External search
Google (images)
Wine Advocate
Wine Spectator
Burghound
Wine-Searcher
Vintages
1994
1989
1988
1978
1977
1973
1971
1968
1899
1880
1802
1795
From this producer
Show all wines
All tasting notes
|
| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.1 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 50 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by chbeaumont on 12/2/2023 & rated 93 points: (Restaurant, freshly coravinned).Deep amber; powerful bouquet, complex; intense palate, direct attack, marked acidity provides verve. Consistent to a bottle a few years back. Happy to hold onto my bottle. (703 views) | | | Tasted by Weinberg Falls on 10/3/2022 & rated 93 points: This was my last glass having left the bottle in a decanter for the best part of a year. Deep amber in the glass, nose of chargrilled pineapple, marzipan, orange peel and camphor wood. Vibrant palate of dried fruit and spices, with savoury hints and excellent acidity. Extremely long finish of burned sugar, roasted nuts and herbal bitters. Lively and mouth-watering Madiera. (1688 views) | | | Tasted by SAND on 10/8/2021 & rated 90 points: Frasqueira. Year of bottling: 2012. Bought from the producer in Funchal in 2013.
Open since 08.04.2020.
NOSE: Half dried sweet & sour berries, old sweet wood, some wood polish, dried orange rind, candied lemon rind, kumquat, rowanberry liqueur, light nuts. Like MDFreitas I also find some dry, pressed flowers. A little coffee. (89p)
TASTE: Wonderful sweet-dry-astringent-sour taste. Not the heaviest hitting or fullest Madeira but very lively, with some elegance to it. Fairly long, fruity-acidic and then slightly drying aftertaste. (90p)
TOTAL SCORE 90 points. (2511 views) | | | Tasted by cos65 on 9/17/2021 & rated 93 points: Rich deep amber colored
Roasted hazelnut and marzipan aromas
Sweet bitter orange peel.
Rich sweet palate with bracing acidity.
Such a treat.
Absolutely worth a visit before they’re gone forever (2393 views) | | | Tasted by cos65 on 8/5/2020: Amber colored
Huge melange of mushroom chestnut
orange peel, honey and blazing acidity.
This is such a special wine, though the strong flavors probably require a bit of a trigger warning.
Absolutely worth a try for the adventurous (3167 views) | | | Tasted by Matt T on 7/29/2020 & rated 94 points: This is showing extremely well. Dark brown, concentrated with lively acid, hazelnut, and caramel on a long finish. Improved with air. (2672 views) | | | Tasted by NickA on 4/25/2020 & rated 92 points: The Might of Madeira with Demetri Walters MW (Zoom!): Dusky, creamy rose on the nose, and some VA. Treacle toffee and marmalade on the palate, coffee and mushroom coming through towards the finish. Really long and savoury. Acidity is high and the aftermath of each sip is lip-smacking (2786 views) | | | Tasted by lawdro on 2/15/2020 & rated 89 points: Woodsy, redwood nose with more than a hint of mothball; palate is unmistakeable terrantez, yet it dries out early on the mid-palate where the camphor really takes over and dominates the moderate finish. "B-" (1917 views) | | | Tasted by Harley1199 on 1/29/2020: Some tell me this is a bottle bought years ago for just € 50. Nowadays you can't get it for less than triple that amount. Abundant and dry with a punch of coffee and caramel on the palate. The nose is more austere, almost volcanic and roughly mineral. I am certainly left with that dryness with notes of nuts. More than thirty years have passed and this wine has no an expiration date.
