COMMITTED TO OUR LEGACY

Pazo de la Cuesta, since 1416

The Pazo de la Cuesta estate extends over 40 hectares of oak and pine forest, gardens, orchards, olive groves, and vineyards. The first references to the country house, its farm, the vineyards, and the winery can be found in the family archives as far back as the year 1416.

Our history

From the Casa Grande de la Cuesta to Pazo do Batanero

The first references in the family archives to El Pazo, the farm, the vineyards, and the wine cellar date back to 1416.

The property was passed down from generation to generation until the mid-19th century when Manuel Batanero Montenegro and his wife, Pastoriza Flórez de Losada y Quiroga decided to renovate the old house. The result was El Pazo and the gardens that we enjoy today.

The design of El Pazo

Following the first renovation project, which was completed in 1869, two towers were built towards the end of the 19th century, giving the property a colonial-style symmetry.

The main façade of the house is broad and imposing with numerous balconies and windows.

Manuel and Pastoriza’s family crest adorns the centre of the building above the main door, which is also graced with one of El Pazo’s most prized possessions: a clock built in London in 1869 by José Rodríguez Losada, the same artisan who built the famous clock in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol.

Pazo de La Cuesta Gardens

Living Galician Heritage

The historic gardens, of great botanical value, were landscaped during the last third of the 19th century, being installed with a network of canals, wells, cisterns, and fountains that allow the irrigation of the whole estate using water from its highest areas.

Centuries of history together in the family home

The key features of the main building are its chapel and the family’s mausoleum dedicated to Our Lady of the Divine Shepherd and Saint Blaise, along with the grand dining room, the bishop’s hall, the gallery, the billiard parlour, and the wine cellar, which is home to bottles of wine and liquors dating back to the 19th century.

The historic wine cellar and other unique buildings

There is also a coach house on the estate, where the wine cellar is temporarily located, and other buildings that have been standing since the 16th century, if not earlier: the impressive original wine cellar with a surface area of 350 m2 and 11-metre-high walls, the wood-fired oven, the stables, the barn, the woodshed, and the extraordinary stone staircase that provides entry to El Pazo, dating back to the end of the 17th century.

In the mill building, a coat of arms of dating back to the beginning of the 16th century is still visible. It pertains to Captain Álvaro de Losada y Somoza and his wife María Valcárcel de Quiroga y Balboa and incorporates the six dice and the fleur-de-lis of the Somoza family, the flagstone over two lizards of the Losadas, the tree with four stakes of the Valcárcel de Quirogas, and the lion rampant in water of the Balboas.

The Pazo de la Cuesta family crest

This coat of arms was adopted by 19th-century descendant Doña Pastoriza, and now forms part of the Pazo de La Cuesta brand.

Pazo de la Cuesta in the 21st century

In 2020, Manuel and Pastoriza’s great-great-grandson Manuel Bellod Álvarez de Lorenzana made a commitment to restore El Pazo and its vineyards, and return its wines to their former prestige.

Significant improvements are currently being made to the estate, including the restoration of the original 16th century wine cellar, the original coach house, the wood-fired oven, the mill, and the waterwheels for the water supply network.

And of course, the gardens and vineyards are also being restored, once again bearing fruit from two century-old vines, fruit and olive trees.

1416

Year of the first documented reference to wine production at Pazo de la Cuesta.

1608

First inventory of winemaking activity at Pazo de la Cuesta, as detailed in Álvaro de Gon y Somoza’s will, and inherited by his grandson, Captain Álvaro de Losada y Somoza.

1862

Manuel Batanero Montenegro sells El Pazo’s wines under the brand “Palacio de la Cuesta,” making it the first winery in Northern Spain to label its wines.

1869

Mrs. Pastoriza Florez de Losada and Mr. Manuel Batanero Montenegro complete the first phase of rehabilitation of the Pazo.

1874

The year of the first vintage preserved in the historic wine collection.

2020

Manuel and Pastoriza’s great-great-grandson Manuel Bellod Álvarez de Lorenzana takes on the project to renovate the El Pazo de la Cuesta winery and recover its historic vineyards.

A journey through our family history

Pazo de La Cuesta has belonged to the same family since it was founded in the 16th century: fourteen generations reigned over by the Flórez de Losadas, Flórez de Quiñones, Somozas, Quirogas, Pugas, Montenegros, Bataneros, Bellods, and Álvarez de Lorenzanas, among others.