Espadeiro (ess-puh-DAY-ro) is a red wine grape from Galicia.
¡O espadeiro! ¡Acios mouros, cepas tortas, follas verdes, douradas e vermellas, gala nas terras vivas de Castrelo nos Castelos de Oubiña e nas areas de Tragove e Sisán, do mar de Arousa e o Umia cristalino nas ribeiras!
¡O espadeiro amante! ¡O viño doce! ¡Alegría de mallas e espadelas, compañeiro das bolas de pan quente e as castañas asadas na lareira!
-Ramón Cabanillas, “Diante dunha cunca de espadeiro” (Da terra asoballada, 1917)
Espadeiro! Dark bunches, crooked vines, green, gold and red leaves, gala in the lively land of Castrelo in the Castles of Oubiña and in the sands of Tragove and Sisán, from the sea of Arousa and the crystalline Umia on its banks!
Espadeiro the lover! Sweet wine! Joy of thresher and scutcher, companion of hot loaves of bread and chestnuts roasted on the fire!
-Ramón Cabanillas, “Before a cunca of espadeiro” (Da terra asoballada, 1917)
What is espadeiro?
Before albariño, there was espadeiro. Prior to the arrival of phylloxera, it was the predominant red variety in the Val do Salnés, Recently, wineries in the region have begun to invest in its recovery.
What does Espadeiro wine smell like?
Espadeiro wines are highly aromatic, with primary aromas of tart red fruit like cranberries and strawberries. They can also take on herbal aromas like eucalyptus and menthol, as well as some vegetal and spice notes if they’re macerated with stems or spend time in barrels.
What does Espadeiro wine taste like?
Espadeiro produces full-bodied, rustic wines, whose acidity and tannins can be tamed by aging in oak barrels. Only a few producers currently make wine from espadeiro, so it will be interesting to see how the wines evolve with more practice and experimentation in the winery.
Where does espadeiro come from?
The grape known as espadeiro in Galicia comes from southwest France, where it was grown up trees and called camaraou noir. Nowadays there’s almost none of it in France, and only a few vines grow in old Béarn and Jurançon vineyards.
In Galicia, espadeiro was the main grape variety in the Salnés Valley of Rías Baixas until phylloxera, when many vines were replaced with hybrids. Even still, espadeiro stuck around until the albariño boom of the 1980s, when many people pulled up entire vineyards of red grapes and replaced them with the more profitable albariño.
Some technical details
Espadeiro makes wines with medium to high alcohol between 11-14% and medium acidity up to 6g/L.
How is Espadeiro wine made?
For most current single variety espadeiro wines, the grapes are destemmed and fermented in stainless steel or open barrels. After fermentation, most of them undergo 12 months of aging in large used oak barrels.