Pazo de Baión

The earliest record of the property dates back to the 15th century, when it was known as the Casa y Torre de Fontán and owned by the Soutomaior family. Over the years, several important families lived in this traditional Galician manor house, such as the Figueroas, the Counts of Priegue and the Sarmientos. In the early 20th century, a Galician emigrant coming back from Argentina acquired the building and ordered its restoration, changing the design to its current form. The grounds were dedicated mainly to cereal farming and pasture for livestock, leaving a small part to use for wine production. In the seventies, his heirs sold the property to a company that turned the building into a milk factory. It also established the first technical cultivation of Albariño wine in the region of Rías Baixas, thus becoming the pioneer of the industry as we know it today. On 16 July 2008, the pazo was acquired in a public auction by the Condes de Albarei Winery, which developed a project that combines viticulture and wine tourism with a social programme.