Torres family could leave Catalonia in 30 years

The historic Spanish winery Familia Torres, based in Catalonia since 1870, has issued a stark warning about the future of winemaking in the region. Miguel Torres, president of the company and a leading voice in the European wine industry, told The Guardian that climate change could force the group to abandon its vineyards in the Penedès within 20 to 30 years due to rising temperatures and worsening water scarcity.

With more than 1,000 hectares under vine in Catalonia, mostly in the Penedès, the company has tracked an average temperature rise of one degree Celsius over the past four decades. This warming has already moved the grape harvest forward by about ten days, and Familia Torres has been forced to adopt new vineyard practices to slow ripening and preserve wine quality.

To mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, the company is expanding cultivation to higher altitudes. It has begun planting in places like Tremp, in the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees at 950 meters, and Benabarre, in the Aragonese Pyrenees at 1,100 meters. While Tremp is proving viable, Benabarre remains too cold for vines to grow effectively. At the same time, Torres is investing in irrigation systems in both Spain and its operations in California in response to increasingly unreliable rainfall.

Miguel Torres, who is 83, said that unless the warming trend stops, traditional winemaking in Penedès may not be viable within a few decades. He also warned that climate change is threatening not only agriculture but the wider regional economy. "Tourists are very important for Catalonia and we are very close to Barcelona. This area could be used for tourism activities, but viticulture, I think, will no longer be possible here," he said.

Despite allocating 11 percent of annual profits to climate adaptation, extreme weather events have severely impacted production. In 2023, some vineyards saw yields fall by up to 50 percent, which Torres described as the worst year in memory. Though 2024 has been better thanks to winter and spring rains, higher humidity has also increased the presence of grapevine diseases like mildew, further complicating vineyard management.

Economic pressures are adding to the challenge. Rising costs of irrigation and new taxes on packaging, particularly glass bottles, have squeezed margins. Exports to the UK have fallen by 10 percent, and the company is now considering bottling some lower-priced wines in the UK to reduce transport costs.

Torres said the business cannot continue on its current path without significant global climate action. "In the future, if we want to have more crop continuity, we have to stop the warming. Warming is killing the business," he said.