Marimar Estate Vineyard & Winery
Marimar Torres left Barcelona in 1975, planted this ground in 1986 and named the vineyards for her parents. After five generations of Torres going father to son, this one goes mother to daughter.12
Why go
The Torres family has grown grapes in Spain since the seventeenth century.1 It passed father to son from 1870.1 Marimar took a business degree at the University of Barcelona against her father's wishes.1 She came to California in 1975, studied oenology at UC Davis and marketing at Stanford.1 She planted the vineyard in 1986 and built the winery in 1992.1 A month before he died in 1991, her father told her that her Chardonnay was the best white wine he had ever tasted.1
She named Don Miguel Vineyard for her father and Doña Margarita for her mother.1 They run to about eighty acres between them, planted to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Albariño, Tempranillo, Godello and Syrah.1 They make eight to ten thousand cases a year with around twenty-five people.1
Her daughter Cristina Torres runs it now. Princeton economics, a Wharton MBA in 2017, three years with the London importer John E. Fells and two with Jackson Family Wines before joining in 2020.2 Marimar was forty-three when Cristina was born and raised her alone.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: the La Masia Chardonnay off Don Miguel Vineyard. Melnik's 2022 was 13.5 percent and $50.1
- Order: the Tapas and Wine Pairing at $65. The kitchen cooks the tapas in house from Marimar's own cookbooks.31
- Order: the Albariño or the Godello if they are open. Two Spanish whites almost nobody else in this county plants.1
- Avoid: the Barlow. Every current experience is at the Graton Road estate, and that is where the paper puts the door.1
What locals & experts say
- Peg Melnik, The Press Democrat (28 May 2024), on the 2022 La Masia Chardonnay:
It is a creamy, supple chardonnay with notes of Meyer lemon, apple and a kiss of vanilla. And it is striking.
1 - Marimar Torres, on where she thinks the wine comes from:
The grapes make the wine. I believe that 80% of it is growing those grapes to make them reflect the personality of our vineyard. We coach them to express themselves in the wine.
1 - Cristina Torres on her mother:
She does not take 'No' for an answer. Her tenacity and drive are honestly pretty superhuman.
2
Good to know
- 11400 Graton Road, Sebastopol, by appointment, 11am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 11am to 5pm at weekends. Phone 707-823-4365.1
- Five formats on Tock, from the $35 Estate Tasting up to a $150 walking tour of the house and cellar for two to four guests.3
- The house is Catalan farmhouse architecture, which is deliberate.3
- Nothing here comes from the winery's own site, which would not open for me. The hours and the prices are the Press Democrat's and Tock's.
Verdict
should-visit — Peg Melnik of the Press Democrat calls the 2022 La Masia creamy and supple, with Meyer lemon, apple and a kiss of vanilla, and then calls it striking. That is the only outside judgment on these wines in the record and it is a good one. The tapas are cooked in house from Marimar Torres's own cookbooks, and there is Albarino and Godello on the list alongside the Pinot Noir, which almost nobody else in this county grows. Book the Graton Road estate, because the saved pin points at The Barlow and no current tasting happens there.