Me dicen que una botella comprada hace años por unos 50€. Hoy en día no la puedes conseguir por menos del triple de esa cantidad. Abundante y seco con un golpe vegetal y de caramelo de café en el paladar. En nariz se muestra más austero, casi volcánico y ásperamente mineral. Me quedo sin duda con esa sequedad con notas a frutos secos. Han pasado más de treinta años y este vino no tiene fecha de caducidad. (2129 views) | | | Tasted by msimoes on 9/14/2019: Delicious. Opened this after having some 1988 D'Oliveiras Malvazia and some RWC Charleston Sercial. Great balance. It is the best of both worlds - full malmsey aroma combined w sercial sharp acidity. Great balance, def the winner of the night bw those 3 and Ferreira 20 Yr Duque de Bragança. (1625 views) | | | Tasted by prof b on 12/31/2018 & rated 92 points: Decanted for 12 hours, this showed a nice range of hazelnut, toffee, and roasted nuts along with good acidity. Very nice. (2033 views) | | | Tasted by jerryjerry on 12/29/2018 & rated 89 points: We just popped the second bottle in tree years of this great wine. This one was bottled in 2018. the previous in 2016 or 2017. Smoke prunes pluns and spices dominate. The sugar vs acidity dominates the first month. Then it integrates and offers satesfying result. As a madeira lover i would rate this Very Very Good after Clive Coats. (1810 views) | | | Tasted by honest bob on 9/27/2018 & rated 94 points: From the last 2 inches left in the bottle recorded in my TN of 26.08.2018. Update: This bottle has improved distinctly over the month since opening. The texture has thickened slightly, and with it has come the richness and ripe acidity I remembered from the cellar door tasting in Funchal. Will keep longterm, and probably only improve. 94P (2555 views) | | | Tasted by honest bob on 8/26/2018 & rated 92 points: From 75cl, opened about 3 weeks ago and sipped every now and then. Outstanding, basically as recorded on 15.03.2017. Why am I so surprised at every sip to find this great wine so very slender, so salty, so... fresh? Does the sheer intensity of the smoky-caramel-toffee-creme brûlée-coffee scent makes me expect a fatter, more substantial liquid? The wine slinks in to the mouth like a silent predator, almost sinister-inexpressive after that magnificent aroma, and only really revs up to full power just before the superb, acidic-rippling, v. long finish. Mouth pickling stuff. Xavier Auerbach nailed a 10 years-earlier bottling than this (2015) one in his CT TN of 28.01.2017 – yes, it is austere, and indeed, medium dry. Phenomenal stuff, if really not yet quite in balance... yet(?) 92+p (the +++ perhaps reserved for later, thicker bottlings?) (2310 views) | | | Tasted by R J Lewis on 5/24/2018: Deep brown.
Pronounced nose. Aromas of dried figs, roasted coffee beans, mushroom, burnt caramel, tobacco, tar, soy, savoury. Very complex.
Medium-dry. High acidity, high alcohol, full-bodied, pronounced flavour intensity. Very complex flavours of dried figs, dates, caramel, coffee, soy, tobacco, toast, mushroom. Long finish.
This is an outstanding quality wine. The high alcohol and acidity are very well-balanced by the very intense, concentrated and complex flavour characteristics which show an array of different types of tertiary characteristics that continue to develop on the long finish. (1998 views) | | | Tasted by drwine2001 on 2/24/2018: Birthday Dinner with Wines from 1988 and 1958 for a Person of Unknown Age (Nopa, San Francisco): Deep amber. Full bodied, only moderately sweet, figs, great acidity and saltiness. This has ages to go. (2481 views) | | | Tasted by mdefreitas on 11/19/2017 & rated 93 points: Bottled in 2013. Perhaps the best bottle of this I've had. No VA, not too austere... just a lovely, balanced, intensely nougaty wine with a beam of citrus acidity. Lengthy, pure and deep. With some air, this also picks up some floral notes... more like dry, pressed flowers. A bit rounder and richer than previous bottles (probably due to longer cask aging), but this was still quite bright and focused, (2403 views) | | | Tasted by Burgundy Al on 4/27/2017 & rated 92 points: Madeira Seminar and Guided Tasting (Cream Wine Company - Chicago IL): Tasting, brief note. Lots of fig and candied citrus peel. Medium sweet start, drier finish. Very elegant, very well textured. Robust. VG overall. (3231 views) | | | Tasted by honest bob on 3/20/2017 & rated 93 points: Madeira in Madeira; 3/15/2017-3/20/2017: Retasted at D'Oliveiras in Funchal. 2015 bottling. Identical impression to 15.02.2017. 93-94P (4464 views) | | | Tasted by honest bob on 3/15/2017 & rated 94 points: Madeira in Madeira; 3/15/2017-3/20/2017: Tasted at D'Oliveiras, Funchal. Bottled 2015 (the 2016 bottling was also being sold, but was not open to taste). Intense toffee/caramel scent, hints of roasting coffee and creme brulée, utterly pure, no hint of mould or cellar funk. Slender, very acidic entry; the warm, resonant mid-palate comes at you in waves, again a hint of light-roast, acidic coffee. Very long, vibrant finish. Exceptionally fine. 94P (4353 views) | | | Tasted by Xavier Auerbach on 1/28/2017 & rated 93 points: Bottled 2004. The stencilling on the bottle says "Harvest", but I will record it here (Colheita means harvest anyway). Rich and burnished amber tawny, buttercup yellow rim; deep and rich but dry nose, toasted nuts and coffee, vanilla, orange peel; the palate is really powerful and impressive, medium dry, with intense and complex flavours, rapier-like acidity and that typical Terrantez austerity, hint of caramel; complete finish, excellent length. A powerhouse after only 16 years on oak; I shudder to think what will this be like after (say) 40 years in barrel. But maybe it will only gain in complexity and definition? (4545 views) | | | Tasted by cos65 on 1/11/2017: Deep Amber
