A rendezvous with Miguel Torres Maczassek

Miguel Torres Maczassek  is miles ahead of earning his spurs. This  fifth generation scion of the Torres wine empire is accredited amongst other achievements, as being  the driving force behind their ever expanding  business in Chile. Now back in Vilafranca del Penedès at the Torres headquarters as Director General, Torres S.A. . Torres Jr. (as he is popularly known) is  assisting his father - the inimitable Miguel A. Torres, Chairman Torres S.A.  in developing new business strategies  for  world markets.  

Recently when Torres Jr. stopped over for a few hours on a hopping visit to India, I was one of the privileged few to meet him. And it instantly brought back memories of my meeting with his father less than a year back in June 2014.  I reveled in the moment of probably being one of few to get this rare opportunity of   meeting  leaders across two generations of the same wine family in such a short span of time! It was opportune too,  as Torres has just recently been adjudged as  “World’s most admired wine brand”  by Drinks International magazine for the second time in a row.

Meeting helmsmen from two generations: with Miguel A. Torres (L) and Miguel Torres Maczassek (R)

My agenda however, of meeting Torres Jr. was a little different than rote. Having covered much of their wines in the preceding duration, I though of getting some gems on their brandies straight from him. With news about Torres brandies having broken into the top 10 rankings in bars  across the world , I had all good reason too.

Torres has five brandies in their portfolio each being distinct in a striking way. I tasted all these variants in 2014 when  visiting their cellars located amidst the enchanting Mas Rabell Fontenac estate. The three important points summarising their brandy production philosophy are:

• Extensive use of autochthonous (native) Catalan grape varietals.
• Use of base wines low in alcohol and high in volatile substances.
• Use of  static (standalone barrels) and dynamic (solera) ageing.

The brandies in details are listed towards the end of this post. I have put these in image form for convenience of saving/sharing by right clicking.

The sixth floor lounge at hotel Hyatt Regency New Delhi offered a perfect backdrop with panoramic view of the Indian capital for our conversation . Here is what transpired:

The many moods of Miguel Torres Maczassek

 Me: (Showing a photo on my smartphone of myself with Torres Sr. in Mas Rabell restaurant). Last year I started my conversation with your father by congratulating him on Torres being adjudged the most admired wine brand of the world. Should I call it a coincidence that I start the same way with you?

MTM: Coincidence yes, but it also means that you have been meeting the right kind of people! (Laughs) . Seriously, we have not worked towards any particular award and have been doing what we are best at. The award coming our way is of course a reassurance of our efforts.

Me: Coming  to another accolade, Torres has made it to the list of top ten selling brandies as per a survey conducted by Drinks International in 100 top bars of the world. Are you betting strongly on brandy ?

MTM: We’ve always accorded due priority to our brandy business since we started distilling in 1928. This recognition for the quality of Torres brandy is special to us as it coincides with the 150th anniversary of Juan Torres Casals our forefather from the  second generation. That said, our brandies have been receiving recognition over a period, through numerous other  awards  like the gold medals for Torres 20 in the International Wine & Spirit Competition (United Kingdom) in 2006 and in the Internationaler Spirituosen Wettbewerb (Germany) in 2014.   

Me: I had the opportunity to visit you brandy facility last year in Pacs del Penedès and  also had the chance of making my own blend from different eaux de vie.  The brandies were quite complex and appeared in similar league as cognac. What do you think about this  perceived likeness to cognac?

Above: Copper Alembic (Charentais) stills . Below: The soleras at Torres Brandy facility in Mas Rabell de Fontenac
Pics courtesy: Torres S.A.

MTM: Our brandies are certainly closer to the cognac style as these are aged for significant periods in  French oak. We even use the traditional cognac grape varietals in some of our brandies. But we also have a very distinct identity by virtue of using autochthonous Catalan grape varietals and incorporating  both static and dynamic (solera) methods for the production. This affords us an unmistakable style that the consumers   have been warming up to.

Me: Asia is the biggest market for brandy if you look at the consumption figures for past consecutive years. How do you plan to promote your brandies in this region?

MTM: For one, many Asian brandies can be a blend of grape and non grape spirits. Hence  we are keen to highlight that our brandies are made in the traditional way i.e. entirely from grapes. We also like to highlight our advantage of being  blessed as a wine producer who can afford to incorporate French oak barrels that can cost as much as € 900  a barrel- a price  largely  affordable  to Bouilleurs de Cru (producers who uses their own wine for distilling brandy) only.  All these factors  help us in presenting ourselves in the right spirit to the consumer.

Me: Given that India is also a large market for brandy, particularly towards the south, do you have any brandy plans for India ?

