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2001
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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Drinking window: Drink between 2015 and 2022 (based on 4 user opinions) |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 85.5 pts. and median of 85 pts. in 19 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by thomaslangberg on 11/18/2023 & rated 91 points: Have kept in cellar for 15 years. Drinking over 3 weeks and the last drop was absolutely fab. (161 views) | | | Tasted by Pardon Taguzu on 11/2/2021: Nutty notes, kershaw almonds
Best Madeira are made from white grapes
Sercial grape , Verdelho
Drink as an appetizer (366 views) | | | Tasted by tendring on 3/6/2017 & rated 88 points: Wine Education Service - Madeira (LSE): Deep gold.
Nutty, toffee nose.
Toffee taste, good acidity, off dry, quite long. (1764 views) | | | Tasted by appel54 on 2/28/2017 & rated 86 points: Bärnstensfärdad, oljig och fet
Knäck, krut, brända toner i form av brända fat, möjligen lite bränd plast, brynt smör, bränd kola
Hög syra, torrt, inte så eldigt som vissa andra madeira. Fet och oljig i munnen. Bränt avslut med en del bränd plast även här.
En okej madeira. Bränd plast är inte någon angenäm doft eller smak. Annars gillar jag de brända tonerna (1581 views) | | | Tasted by Jona on 6/18/2016 & rated 83 points: I had it a couple of years ago and must say I liked it better this time. A good and dry drink, without too many disturbing features... Could have wished for a less rusticity. (1721 views) | | | Tasted by isaacjamesbaker on 2/1/2016 & rated 87 points: Madeira Pilgrimage; 2/1/2016-2/4/2016 (Madeira): Medium gold color. Aromas of white flowers, almond and honeycomb. Juicy texture with bright acid and flavors of bruised apple, toasted almond and apricot jam. Pleasantly tangy finish. Great way to start the trip and it paired wonderfully with some scabbard fish. (3371 views) | | | Tasted by Tenuta Stefan on 4/13/2015 & rated 83 points: Perfect bottle.
Slightly amber.
Hay, nuts, volatile acidity, alcohol, brown sugar. At first this Madeira is very raw with lots of alcohol in the bouquet, but with time it gets better. When the bottle have been open for 5 days it is quite pleasant actually.
On the palate it offers nuts, green tea, watercress, grape spirit (alcohol) and herbs.
Ok finish with lots of watercress and green tea. (2274 views) | | | Tasted by Carolus81 on 3/7/2014 & rated 90 points: Från start är det ganska stumt med en enkel doft som är väldigt oxidativ. Dagen efter är det mycket öppnare med mer florala drag, nötter och en liten honungston. Dessutom en friskare syra. Väldigt gott och perfekt till gruyere. (1587 views) | | | Tasted by FamilyLarsson on 2/15/2014 & rated 80 points: Gyllengult i färgen. Visst har det till viss del alla de klassiska brända tonerna, hasselnötter m.m. , men känns som att den saknar någon riktigt balans (1430 views) | | | Tasted by lator on 12/12/2013 & rated 80 points: No formal notes. 79-80 points. (1495 views) | | | Tasted by Jona on 12/22/2011 & rated 81 points: Rich and OK but somewhat alcoholic. Not really good value. (2044 views) | | | Tasted by Henman on 12/5/2009 & rated 85 points: 375ml; 9,91 €. Amber yellow in the glass.Quite light bodied but nice dry palate showing some burned caramelly hints,dried fruit,minerals,balanced acidity.A pretty good sercial with a decent QPR. (1808 views) | | | Tasted by avp on 12/4/2009: Amber brown.
Dried fruit, nuts, spiciness, liquorice and charcoal on the nose.
Dryish, light bodied and nicely structured with decent acidity. In line with the nose. The palate appears light and elegant before the dull finish that is both brief and straightforward. (1518 views) | | | Tasted by jazzb on 11/7/2009: O - bärnsten
D - Förspritsfenoler, russin, salt, luftmadrassgummi, torkade fikon, bränt socker
S - gummi, torkade fikon, brandrök, rostade fat, kandysocker, sälta, russin
Kryddig men lite spretig
7p (1546 views) | | | Tasted by Xavier Auerbach on 7/16/1996 & rated 89 points: Medium, warm orange-amber, yellow rim with green tinge; discreet nose, nuts and orange fruit, clean, good depth; off-dry, velvety, tangy acidity, elegant, juicy, lively, harmonious with pleasant weight and roundness, delicious nuttiness; excellent length. (853 views) |
| Cossart Gordon & Co. Producer WebsitePortugal 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. |
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