The Miño's Legend

Legend has it that this is the land
of the finest Albariño wines

The pazo, or country house, that presides over the estate and gives it its name is located in Salvaterra do Miño by the banks of the river. In 2003, Marqués de Vargas Family Wines and Estates acquired Pazo de San Mauro, a 30 hectare vineyard in Rías Baixas in the Condado de Tea sub-zone.

Pazo de San Mauro originally belonged to the noble Spanish and Portuguese Pereira de Castro family, descendants of King Sancho I of Portugal. It was built in 1591. Its history has always been entwined with that of wine production, because the remains of an old press room prove that wine was produced here in the 16th century.

Huge investment has been made into the property since it was purchased; its noble buildings have been restored and a new winery built with the latest technology for the best possible wine production.

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The magic of a unique place

Our winery is located in Condado de Tea, the southern-most and sunniest area of Denomination of Origin Rías Baixas. It has an exceptional microclimate with Atlantic influences noted for its gentle temperatures and heavy rainfall. It also has the necessary number of ideal daylight hours that ensure the vines in Pazo de San Mauro mature fully and early. This provides us with greater precision and quality when producing our wines.

Another special characteristic is the geologically ancient granite content of the soil that gives the wine its complex, mineral character.

Together, these factors mean that we can successfully obtain and sell wines of the highest quality.

A vineyard on the banks of the Miño

The Pazo de San Mauro vines are over 40 years old and cover a 30 hectare area of pebble plots by the banks of the river Miño, creating a natural amphitheatre and surrounding it with magic and mystery. The grapevines are semi-trellised so that the fruit, of which very little is produced, can grow in the best possible conditions and achieve the highest levels of quality.

The soil is sandy by the river and pebbly on the hillsides and high areas; it is suitable for growing different grape varieties and although mainly Albariño is cultivated, other varieties such as Loureiro and Godello are also grown.

The selection of the finest grapes

We harvest the grapes by hand, choosing and picking the best grapes for our wine from the vine itself. Once the grapes are harvested, they are macerated at low temperatures for several hours to extract as much aroma as possible.

During the next 15 days, the wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks at 17-18ºC before being stabilised in insulated barrels.

To produce our Sanamaro wine, one of our wines undergoes the “batonnage sur lie” process after fermentation. During this process, the wine continues to sit on the lees for a few months in stainless steel tanks, producing a more complex, unctuous wine with a greasy touch.

Our Wines

Two excellent whites: one is made exclusively from Albariño grapes and the other from a complex combination of Loureiro and Albariño.

Sanamaro

Sobre Lías

Pazo

de San Mauro

The reward for all our work

A boost for Galician wine

At Pazo de San Mauro we produce excellent white wines with the Galician essence of Denomination of Origin Rías Baixas. We are delighted to receive a 56% grant from the Union European to finance the Innter Winargal 15 project. This project is co-financed by the Union European and CDTI (Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology) with FEDER funds and its main aim is to increase and diversify the range of Galician wine products by producing a new and unique aromatic wine from traditional grape varieties and Galician aromatic herbs, resulting in a product that is exclusively Galician.