The Monte Alto Estate is one of the historic ones in the province of Valladolid, from the time of the monasteries, when the Cistercian Order arrived in Spain also bringing the culture of wine. Precisely from this religious order, very close to the Finca, in San Bernardo, is the Monastery of Santa María de Valbuena. Later, with the confiscation of Mendizábal, one of the largest landowners in the area passed into the hands of the Marquis Alonso Pesquera.

It was in 1981 when the couple Manuel Esteban Casado and Mª Ángeles Martín de la Rosa bought the Monte Alto farm, which has an exceptional location, between Valbuena and Pesquera de Duero. They had a clear vision of converting this agricultural livestock farm into a wine farm where they could dedicate themselves to making wines of the highest quality.

Manuel Esteban Casado was a great entrepreneur, president of Real Valladolid and president of the Association of Hunters and Fishermen of Valladolid, he was also very involved with university sports. He had always liked the world of wine and he transmitted his enthusiasm for this activity to his family. After some experiences, around twenty hectares of the Tinto Fino variety were planted in 1987.

His son Manuel Esteban Martín remembers… we started coming in the summers when I was four years old. Little by little, that attachment to the countryside permeated me and my sisters Susana and María Ángeles. When I was 18 years old, I began my career as an agronomist. My sister, who is two years older than me, had also started her career. My father was a visionary and understood from the beginning that he had to listen and learn from professionals, people who had been in the area for a long time, from Pedrosa, from Valbuena… lifelong winegrowers, he took advice and toured the Ribera del Duero looking for different clones of Tempranillo. This work and advice is one of the keys to the good plant we have today.

The first vintage of Montebaco Crianza was presented in 1994, with a production of 33,000 bottles, a classic Ribera wine… I was about 17 years old and I remember above all the family’s excitement, of having the wine, of sharing it with friends and family. That’s where I began to become interested in the world of wine, the countryside and agriculture. They were good summers… we very naturally got involved in the project because we were really passionate about it.

César Muñoz led the technical direction since 1997 and was key to the growth of the project, always with a clear commitment to excellence. Currently, the reins of this good work are held by Patricia Benítez.

It is the people, the love and effort with which we work, the situation, the selection of old Tempranillo clones from the area and the work from the beginning, which gives the quality of our wines.

Today it is a well-designed winery: spacious and equipped with advanced oenological technology. All of this in a renovated single-story building that once housed the dairy and several of the farm’s agricultural units.