals subtle differences, the wine does have an innate character that returns year after year and comprises the identity of this deep, complex Cabernet.
Opening a bottle of Mas La Plana invites us to discover the heart and soul of a special enclave. A sense of place permeates the wine’s expression and structure, tangibly present in the unmistakable quality and richness of its fleshy fruit tannins; in the distinctive intensity of its varietal notes, shaped by the microclimates of the different vineyard parcels. The result is a deep, captivating nose of Mediterranean woodland and forest fruit like blueberries and blackberries.
A couple enjoying a meal accompanied by Mas La Plana, a Familia Torres property
Long ageing in French oak rounds out and refines the quality of the tannins and imparts distinctive, delightful aromas evocative of spices, chocolate, and coffee. As it opens up on the palate, long and persistent, the wine revisits the ripe fruit sensations of its tannins, enveloped in a velvety mouthfilling sensation – an elegant perception of depth and volume that unfolds organically, seamlessly.
Celeste Crianza (DO Ribera del Duero)
The altitude wines from this celebrated appellation of origin stand out for their intensity and deep colour. The primary aromas reveal themselves in their pure state amid a sea of fresh fruit and nervy acidity with a backbone of noticeable yet soft, round, fleshy tannins. The wine’s fresh primary character enjoys an oaky embrace, resulting in a union of remarkable complexity, sophistication, and quality.
Pago del Cielo (DO Ribera del Duero), located at almost 900 metres, embodies the intimate connection between sky and earth, day and night (shifts in temperature). The Tinto Fino vines have adapted to the region’s extreme temperatures, acquiring a distinctive personality that doesn’t need varietal blends to shine.
This is why Celeste Crianza celebrates its varietal character, subtly enhanced with a touch of oak. The result is a deep cherry red wine with great intensity of colour and garnet highlights.
Celeste Crianza, a Familia Torres winemaking gem, completes this moment perfectly
Big, carnal, flavourful, and full of curves. Deliciously ripe black fruit emerge from layers of toast, coffee, and dried fruit. Wine as a sensual seduction.
Pazo das Bruxas (DO Rías Baixas)
The most natural and untamed part of Galicia invites us to lose and then find ourselves in an enclave whose history is steeped in Celtic heritage. Here earth and sky are bound forever by ancient deities and ancestral cultural practices, a place where traces of its spiritual past speak to us at every turn.
Pazo das Bruxas represents Familia Torres’s first foray in the region. In its bright yellow hue and golden highlights, Pazo das Bruxas evokes its provenance. The intense nose transports us into a world of white flowers, citrus, and fresh stone fruit, culminating in a pleasant, lush palate with firm acidity that carries through on the long flavourful finish.
Pazo das Bruxas, a Familia Torres property, is the perfect match for this meal
Every nuance is wrapped in a memory of ocean mist and brine, echoing the weight and flow of water as it meets the land.
Clos Ancestral Red (DO Penedès)
The creation of Clos Ancestral embodies the paradigmatic axiom “the future is the past”. This red wine is part of an exciting project which Familia Torres embarked on more than 30 years ago, a mission to recover indigenous and ancestral pre-phylloxera varieties, thereby restoring Catalonia’s vinicultural heritage.
The immediate surroundings of Castell de la Bleda, birthplace of Clos Ancestral in the heart of Penedès, look back on 2000-plus years of viticulture. Archaeological excavations have unearthed Iberian, Roman, medieval, and pre-phylloxera vestiges that speak to the cultivation of varieties like Moneu, brought back from oblivion and incorporated into the blend of this new organic wine.
Clos Ancestral red is an organic blend of indigenous varieties, with Moneu joining the likes of Ull de Llebre (Tempranillo) and Garnacha. The latter varieties originate from 30 to 40-year-old vineyards and are vinified separately to ensure their fullest potential and varietal expression. The Moneu grapes undergo a meticulous vinification process and are partially aged in vats and amphorae.
Clos Ancestral tinto, a Familia Torres winemaking gem, combines beautifully with this meal
A celebration like this calls for a special wine, a wine which bares the soul and speaks to the heart – a quality these four wines share. They all have a story to tell. They are wines born, in one way or another, from a place of love and passion, from the act of forgetting and remembering, from a deep connection to the earth and the lives of the people who worked the land.
These wines have one undeniable intention: to celebrate life and love.