Familia Torres has recently acquired an extensive property in Chilean Patagonia with a view to mitigating the effects of climate change. The estate, located in the province of Aysén, is known as “Los Cóndores” and occupies an area of more than 5,000 hectares. It will be used to plant forests, with a double objective:  to compensate the winery’s carbon footprint by means of own efforts and to recover the forest landscape that historically characterized this area.

Los Cóndores is a livestock farm, with typical steppe meadow vegetation and lagoons with abundant birds. When settlers arrived here in the late 19th century, they replaced these native forests with plantations.  Familia Torres’ intention is to reforest this land, preserving the local flora and fauna, having already acquired a 740-hectare estate in 2016 for the same reason; this other property is also located in Chilean Patagonia, in the province of Coyhaique in an area known as Altos de Ñirehuao. 

Forests contribute to the fight against climate change thanks to their ability to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and store the carbon in the form of biomass (trunk, branches, bark, and roots). Around half of the plant’s dry matter is carbon. Trees capture more CO2 during their growth stage, until reaching full maturity. Sustainable forest management ensures the permanence, improvement, growth, and renewal of the forest mass, enabling carbon to be retained permanently over time.

According to Miguel A. Torres, the winery’s president: “Both in Chile and in Spain, we have a large forest area that allows us to preserve the landscape and look after the environment. Planting forests in certain areas will also help us to reduce our CO2 emissions even more and go one step further in our commitment to the environment.”

Forest stewardship and the reforestation of natural spaces is part of the Familia Torres’ commitment to look after the Earth and conserve the environment. This commitment is reflected in the Torres & Earth program, the main aim of which is to reduce the winery’s carbon footprint to mitigate the effects of climate change. In 2017, the Familia Torres’ CO2 emissions per bottle in its full scope - from the vineyard to the final transportation - were 25.4% lower compared to 2008, and the aim is to reach 30% by 2020.