Familia Torres

Bodegas Familia Torres is a family-owned wine producer with over 150 years of history, now in its fifth generation, headquartered in the Penedès region of Catalonia, Spain. The company employs more than 1,000 people worldwide, produces and commercialises wines and spirits across numerous countries, and operates wineries in Chile, California, and several Spanish regions including Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Galicia, and multiple areas of Catalonia. The company remains fully family-owned, distinguishing it from comparable large Spanish producers that have been acquired by investment funds or floated on stock markets.

Since the 1980s, when the current president took charge, the company has maintained an internal department dedicated to studying greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration, and the reduction of its environmental footprint across the production chain. This work expanded into regenerative viticulture following the president's son's exposure to the documentary Kiss the Ground, which prompted him to convene staff across multiple departments to explore regenerative soil practices. The transition to regenerative viticulture began on two estates — one in the Penedès and one in the Priorat — and now covers more than half of the company's Catalan vineyard area. The approach is applied parcel by parcel, with no uniform protocol, as soil type, microclimate, and water availability vary significantly between sites.

The company's research and innovation department, which includes specialists in viticulture, microbiology, and oenology, coordinates scientific work with external partners including the applied ecology research centre CREAF, the agrifood research institute IRTA, the University of Barcelona, and the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Research studies compare regenerative and conventional viticulture plots across physical, chemical, and microbiological soil indicators, including carbon fixation, fungal and bacterial biodiversity, and erosion resistance. Study durations have ranged from two to four years, with longer multi-partner studies currently under development at European level involving French and Portuguese wineries.

The company was a founding member of the Catalan Regenerative Viticulture Association alongside three other wineries, and contributed to establishing a regenerative viticulture certification standard, audited by an external certifying body. Certification criteria include minimum thresholds for soil biology, cover crop coverage — 75% for advanced certification and 50% for transition status — biodiversity indicators including pollinators, and requirements covering animal welfare and workers' rights. The company also participates actively in the national wine technology platform and in the Innovi viticulture and oenology cluster, using these networks to identify research partners, co-develop grant-funded studies, and connect other producers with regenerative practices. The association organises an annual symposium held in hybrid format, open to technicians, producers, and the general public, alongside monthly technical webinars for members. The company has also developed a dealcoholised wine line, which has become one of its strongest-growing products in response to changing consumer patterns.