Familia Torres consolidates its wine project in Galicia. The group has just strengthened its position in the Rías Baixas Designation of Origin with the purchase of Bodegas Valdamor's facilities, which will allow it to substantially increase albariño production in response to growing demand from countries such as the United States. The US market is already the main client for Pazo das Bruxas, the albariño wine that Torres has been producing in Galicia for exactly ten years now.
Valdamor is a winery located in Meaño, in the province of Pontevedra and, more specifically, in the so-called Salnés Valley, one of the five sub-zones that make up the DO Rías Baixas, where Pazo das Bruxas is also located. Built in the 90s by the Domínguez family, the winery suspended payments and its owning company is currently in liquidation. Torres has only acquired the productive assets, for which it paid just over two million euros.
Specifically, the Catalan family group has acquired facilities that have a surface area of 3,000 square meters and a production capacity of more than one million bottles per year. The winery has reception, production, and aging rooms, in addition to bottling and shipping areas, an office area, and a tasting and exhibition space.
Familia Torres plans to invest now in the adaptation and updating of the winery so that it can start operating this coming harvest. According to the group, these new facilities, which will be managed by winemaker Víctor Cortizo, will lead to the creation of several jobs and will allow for a gradual increase in albariño production. Currently, Torres produces about 300,000 bottles of Pazo das Bruxas per year. This production, however, is outsourced, meaning it is produced in third-party wineries, and now, thanks to the purchase of Valdamor's assets, they will have their own winery that will allow them to control the entire process and increase production.
Five years ago, Familia Torres also acquired the Pazo Torre Penelas winery in Galicia, surrounded by six hectares of Albariño vineyards and where it produces the high-end wine Blanco Granito. "Throughout these ten years, we have been consolidating the Rías Baixas project, thinking about the territory, its history and traditions, convinced of the great potential of this region and its international projection. With this new winery, we will be able to continue growing in a sustainable and respectful way," explained Miguel Torres Maczassek, general manager of Familia Torres.