Sweet hazelnut nose
Rich caramel, just mildly tart, really quite lovely and absolutely worth a visit (2754 views) | | | Tasted by acyso on 12/13/2015 & rated 93 points: Madeira and Champagne (Chicago, IL): Bottled 2014. Initial impression: there's a profound honeyed aspect to the nose on this wine -- I get a lot of sweet florals. The palate is quite spicy, and showing tart oranges, caramel, and a bit of Christmas spice. The acidity here is very powerful, and it feels almost as if this is a smidgen too dry. But then you realize that there's all this complex material, and everything's good again. (4411 views) | | | Tasted by tinybubbles on 10/15/2015 & rated 91 points: Dried bitter orange peel, caramelized sweet potato skins, old leather, salted caramel, and dusty soil tones. Fresh acid on the finish. Will deepen with time but great now. 91+ (4469 views) | | | Tasted by BordeauxBoy on 10/25/2014 & rated 95 points: Just finished this bottle over the past 3-4 months and it was excellent. It's my second bottle of this Madeira. Caramelized butter and orange citrus dominate without being too sweet. Missing purple fruit flavors so not every port drinker will like this but it's fantastic with sturdy, aged cheese after dinner. (2606 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Steven Spurrier
Decanter, Spurrier's fine wine world - February 2018 (1/1/2018)
(D’Oliveiras, Terrantez, Madeira, Portugal, White) Subscribe to see review text. | By Julia Harding, MW
JancisRobinson.com (10/16/2017)
(D'Oliveiras Terrantez Madeira White) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Jan/Feb 2014, Issue #49, Madeira- Timeless Island Wines From Just This Side of Paradise
(Pereira d’Oliveira Terrantez) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Roy Hersh
For The Love of Port, Issue #77 (11/12/2013)
(D’Oliveiras Terrantez Vintage Madeira) Subscribe to see review text. | By Roy Hersh
For The Love of Port, Issue #70 (6/26/2012)
(D'Oliveiras Terrantez Vintage Madeira) Subscribe to see review text. | By Roy Hersh
For The Love of Port, Issue #65 (12/16/2011)
(D’Oliveiras Terrantez Colheita Madeira) Subscribe to see review text. | By Roy Hersh
For The Love of Port, Issue #57 (5/21/2010)
(D’Oliveiras Terrantez Vintage Madeira) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, In Appreciation of Madeira (Oct 2008)
(D'oliveira Terrantez) Subscribe to see review text. | By Roy Hersh
For The Love of Port, May 2009, Issue #42
(D’Oliveiras Terrantez Madeira Colheita) Subscribe to see review text. | By Richard Mayson
Decanter
(D’Oliveiras, Terrantez, Madeira, Portugal, White) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Decanter and JancisRobinson.com and View From the Cellar and For The Love of Port and Vinous. (manage subscription channels) |
| D'Oliveiras Producer website
D'Oliveiras wines are among the most cherished on the island as they simply have vast stocks of tasty old wines and great innovation. The Rare Wine Co Historic Series (of classic American Madeiras) was accurately well done by D'Oliveiras and the recent Verdelho/Bual blend portends tremendous flavor excitement as these two classics combine into something symphonic.
The 68 and 08 are most rewarding wines. Ricardo must have a near perfect career!Portugal ViniPortugal (Associação Interprofissional para a Promoção dos Vinhos Portugueses/Portuguese Wine Trade Association)MadeiraThe Madeira Wine Guide and For The Love of Port are two essential sites on the wines of Madeira.MadeiraFrom Mannie Burk@ Rare Wine Co :
When served in 1950, the wine was 158 years old, but in fine condition, still boasting Madeira’s trademark rich, sweet, velvety taste and roomfilling aromas of butterscotch, cocoa and coffee. Sir Winston insisted on serving the guests himself, asking each in turn, “Do you realize that when this wine was vintaged Marie Antoinette was alive?”
Madeira’s longevity earns it a special place in the realm of old wine. What other wine requires over a half century to mature? And what other wine, when a century old, still benefits from several hours of breathing and can stand up to weeks in a decanter, without losing its complexity or its richness? And how many wines can live for two centuries and still offer not only the pleasure of their antiquity, but also the enjoyment of drinking?
The robustness and longevity of Madeira, even once opened, allows for endless experimentation with food pairings and drinking occasions.
Madeira’s Mountain Vineyards:
Madeira is produced on a breathtakingly beautiful volcanic island of the same name which surges from the sea at a point 360 miles west of Morocco and 700 miles south of Portugal, which governs it. The history of Madeira’s wine is nearly as old as that of the island. The island was first settled by Europeans—led by the Portuguese explorer Zarco—in 1419. By 1455 a visitor from Venice wrote that Madeira’s vineyards were the world's most beautiful. Within a century, the wine from these vineyards was well established in markets throughout Europe and by the 1600’s it had become the most popular wine in Britain’s North American colonies.