MTM: Our current focus in India is on wine  though our brandies are already present in several Indian cities. In the Asian market we currently look to promote our brandies in China where the consumer is looking for novelty in the premium segment. We are advantaged by the fact that lots of Chinese tourists have been visiting Spain, thus establishing an initial connect. Nevertheless, we see good potential for brandy in several other Asian countries but would like to take a step at a time.

Trying my hand at blending selected eaux de vie at Torres brandy cellars 

Me:Brandy is made mostly from white grape varietals. Why can’t it be made from red varietals in a similar fashion as a Blancs de Noir champagne?

MTM: White grapes have more acidity and lesser alcohol potential which is a desirable characteristic for making brandy. This is one of the reasons why we extensively use the Parellada varietal in making our brandies.

Me: How about producing a brandy in Chile where your footprint has significantly grown. Is there a possibility to make one-  for example from Chardonnay grapes?

MTM. In Chile we are already making Pisco which is similar to brandy but produced using single distillation method to preserve the native grape aromas- in this case Moscatel. The project was initiated three years back  in Ovalle (Limari valley), a dry region ideally suited for  Pisco’s production. and has been hugely successful. So much so, that our stocks have fallen short to meet the surging market demand. 

Me: With the growing brandy demand worldwide, are you likely to face the  danger of depleting stocks like in the case of Single Malt?

MTM: I do not think so. We have sufficient stocks and are investing in newer ones as well. Our brandies have both mature and growing markets. What we do not sell in mature markets like in Spain, we sell in the growing markets. Hence there is always a balance where we can cater to the demand-supply equation.

The world of Torres Brandies

Out of the aboove, Torres 5, Torres 10 and Jaime I are available in cities across India at prices ranging from ₹ 2000.00 to ₹ 13,500.00 through their importers Prestige Wines and Spirits Pvt Ltd.  According to Sumit Sehgal, CEO Prestige, the most recent introductions of these brandies have been in the southern Indian cities of  Chennai and Puducherry, They expect to expand the ambit to more cities in the near future. 

Interview with Miguel A Torres

Miguel Torres is a name that requires no introduction to the wine world. The Spanish winemaker that exports wine to more than 150 countries, making wines across numerous wine estates in Spain, Chile and the USA, is known for its high quality and value for money wines. I had the exclusive opportunity to interview one of my icons in the wine world, Miguel A Torres, President of Miguel Torres S.A. during a leisurely lunch at their 14th century traditional Catalan country house restored to a restaurant on the Mas Rabell estate of Torres. The chat became progressively interesting as the courses that had been exotically paired with the wines came to the table. 

It is my pleasure to share this conversation with the esteemed  readers of Guns to Gewurztraminer.

Sharing lunch with the man himself: raising a toast with Mr. Miguel A Torres

Q: Congratulations on Torres being adjudged the Most Admired Wine Brand of the World for 2014 by Drinks International magazine. What is your next milestone?

A: Thank you, any recognition coming our way is obviously delightful but we have consciously never been vying for titles. It also remains a fact that in the previous years, somebody else received this honour, and in the coming years, it may well belong to someone else. What is important for us is to sincerely keep doing what we are best at and that will be our effort.

Q: I have seen the "holy trinity" of Parellada, Macabeo and Xarel lo grapes in your estates. Yet, I am intrigued why Torres has not thought of producing Cava?

One of the expansive cellars at the Torres main winery at Pacs del Penedès

A: To tell you frankly, the first batch of Cava is ageing in our cellars as we talk. The project is being closely supervised by my daughter, Mireia, who is crafting a super-premium wine that will be released in the 1st half of 2016. We have waited all these years, as we wanted to adequately research the optimum production methods, even though we have already gained quite some experience in Chile, making the rosé sparkling "Santa Digna Estelado" from the País varietal.

Q: We are in the Mas Rabell estate, and in the vineyards I saw some varietals that do not have a name but a number. Could you please elaborate on this?

A: We have been consciously trying to revive many of the native Catalan grape varietals that have been lost into oblivion over a period of time on various accounts. They have a number, because they most probably never had a name. The collection you saw forms part of a project that we started in the eighties to recuperate “disappeared” Catalan grape varietals, some of which have their provenance in the nineteenth century.

These “disappeared” varietals were actually more or less hidden in nature, often in the middle of nowhere. Mostly, natural barriers like mountains protected them from being attacked by phylloxera for more than a century.

To identify them, we worked together with the Universities in Tarragona and Montpellier to determine whether a “lost” varietal was really unique because sometimes, it could well be that it already existed elsewhere in the world. Until today, we have discovered 32 “lost” varietals in Catalonia, but we have registered only 8 of them, because we believe that these have the potential to make a top quality wine. The latest “lost” varietal, “Querol”, was named after the municipality where it was found.

