Tradition and innovation at Torres: Branding based upon sustainable family values

Torres is a wineproducer situated in the Spanish region of Penedès, Catalonia. The family business started in the 17th century. The strong link that has been developed between traditions and an innovative business characterises Torres. In April 2010, Between-us together with IMD (Lausanne) published a case study about sustainability at Torres. 

The roots of the Torres family in the Penedès region of Spain, in Catalunya, can be traced back to the 17th century, with the very first written records of wine trading in the Torres family going back to 1628. It was not until 1870 though that the family firm was incorporated.

Tradición y Innovación

For many years, innovation has been pooled with tradition. For instance, since 1984 Torres has put tremendous efforts in collecting and multiplying indigenous Catalan grape varieties. Some 45 old grape varieties were rediscovered, most of which were presumed to have been lost to the Phyloxera plague of 1890. Innovation also has been applied to the branding side of the business. Where Don Miguel Sr. introduced the Coronas brand, current president Miguel A. Torres introduced the global branding concept to the world of wine making and distribution, making it a key to its success. At Torres the brand nowadays stands to represent many things: (1) Spain, first and foremost, as an exceptional wine producing country with a phenomenal diversity of terroirs; (2) consistently great quality and organic production techniques; and (3) value for money. Today the value proposition of the Torres brand is summarized as 'Torres: a wine you can trust'.

Sustainability in Wine

Even though end consumers do not yet put a high premium on sustainability as an attribute of the wine they purchase at the local store, sustainability increasingly features higher on the retailers’ agenda across the globe. Larger retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Tesco, are pioneering new sustainability standards and are leading the way to greener pastures. For example, on February 25th 2010 Wal-Mart announced publicly its goal to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by the end of 2015.

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