The earliest account of the Rocha variety dates from 1836, in the Sintra municipality.

This variety was casually obtained from a seed, on Pedro António Rocha's farm.

The production area is over 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi) and there are about 9,450 producers.

[3] 'Rocha' Pear produced in the Oeste region of Portugal has a PDO status since 2003.

[4] It is the most renowned, being a product with specific characteristics: Over 13,520,000 kg of Oeste’s 'Rocha' Pear was exported in 2004 to countries like Britain, Brazil, France, Ireland, Russia, Poland, the Netherlands, Canada and Spain.