'Lost' grape varietals under revival at Torres' Mas Rabell estate

The interiors of Mas Rabell restaurant

Q: International grape varietals being increasingly cultivated in many world regions, including your own vineyards, are these native grape varietals under a threat of extinction?

A: Not at all! On the contrary, since the last thirty years, our priority has been to nurture the native grape varietals irrespective of the international varietals plantings that we also have. The aim is to protect our patrimoine (heritage) which is centuries old and I am determined to see that it is handed down to the next generations.

Q: Torres seems to emphasize sustainability. What is your vision on this and how is it implemented?

A: (Gestures the Maitre to fetch something) The whole idea is to be a nurturing custodian to the valuable resources at our disposal. We want to pass these on to the next generations - if not augmented then at least in an undepleted state. At the same time we need to be compassionate enough to give something back to the society in the present day.

(The Maitre arrives with a mounted graphic) This is our company’s DNA, describing what makes us tick as a winery, as a company. The 8 core elements are People – Ecology – Fair Trade – Giving Back to Society – Clients – R&D – Closeness to End Consumers and a Close Knit Family Company, which are self-explanatory.

You might have noticed these in some form or the other during your visit, but "Giving Back to Society" is something that I will explain. Each year we are participating in numerous social projects around the world to create better living conditions for underprivileged women and children in our society. This is through the Miguel Torres Foundation which was created in 1986 and is presided my wife, Waltraud Maczassek Torres.

In Guadalajara, Mexico we just laid the first stone for a refuge home for neglected and "at risk" girls, with a contribution of €275,000. In Anantpur, India we have contributed towards education and housing for children, and created a home for abandoned women.

Q: The Torres family revived the wine fortunes of Penedès, post phylloxera and the world wars. And boldly grew their footprint into other Spanish wine regions and overseas. Can we expect to see more expansion?

A: Internationally we have had vineyards in Chile and the US since long. In Chile, we have recently expanded to the southern part with a 200 hectare estate with a nearby river assuring water supply in Itata, which is very well suited to Cabernet Sauvignon. Chile has a favourable climate for producing organic wines as the region does not get rains in the summer, hence the absence of many vine diseases. So we are betting very strongly on Chile, and the project is being overseen by my son, Miguel Torres Maczassek.

Speaking of Spain, we have vineyards in the Denominación de Origen (denominated origins) of Penedès, Conca de Barbera, Priorat, Jumilla and Costers del Segre. Our idea is to represent the best wine areas of Spain, bringing out the uniqueness of each region. We have just bought the winery which we had hired to produce our Verdeo wine from Verdejo varietal in Rueda. In Rias Baixas in the Galicia region, my daughter Mireia, is progressing very well with our project of Albariño wine called "Pazo das Bruxas".

Q: You have been doing business in India since 2001 and have a unique partnership with Prestige Wines & Spirits. The Indian wine industry has recently seen some international giants like Moët Hennessey set up local ventures. Could we possibly expect to see a Torres footprint in India?

A: The fact that every state of India has different rules related to the alcohol trade is a major hindrance, and maybe it is time to change to promote healthy competition that will eventually benefit the local wine industry. It is difficult to make long-term predictions, but the basic premise of our production philosophy is "Focus". We prefer to stay committed to the regions where we are already present. We would not want to start producing wines in every possible region of the world. Even within Spain, we will not venture into the most famous fortified wine, Sherry.

(This interview has been published as lead story in the inaugural issue of wine newsletter vino india - news views and reviews from the market for wine in India -launched this month)

Wines sampled in the luncheon  with Mr. Miguel A Torres (laid out in the sequence of food courses from L-R)

(Main Course) Iberian pork tenderloin with plum sauce served with Cordillera Cariñena 2009  wine was a gourmet delight

Authentic Thai at Neung Roi

If you doubt the veracity of the refrain “there’s more to Thai food than coloured curries and typical spices” then Neung Roi is the place to go and check it out yourself. This Thai specialty restaurant at Radisson Plaza Mahipalpur (Delhi) really does well in convincing you that the refrain is true in letter and spirit.

Neung Roi, literally meaning ‘one hundred’, has a significant connection with Thailand’s geography, as the 100° E longitudinal line passes through the country. Objectively though, it means that the restaurant is 100% authentic Thai with cuisine mapping all the four regions of Thailand, offering guests some mind-boggling choices. For this reason the restaurant has its menu on iPad apart from the regular Carte option , with an easy-to-operate app that makes dish selection a cinch.

