"Business must be as innovative as possible. All the staff has to take part”, says the President of Torres Wines

Barcelona (Gastroteca.cat).- The President of Torres Wines, Miguel A. Torres, who is also the Vice President of the Catalan Wine Association defended the  need for greater exports and focused on the good results of cava producers. Wine cellars all over the world are dealing with the economic crisis by dropping the price of the grape. However, this is not enough and they need new markets or to increase their productivity with innovation. Torres believes in a non top-down driven innovation process involving every member of staff as a means of reducing and getting over the crisis. Furthermore, Torres has pointed out that the quality of Catalan wines has improved greatly in the last number of years. In addition, he explained how Torres began to introduce traditional Catalan grape varieties, “four or five of which are excellent”. However, it will not increase sales in the short or medium term, as most people still prefer classic wines such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon. New grapes are still considered to be for connoisseurs.

Torres is one of Catalonia's most globally renowned wine houses, with vineyards and wineries in places such as Chile and California. Company President, Miguel A. Torres, considers innovative ideas and green energy the best ways of reducing costs and improving quality, especially during an economic downturn. "Business must be as innovative as possible. All the staff has to take part" Torres claims. He stressed that innovation should not be a top-down driven process but include every member of staff in a company. “Sometimes, when we talk about innovation we think of a laboratory. That is not necessarily the case. Innovation may come from a bottling machine or even from a man on a tractor” explains Torres.

"All our efforts are on exports"

Torres Wines and other businesses battling against the effects of the economic crisis have already started cost cutting and are focusing their sales abroad. Torres explains that cava is "the biggest exporter by volume" and is a well known wine in international markets. All their efforts are put on exports in order to sell Torres red and white wines as its results are far better than their national sales. "The home market is still not working as it should be", affirms Torres.

The wine crisis aggravated by economic crisis

Miguel A. Torres is also the Vice President of the Catalan Wine Association. According to him, all the problems the wine industry had before the financial crash have been exacerbated in the last couple of years and it has affected wine industries all over the world. In spite of all the efforts made in order to avoid the crisis, prices have been very low this year in order to maintain sales. "A 'La Rioja' grape has been selling this year for 30 cents per kilo" explained Torres, “when this kind of grape, one of the most in demand, used to cost 1 euro per kilo”.

Excellent quality in new Catalan wines

Torres is optimistic about the future of Catalan wines: red, white, sweet and cava. He stated that among the new types of Catalan grapes introduced into the market, there are four or five of excellent quality. This gives a certain prestige to Catalan wine, but it does not increase sales in the short or medium term. Torres believed that a reason for this is that "people are used to specific types of wine", similar to ‘La Rioja’ wine, and pointed out that, once used to it, "it is quite hard for them to change it". Therefore these new varieties are more for connoisseurs and the general public will start buying them in 10 or 15 years time.