El Vino a Torres

Today was our scheduled Torres winery tour!  I think the entire group of students, and instructors, were buzzing with excitement for this trip.  We arrived around 10am and we boarded a trolley like shuttle to carry us through the tour.  We learned the differences between the red and white wines and the different processes that are needed to be done between the two.


Are you ready for a trolley ride?

 Additionally, we learned that in order to press the grape as soon as possible that new technology was purchased to bring the grape smasher (I'm sure there was a proper word for this, but I have forgotten) to the fields, so to keep the grapes from fermenting they could be squashed within 20 minutes of being picked!  Truly amazing.  We then were taken underground so that we could see where the bottles were stored and the barrels of wine were kept.  During this portion of the tour we were completely surrounded by darkness until a really interesting video of how the monks way back when began cultivating grapes to make wine which then, many years later, the patriarch of the Torres family began this estate.



You might be on the other tram, but we can still see you!



The Torres family now has additional locations in Chile and California.  The most remarkable item I took away from this visit was the care of the earth that Torres tries to implement in its vineyards and its storage.  Where we first entered, was a wide area of sand (the picture below you can see the sand in the background).  They use this to cover their storage area and since the sun beats down on the sand it reflects the sun back so that it does not take as much energy to cool the storage area.

They also use many solar panels and receive a lot of their electricity from this source.

After the tram ride, our guide, Kati, took us back inside for a complementary tasting of a red wine and then turned us loose in their store to purchase additional testings of any wines that were interested in.  I chose a white wine and a dessert wine that were truly magnificent (if you enjoy the sweeter wines) whereas many of the group went for the reds and the brandy.



What to try next...darn decisions.



Great afternoon for a wine testing.



Before we left many of the group purchased bottles of wine to bring back with them, but we took a moment to grab a picture of the MBA students with and without our professors.

We arrived back at the hotel around 1:30 and I headed back to La Rambla to see if the shopping area had subdued in numbers any.  I spent a couple of hours roaming the shops, but nothing really caught my eye.  I realize I only have one more week left and my children will expect gifts upon my return so I will need to return soon to see if I can find the perfect gifts for them.

After shopping I caught an hour siesta and then Nicki, Colleen, and myself found a nice little restaurant where I enjoyed a salad with a honey dressing with goat cheese!!  It was wonderful.  We also had bruschetta, tuna on toast and some Spanish omelets for tapas while we tested Colleen's meal which I do not recall now what it was called, but contained something similar to rice mixed with eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, and other fabulous vegetables.  It is now in the early hours so I must head to bed as tomorrow we are headed to the monastery of Montserrat.  Should be another wonderful day of sight-seeing.