XAMPRADA

Xamprada is Palacio de Canedo's sparkling wine and the first in this style to be produced in El Bierzo. It has been in José Luis Prada's mind ever since he took over the Palacio de Canedo: almost half of the plot surrounding the monument was planted with the Chardonnay variety to accompany the native Godello.

Chardonnay is the white grape that makes the base wines for most of the world's great sparkling wines, including French Champagne. The oenologists value its body and its ability to age, something essential in wines that go through a second fermentation in the bottle and, as in the case of Xamprada, lie a year and a half stored horizontally in the winery.

The distinctive feature that sets this sparkling wine apart is the Godello, the most characteristic white variety from El Bierzo and the one that Prada bet on from the beginning. The Godello is blended 50-50 with the Chardonnay, combining the sparkle and freshness of El Bierzo white wines with the body and structure of the Chardonnay.

This way, the Xamprada has a French touch that is appreciated in international markets but is differentiated by the Godello, something exclusive to this sparkling wine.

To start up the Xamprada project, the Palacio de Canedo hired the prestigious Catalan oenologist Josep Trallero who made the first wines and who was in charge of training the person who took over, José Manuel Ferreira.

The name was invented by Prada and was a real find, Xamprada, easily identifiable and unique, just what you look for in a successful brand.

Over these 25 years, the range has expanded from the classic brut with barely five grams of sugar per litre, that is, a dry sparkling wine that accompanies all food well from start to finish, to the Mencía and Godello rosé. It spans different shades of sweetness from extra brut to demi-sec, although most of the production currently is brut.

 The rosé Xamprada has won a Silver Zarcillo and the white a gold at the Mediterranean Wine Fair.

In addition, our sparkling wines carry the organic wine back label, reaffirming our commitment to the environment and the land we have borrowed and want to leave to future generations.

We produce around 30,000 bottles, a third of which end up on international markets, mainly in the United States, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

The vineyard behind these bottles is owned by the Palacio de Canedo, most of it on the estate surrounding the Palace and the rest of the Godello in the vicinity, on midday-oriented slopes between Canedo and Campelo.

The grapes are harvested at the end of August, the first grapes to be cut in El Bierzo, as the base wine of the sparkling wines must be harvested with low alcohol content, below twelve % ABV, as it will go through a second fermentation in the bottle later.

The Palacio de Canedo celebrates a Xamprada party before Christmas, lighting the Palace's Christmas lights and presenting the Prada a Tope Foundation’s Golden Chestnut, an award to a person or institution that has distinguished itself promoting El Bierzo.