Marimar Estate is a

Californian wine California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. In ...

ry located in

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...

, owned by Marimar Torres, the sister of

Miguel A. Torres Miguel A. Torres (born 1941) is a Spanish winemaker, author and businessman. He is President and Managing Director of Bodegas Torres, and is a member of the fourth generation of this family business. He also manages the company’s vineyards in Ch ...

, President of

Bodegas Torres Founded in 1870 by Jaime Torres, Bodegas Torres (''Miguel Torres'' SA) is a historical wine growing company located in Pacs, some from Vilafranca del Penedès, where the company has its head office. Torres is the family winery with the most ex ...

History

In 1986 Marimar Torres embarked on a project to plant a vineyard on the western hills of DO

Russian River Valley The Russian River (Southern Pomo: ''Ashokawna'', es, Río Ruso) is a southward-flowing river that drains of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet (2.0&nbs ...

, in Green Valley AVA, sub-appellation of

, very close to the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

: with a cold

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squa ...

that is suitable for

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...

and

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

. The vineyard is called Don Miguel, after her father,

Miguel Torres Carbó Founded in 1870 by Jaime Torres, Bodegas Torres (''Miguel Torres'' SA) is a historical wine growing company located in Pacs, some from Vilafranca del Penedès, where the company has its head office. Torres is the family winery with the most ex ...

, who oversaw the worldwide expansion of the Torres family business. Of the vineyards 60 acres 30 are planted with Chardonnay and the other 30 with Pinot noir.

Vineyards

Don Miguel Vineyard: Marimar came to live in California in 1975. After two years of searching, she acquired the land and began planting the vineyard in 1986. Today there are 30 acres planted with Chardonnay and 30 with Pinot Noir. The wines are made entirely from estate-grown grapes. Named in honor of the late patriarch of the family, the vineyard is unique in California because it is totally European in style. The vines are trained very close to the ground on an open vertical trellis, following the slope of an east-facing hillside; the rootstocks are phylloxera resistant; and the planting density is 2000 vines per acre, four times more than is traditional in California. Such high density promotes root competition and diminishes vigor, naturally reducing the output per vine. Yields are low and labor is intensive, but the vines live longer and produce grapes with greater concentration of flavors, more refined and elegant aromas, and better balance. To contribute complexity, Marimar did extensive research to select several clones of each varietal: See, Rued and Spring Mountain for Chardonnay; and Cristina 88, Swan, Pommard, Lee, Dijon 115 and Dijon 667 for Pinot Noir. Each clone brings different attributes to the final blend, resulting in wines with deep layers of flavor. The Doña Margarita Vineyard: Named after Marimar's mother, was planted in 2002 in the Freestone Valley of the

Sonoma Coast AVA The Sonoma Coast AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Sonoma County, California, United States containing more than , mostly along the coastline of the Pacific Ocean. It extends from San Pablo Bay to the border with Mendocino County. The ...

. Although the estate has , only 12 of these have been earmarked for vines and planted with Pinot noir. A large area of the estate remains uncultivated with wildlife and

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention * Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band * Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehor ...

plant species. At the Sonoma vineyard, the estate utilizes traditional

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

viticultural Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

practices, such as a

vertical trellis Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting ...

for the vines, the choice of

rootstocks A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a ...

that are more resistant to

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, ...

and a planting density of 2 m x 1m (2,000 vines per acre). Since 2003 both vineyards have been subject to

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product o ...

cultivation.

Winery

Built in 1992 with a capacity of 15,000 cases, the winery sits on a hill surrounded by vines. The production wing is outfitted with carefully selected equipment, to allow the control essential to producing a wine based on minimal handling. Its three barrel rooms with independent temperature and humidity controls provide flexibility to experiment with various vinification techniques, in order to best express the fruit's character. The reception wing, decorated with antique winemaking equipment, furniture, and crockery brought over from Catalonia, includes a professional kitchen and a spacious dining room with a great fireplace. It was here, in the old Catalan tradition, that family and staff would gather every evening to discuss the events of a day spent in the countryside. The winery is now open seven days a week for tastings and tours are available by appointment. We love to receive customers and friends with a genuine interest in wine!

References

External links

Marimar Estate website (in English and Spanish)
{{coord, 38, 25, 20, N, 122, 54, 11, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Wineries in Sonoma County, California

History

Vineyards

Winery

References

Further reading

External links