America’s First Wine:
The popularity of Madeira in the American colonies got a huge boost in 1665 when the British authorities banned the importation of products made or grown in Europe, unless shipped on British vessels from British ports. Products from Madeira were specifically exempted. British merchants in Madeira took full advantage of this by establishing close ties with merchants in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston and Savannah. A steady trade developed in which wine from Madeira was traded for such American products as indigo, corn and cotton. This trade continued unabated until the early 1800’s, except when politics and war interfered in the 1770’s.
For two centuries, Madeira was the wine of choice for most affluent Americans. Francis Scott Keyes is said to have penned the Star Spangled Banner, sipping from a glass of Madeira. George Washington's inauguration was toasted with Madeira, as was the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Wealthy families from Boston to Savannah established extensive collections of Madeiras. Madeira became high fashion, and“Madeira parties” (a forerunner of today’s wine tasting) became major social events.
How Madeira is Made:
Madeira is produced from grapes grown on terraces cut into the island's steep mountainsides. Like Port, Madeira is a “fortified” wine to which brandy has been added. But unlike other fortified wines, Madeira is also heated for several months, either in special vats or in the attic lofts of the Madeira lodges.
This heating (called “estufagem”) had its origins in the days when merchant ships called at Madeira on their way to the East and West Indies. Beginning in the late 1600's, wines from Madeira's vineyards were frequent cargo on ships sailing to the Americas, as well as to mainland Portugal, England and India. According to legend, the value of a trip to the tropics was learned when an orphan cask, forgotten in a ship's hold, returned to Madeira from a trip across the Equator. The wine was found to be rich and velvety, far better than when it left, and a tropical cruise became part of the Madeira winemaking tradition.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, producers continued to send casks of their wines on long voyages, for no other reason than to develop greater character. The ocean traveling wines were called vina da roda (“wines of the round voyage”) and those that crossed the Equator twice were considered the best. Some Madeiras were named for the vessels with which they sailed (Constitution, Balthazar, Red jacket, Hurricane, Comet) or the places they had been (East Indies, West Indies, Japan, Argentina). Although this practice ended in the first decade of the 20th century, heating is still a critical step in the making of all Madeiras.
A Century of Change:
While the majority of Madeiras are blends of vintages and grape varieties, it is the vintage wines, and the now-vanishing soleras that are Madeira’s claim to greatness. Vintage and solera Madeiras are not simply a selection of the best wines from the best years, they are made from particular “noble” grape varieties after which the wines are named. These names—Malmsey, Bual, Verdelho, Sercial—not only describe a grape variety; they also describe a style, with Malmsey being the sweetest and richest (and therefore the most like Vintage Port) and Sercial being the lightest and the driest.
There are other grape varieties whose names you may stumble across on old bottles of Madeira. Terrantez and Bastardo, in particular, are grapes that were widely grown up to the late 1800's and whose old wines can still be found on occasion. The virtual extinction of Terrantez and Bastardo grapevines in the late 1800's coincided with the decline of the Madeira wine trade and resulted from the same causes: two diseases of the vine, Oidium and Phylloxera, both of which also struck the vineyards of Europe, but in Madeira caused much greater, and more lasting, destruction.
The Oidium crisis began in 1852 and lasted about a decade; during this time some 90 percent of the island's vines were destroyed by powdery mildew, and the number of firms producing wine decreased by over 75 percent. There was a brief period of replanting and rebuilding in the 1860's, but then Phylloxera struck in 1872, reducing the island's vine acreage to about 1,000 by the early 1880’s.
The Phylloxera crisis, too, passed, and by the turn of the century production had been restored throughout the island, albeit at somewhat lower levels. But the costs had been heavy. Madeira had largely lost its traditional markets—America, England and the British East Indian colonies. Relatively less of the classic grape varieties were now grown, as they gave way to more prolific, but less distinguished, varieties. And, of course, stocks of older wines had been largely depleted, after a half century during which little young wine was being produced.
Today, the world's supply of fine Madeira is negligible. However, those few examples that have survived from the 19th and early 20th centuries are among the world's most majestic wines, which no wine lover should fail to experience.
Over the past twenty years, our passion for these noble wines has grown with each passing month. We believe that they are among the greatest, most individual wines this planet has ever produced. They possess a richness and grandeur shared by only a few wines.
And their ability to age makes them absolutely unique. Most wines are dead and gone at age 100; and at best they are barely drinkable. But after a century, a Madeira can be just reaching its prime, possessing the depth of great age, but also the vigor of youth.
The gradual depletion of the world’s stocks of these irreplaceable wines has only encouraged us to try harder to find the wines that remain.
A Note on Prices and Quality:
As they have grown in rarity, and the sources of supply diminish, the price of Madeira on the world market has skyrocketed. Though many of the older wines arguably are worth whatever you may be asked to pay, the rising tide—combined with Madeira’s mystique—has also raised the prices of mediocrities to the levels of the greats. |
|
