Miguel Torres: Wining and winning friends

Si, Don Miguel Torres (the wine mogul who heads the 140-year-old Torres winery which exports to 120 countries around the world) was in town recently not just to clink glasses (of Torres fine wines, but of course) with old and new Filipino friends. He was here to raise a toast to the building of a school for street children in San Pablo, Laguna.

He invited members of the fourth estate, some of them his friends from way back, to a press conference at The Peninsula Manila with a banner that read, "Torres Beyond the Winery of Spain."

"Yes, our foundation is putting up projects mostly for poor street children," says a soft-spoken Don Miguel. "We started in San Pablo with this school with five classrooms, and we will continue to do more things. I believe we have to give back to society, to make a difference. Some people have everything; others have nothing. This we have to change. We have to give to everybody the possibility of improving his situation, equal opportunities."

Yes, mediamen – and mediawomen – had equal opportunity to be part of a great wine experience as glasses of Torres’ Marimar Chardonnay 1999, Mas La Plana 1997, Moscatel Oro 500 ml., Aqua d’Or 500 ml., and Torres 12 were served to punctuate a menu consisting of tender poached lapu-lapu with antipasti of vegetables and salsa verde, herb crusted rib eye of beef with onion confit and red wine sauce, seasonal vegetables, capped by a dessert of tropical fruit Napoleon with red gum honey mousseline.

Don Miguel sure knows his wines in much the same way that a chef knows his onions. He grew up amid the intoxicating smell of wine fermenting in the vats. He had his first sip of wine at the age of 10. "My father (Miguel Sr.) let me try a little wine with water," he relishes to recall.

Thus started his enduring love affair with wine. "To me, the greatest day in the week is when I go into the vineyards," he confesses. "The vines, they talk to you. It’s almost like a doctor going through a hospital talking to his patients."

After school, he got involved in the family-owned wine company, which was founded by his grandfather Jaime Torres in 1870 and has since been growing grapes in Catalonia as well as California and Chile. It now has 20 estates in Spain and produces more than 2 million cases of wine from 2,300 acres of grapes grown throughout the Penedes region around Barcelona.

"Each country makes a different wine," says Don Miguel. "The lovely thing about wines is that each country has its own identity. Spanish wine is hard to describe without tasting it. Spanish wine has more spices, it reflects the old world, compared to Chilean wine which is more of the new world."

More Torres wine trivia: Did you know that Torres produces some of the world’s most praised and celebrated wines such as the famous Gran Coronas Black Label 1970, which won the Gault-Milau wine Olympiad in Paris? That the company gives wine courses at the Torres Wine Culture Centres in Spain and Chile for people who want to enrich or update their knowledge on viticulture, wine tasting, wine and food, etc.? That the company has a Wine Theme Park which takes visitors through the heart of the Torres vineyards on a small train?

"Our mission is to maintain our centuries-old tradition and turn every customer into a friend," Don Miguel asserts.

Judging from the big turnout at the launch of his foundation, Don Miguel has certainly made a lot of amigos. It was Don Miguel’s third visit to the country to rekindle old ties and make new ones. And play some of his favorite sports with friends like fencing buddy Richard Gomez (no, Miguel Torres is not related to Goma’s wife Lucy Torres).

Winning friends and winning awards come naturally to Don Miguel. In 1996, he was presented with the Order of Bernardo O’ Higgins for improving relations between Chile and Spain, and was granted the Golden Key of Barcelona. In 2002, he won the Decanter’s Man of the Year award given by the wine magazine Decanter.

Wine producers have raised their glasses to Don Miguel, like Paul Symington who says, "Miguel has been instrumental in changing the image of Spanish wine. Apart from this, he is also a very nice person – these two attributes do not always go hand in hand."

He’s as much a lover of history as he is of wine. He’s a great fan of Jose Rizal. "I haven’t finished Noli me Tangere," he shares. "When I visit a country, I like to learn the history and culture of the place. Unfortunately, in Spain, we don’t know much about Filipinas history. Spain is very focused on Latin America. I was recommended by a Filipino friend, Recah Trinidad, to read Noli to find out why things went so badly after the Spanish era. In Latin America, the war for independence was a civil war – some Americans favoring the Spanish king vs. other Americans favoring a revolution. In Filipinas, it was a revolution against the Spanish. So, what did the Spanish do here that didn’t happen in America? When you talk to people in Latin America, there’s love for the Spanish. But here, it’s mixed."

Filipinas, says Don Miguel, is a good market for Torres, and "will continue to grow. Yes, there are Filipinos working in the Torres company – one in the office and two in the vineyards."

In the Philippines, the exclusive importer of Torres wines and brandies is ATR Torres Wines and Spirits, Inc. headed by president Arthur Reyes and general manager Dr. Ruel Reyes.

"I’d like to bring my family here," says Don Miguel. "And then, I’d like to invite people from Spain to come here and discover the old Spanish churches, to see that you have many Spanish names."

A certified workaholic, Don Miguel starts his day at 10 a.m. after a "big breakfast." He takes lunch with visiting friends, clients or journalists, and then takes a half-hour catnap before going back to work until 9 p.m. He takes home some reading materials. He spends weekends with his family – German-born wife Waltraud and children Ana Margarita, Mireia and Miguel.

So, what keeps Don Miguel running?

"I drink half a bottle of wine, mostly red, every day," he says. "My mother, who’s 94, drinks a little wine every day and on Sunday, a little brandy. I eat a carrot every day, and no fat for me. I play a sport every day – tennis once a week, jogging, swimming, fencing, skiing."

Like a true vintner, Don Miguel knows when to wait, when to give and when to take. But then, he’s probably given more than he’s taken.

Salud! Muchas gracias, Don Miguel!