Casa Madero owns and operates the oldest vineyards and winery in the entire American Continent. 73 years after Hernan Cortez conquered the Aztecs, Don Lorenzo Garcia explored the north of Mexico, and in the midst of a desert, came across a veritable oasis with water springs and abundance of native vines, from whose grapes the first American wine was ever produced. The place was called "Santa Maria de las Parras", or Holy Mary of the vines, as parras is Spanish for vines. On the 19th of August 1597, Don Lorenzo García took formal possession of a land grant issued to him by Philip II King of Spain, with the express purpose of establishing a vineyard to produce wine and brandy, thus asserting his claim and peaceful use of the land he had settled earlier, thus giving formal birth to the Hacienda de San Lorenzo, which today is Casa Madero.