Sebastopol, CA (February 8, 2023) – Cristina Torres, daughter of Marimar Torres and member of the fifth generation of Familia Torres, has been promoted to General Manager at Marimar Estate Vineyards & Winery. Previously the Director of Sales and Marketing, she will now take on this much larger role which includes managing the finance, direct-to-consumer (DTC), marketing, sales, and production teams and leading efficiency and sustainability projects.
“I am excited to start this new role along with a diverse, spirited, and energetic team which includes Marketing Manager Julia Millan and Sales Operations Manager Sarah Ghattas,” said Cristina Torres. “It’s the first time we’ve had these two integral supporting roles.”
From 2017 to 2019, Cristina worked with Jackson Family Wines, primarily in brand marketing. During this time, her dedication to sustainability led her to spearhead the formation of International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA) in February 2019, alongside Familia Torres of Spain and Jackson Family Wines of California. IWCA is a collaborative group of wineries committed to a science-based approach at reducing carbon emissions across the wine industry. In her role as General Manager, Cristina will work closely with Marimar Estate’s production team to officially join IWCA.
Born in California in 1988, Cristina grew up among the vines and learned about the wine business from her mother, Marimar Torres, who started producing wine in Sonoma County in the late 1980s. In January 2020, she joined the management of Marimar Estate alongside her mother. Marimar is now taking a small step aside and giving more management responsibility to her daughter with the role of General Manager. This promotion has a special significance in the generational history of the Torres family, as it will be the first time in five generations that the business is passed from mother to daughter. Marimar instilled an unwavering desire in Cristina to be the best that she can be and has taught her to have faith in the challenges, setbacks and failures that are an important part of the process. In the last three years as Director of Sales and Marketing, Cristina has more than doubled the company’s national sales and has worked on growing DTC amid a global pandemic. She looks forward to building off the great foundation that her mother has established to take the business to the next level and continue to make it a dynamic and exciting place to work.
Cristina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She achieved the WSET Level 3 certification from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and is in the process of obtaining the WSET Diploma. Cristina is fluent in Catalan, Spanish, English and French.
About Marimar Estate
Marimar Estate Vineyards & Winery, named after proprietor Marimar Torres, sits on the rolling hills of Green Valley in the Russian River Valley, Sonoma County. Originally from Spain, Marimar grew up as a fourth-generation member of the Torres Spanish winemaking family and moved to San Francisco in 1975. She began planting the Don Miguel Vineyard in 1986 and in 1992 she built the winery in the style of a traditional Catalan farmhouse. All wines are produced from estate fruit. She currently cultivates 80 acres spread over two vineyards near the Pacific Ocean, in the Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley AVAs. The winery and houses on the property are 100% solar powered. Both vineyards as well as the winery are certified sustainable by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. Marimar’s daughter, Cristina, now works alongside her as General Manager. Together, they host monthly club member events, which includes an annual trip to Spain. They also host a monthly Facebook Live cooking show where they make recipes from Marimar’s cookbooks and make a fantastic mother-daughter team!
