Welcome to Finca Es Cabàs
Finca Es Cabàs has been inhabited and cultivated for thousands of years, with all those before us leaving their mark on the land. This beautifully restored, ancient property of Talaiotic and Moorish origin is set at the foot of the Serra de Tramuntana Mountain Range in Mallorca’s South West. Just 15 minutes’ drive from Palma, Es Cabàs is elegantly integrated into the idyllic countryside where we look forward to welcoming you into a world of tradition.
Es Cabàs is a sanctuary for all those that come here, it is a place where centuries old traditions have in many ways managed to stay alive. We are the custodians of something that has been here long before us and we hope will stand long after we are gone as a tribute to the thousands of years of collective human history that this land is home to. We want to preserve a beautiful instance of architectural history and Mallorquín culture as passed down through the generations. Sharing this place with others is a means to do exactly that.
The Farm House itself is of Moorish origin, evidence of which is visible in much of its construction with the earliest known ownership dating back to at least the 13-5th Century. Before then we know that the Romans and Talaiotics (an Iron Age (±1500 BCE) culture endemic to the Balearic Islands) lived here, with ruins on the finca’s surrounding peaks and further remains found in the nearby caves. Archaeological curiosities aside, we know that the building was historically used solely for agricultural purposes like the production of olive oil, livestock and storage. The house has been tastefully restored, maintaining a sense of integrity to the space so as to preserve a beautiful part of Mallorca’s history.
Decorated with a distinctive Mallorquín touch, Es Cabàs offers our guests all the comforts of modernity while maintaining a sense of authenticity to our heritage. The entire property features exquisite finishing’s with careful attention paid to the oldest part of its construction, resulting in an elegant intersection between the old and the new.
Built entirely out of stone with many of the traditional methods used through ages still visible in different parts of the house, the arches and the canal in the oldest sections of the manor are notable historic features. The old medieval lime kilns, the coal houses and the olive mills, amongst other constructions, have been preserved to give the visitor a glimpse of daily rural life in the old Serra de Tramuntana area of Majorca which was given UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2011.
Es Cabàs was once one of the most productive fincas on the island, while the scale of production has drastically decreased over the centuries we still produce a number of organic goods using traditional methods.
Following a centuries old tradition, the farm still produces crops from its own seeds endemic to the island. Xeixa, an indigenous wheat grain is harvested, ground in a stone mill and used for the production of ecological breads and pastry. The orchards produce almonds, carobs, oranges, figs, olives and other native fruits.
The Olive groves in Es Cabàs are entirely made up from true Mallorquín Olive Trees, which only occur through a process of grafting and are hundreds of years old. The tree’s only yield small amounts of fruit, but of a distinct nature and quality. Made using these true handpicked Mallorquín olives, our small batch extra virgin olive oil is pressed and bottled only a couple of kilometers away from the Finca. The product of a long tradition of organic farming, our olive oil is making waves within the industry based on its purity, taste and the traditional methods used in the production process.
While we offer a number of wine tastings at the finca, we are also slowly reintroducing our own wine into our production repertoire. During the Arabic occupation of Mallorca, Es Cabàs was a huge wine producer, until a terrible plague across the island killed most of the vineyards. Forcing the following generations to diversify their agricultural production into almond and carob trees while placing more focus on olive oil. Nowadays, vineyards are being reintegrated on the finca with the old local type variety, we hope that soon we will see our fledgling vineyard yielding fruits so that we can start enjoying our own wines!
Making your way through the grounds you might encounter some of the finca’s more wild inhabitants who make their way down from the mountains or proliferate in the crop areas. While the area is home to most of Mallorca’s more endemic wildlife, we also keep a number of domesticated animals on the finca, including; Majorcan goats, donkeys, black pigs and sheep.