TRANQUIL SPACE

The restaurant is tucked in a tranquil space of the hotel at the ground floor with a tastefully done up

buffer area that further isolates it from the main corridor.So, it’s really calm. The colour scheme is soothing with a cosy arrangement of sofas as well as chairs, which enhances the calm. The restaurant also has a private dining room which can accommodate up to 12 persons and can be booked in advance.

FOUR DISTINCT CUISINES

The whole premise of the restaurant is in its Thai demeanour. So don’t expect a mix of cuisine here. To zoom into the grain level, the menu has been crafted to represent four distinct cuisine regions of Thailand with each having its USP as under:

Isan: Simple food with bold and spicy flavours.

Lanna: Hot and salt-influenced cuisine devoid of staple Thai ingredients like fish sauce, shrimp paste or coconuts.

Isthmus of Kra (Southern Thailand): Influenced by culinary styles of neighbouring Myanmar and Malaysia asalso coastal India. The cuisine is spicy with abundant use of coconut cream, turmeric, sour fruits and salted relishes that render a perfect balance to the dishes.

Central Thailand: A broader range of flavours with hot and salty character. The abundant use of varied seasonings in this region leads to multiple flavours, textures and tastes in a single dish. Talking about their approach to food, Yenjai Suthiwaja, the chef at the restaurant who comes from Phuket, says, “Fresh raw materials – whether vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood or seasonings – play a major role in producing authentic and flavourful Thai food, hence we do not compromise on these.” She feels the Indian food lovers are favourably inclined towards spicy food and Thai food scores a plus here.

My food experience started with a unique and palate refreshing amuse bouche of sweet and tangy elements served on a betel leaf that set the Oriental tone right away. This was followed by the chef recommended Entrée course comprising Gai Yang (grilled chicken with coriander roots and roasted chilli sauce), Tod Man Khao Pod (corn fritter with sweet chilli sauce) and Yam Som-O (Pomelo salad with crispy onion, garlic and palm sugar tamarind dressing).

The boneless tranches of grilled chicken had a divine crust before reaching the juiciness inside, with  roasted chilli sauce adding a rustic dimension. The corn fritters were amazingly airy and ‘melted in the mouth’. The Pomelo salad was tangy and nutty that made for a good accompaniment to the earlier two. Though drinks pairing was not on agenda (given my busy schedule post-lunch), I ordered a Fino Sherry with this course, as I could imagine the enhanced freshness it would bring to the flavourful course.

 Next was the Soup course, as Tom Kha Goong (prawn and coconut milk broth with mushroom, coriander, kaffir lime and galangal) was intensely aromatic, creamy and embalming on the palate, but a tad sweeter. A swig or two of the Fino Sherry saved by me to try with the soup did wonders.

For the Main course, Pla Neung Manao (steamed fish with lime chilli sauce) was decadent and gentle on the palate. Panaeng Gai (chicken in peanut base sauce) was intense but I would have preferred it a little more juicy. Maybe the contrast with the fish made it appear drier.

 Phad Pak Banjarong (asparagus, snowpeas, mushroom, babycorn and cauliflower with garlic, soya sauce and pepper) and Khao Suay (Jasmine rice) completed the legume and carb elements to make it a well rounded course.  For wine, I chose Mas Rabell, a white wine from Torres having 100% Parellada grapes – a famous and elegant varietal from the Catalunya region in Spain. The delicate fruit flavours and herbal undertones of the wine provided excellent company to this course.

The lunch experience would have been incomplete without sampling the unique Thai desserts, so I sampled Tub Tim Krob (water chestnut in coconut jasmine syrup). The chestnuts were chewy, somewhat like gummy bear, and carried the jasmine flavoured coconut milk well. Fugtong Chum (sweetened pumpkin with coconut milk) was interesting, but it was too sweet for me.

It was the banana ice cream that really stole the show as it oozed freshness both on the nose and the palate. Ritul Yadav, Communications Director at the hotel, informed that they regularly make customized ice creams in-house with different flavours, so as to give a unique experience to the guests every time.

Apart from its Thai USP, the restaurant has reasonable prices that offer good value for money. All dishes on the menu are priced between ₹ 300 and ₹ 900 (plus taxes) which makes it very competent in its segment. Also, being in close proximity to the Delhi airport it is a boon for those travellers who may want to have an impromptu rendezvous around some delightfully authentic Thai food.

Upside

• Great food.

• Serene ambience.

• Pleasing service.

• Reasonable prices

Downside

• None

Average price per person (food only):₹ 1500 (all inclusive)

Timings: 12 noon to 3 pm, 7 pm to 11:45 pm

Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi, National

Highway 8, Near IGI Airport, Mahipalpur, New Delhi