March 9, 2024 - ESTG does Oregon Pinot (Newcastle, WA): Textbook showing, just love this, sherry-like, wonderful acidity.
January 23, 2024 - Medium amber. Medium(+) aromas of apricot, white chocolate, cheese rind, dried peach, caramel, soy sauce, vanilla, coffee, roasted hazelnut, orange peel. Medium dry, medium(+) body, med(+) acidity, high alcohol, medium(+) finish. Some viscous texture. Well made balanced and tasty. Ripe fruits and tertiary notes supported by acidity.
October 29, 2023 - Clear light golden amber
Light rum raisin nose
Off dry with piercing acidity and a bitter hazelnut and orange peel finish.
Nice stuff in this price range
November 27, 2022 - This is terrific for its level. Amber with a hint of ruby. Spicy, nutty, sticky toffee pudding nose. Medium rich and medium sweet. What I love is the penetrating acid and structure which really balances things out. Would work well with a meal or on its own. A terrific $50 Madeira. (91)
April 10, 2022 - D5 DipWSET FORTIFIED WINES with Adam Chase and Matt Gaughan; 4/9/2022-4/10/2022 (St Francis' Yacht Club San Francisco): A: Medium amber
N: Medium (+) nose of honey, dried pear, cooked apples, hazelnuts, marmalade, caramel, smoke, burnt toffee
P: Medium sweet (I thought medium dry at first), high acidity, high alcohol, medium (+) intensity and medium (+) body and medium finish
C: sugar and acid are balanced and so this is still refreshing. The intensity of fruit, nuts and burnt sugar flavors come to a curtailed finish of a wine that is hinting at the onset of complexity. This wine is of good quality. Better examples may have greater length and more complexity
Not suitable for ageing.
March 7, 2022 - Very enjoyable again, this time in small pours over two months — simply corked in between and returned to the cellar. As previously, it goes beautifully with robust / rich and spicy soups, especially those with Middle Eastern spices.
January 9, 2022 - Popped today and was very pleasantly surprised. Notes of roasted almond, apricot, caramel on the nose. On the palate, medium sweet with high acidity to balance things out. Good intensity, integration and complexity. Hard to find better Madeira at this price-point. Lovely Sercial.
December 30, 2021 - Lovely again, and matching particularly well with a robust, rich, creamy soup. Also, and maybe surprisingly, it goes fabulously with spicy fried chicken.
May 4, 2021 - Medium amber. On the nose medium + intensity aromas of dried orange peel, roasted almonds, hazelnuts, toffee, caramel, dried apricots, marmalade. On the palate the wine is medium dry with medium + acidity, fortified high alcohol and a medium body. The flavors are of pronounced intensity with dried orange peel, roasted almonds, hazelnuts, toffee, caramel, dried apricots, marmalade. The finish is long with citrus and almonds . The wine is good with the medium + acidity balancing the sweetness levels and the fruit nature balanced by the well integrated alcohol. The intensity rises from the nose to the palate and the finish is long and layered.
September 26, 2020 - The May 2018 note below captures this very well. Highly enjoyable, and we will search out more. (At Harbor House, Elk.)