This, said Hans Sundin, introducing the Oxford Wine Club’s PFV tasting was going to be ‘amazing’.

He was absolutely right. There have been very very few such tastings in England. Ably and engagingly presented by Christophe Brunet (the PFV’s Ambassador) and Christina Torres we had an extraordinary evening. Twelve wines in total – one from each of the eleven families plus a bonus Pol Roger champagne of the 2000 vintage – and some excellent canapés produced to Christophe’s specifications.

Christina –already a Club ‘star’ after the Torres Family tasting earlier this year – was joined at the top table by Christophe and our President Michael Palij MW (though he had to leave early to take care of his new born daughter). Christophe, a sommelier by training, had first worked for the Torres family coordinating wine and food events worldwide where he got to know Miguel Torres (Christina’s uncle). The PFV owes its origins to a meeting between Miguel and Robert Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy who recognised that multi-generational family businesses such as theirs enjoyed extraordinary advantages but faced special issues. Membership is limited to twelve companies (there are currently eleven) and only those with 100% family ownership can qualify. Hence, as Christophe explained, early members such as Mondavi and Jaboulet are now out of the PFV.

Cristina Torres represents the fifth generation of Torres Family winemakers. The original Torres y Compañia was founded in Penedès in 1870, and more than 150 years later Cristina’s uncle, Miguel A Torres, presides over Torres Spain and his son, Miguel Torres Maczassek, runs the winery founded by his father in Chile. Cristina’s mother, Marimar, moved to California in 1975 as ambassador for Torres wines, and planted her own vineyards in Russian River and Sonoma, ‘exporting’ the Torres legacy of fine wines to California. She founded her own Catalan-style Marimar Estate winery in Sonoma in 1992. The Torres family now operates on three ‘continents’ – Spain, Chile and California – and the wines presented at the Tasting represent some of the best of the family’s wines from all three countries. Cristina was raised in the family tradition by her mother in California. She studied economics in the U.S. before moving to Paris to pursue a career in fashion. Eventually she was drawn back into the wine business, and is now based in London and working with Torres’ UK Distributor John E. Fells. There she promotes the family brand by presenting Torres wines at events and tastings and marketing the Torres international portfolio to Fells’ trade customers.