Collection: Hacienda San José

Hacienda San José, owned & operated by the Franceschi family, is a 170-hectare estate on the Venezuelan coast. The farm is located on the Paria peninsula, in the northeastern part of the country, famous for being the first land in the Americas to be explored by Christopher Columbus on his third trip to the continent, in 1498. Over the years, the estate has become an important center for the recovery of genetic diversity in Venezuela’s native criollo cacao strains, including those from other parts of the country. Divided into 16 distinct parcels, the estate’s many criollo cacao strains are all carefully shaded by banana trees, which later often serve a second purpose during the fermentation process. Show Less