Madeira with Eric Ifune
Sunnyvale, CA
Tasted March 22, 2014 by aagrawal with 712 views
Introduction
This was just a superb tasting with truly world class Madeira. The Rare Wine company examples were all excellent, but I think my order of favorites was the Bual>Malmsey>Sercial>Verdelho. But in every example, the vintage wine was just heads-and-shoulders above the Rare Wine Co examples, through no fault of the lesser wines. The 1890 Bual was just spectacular, one of the best wines in general that I have had and certainly the best Madeira.
Flight 1 - Aperitif (2 notes)
Introductory wines, but stellar examples of each in their own right. The champagne and the Trimbach were both wonderful with the scallops, and I would have been happy nursing either of these wines all night.
Flight 2 - Sercial (2 notes)
The driest of the wines, others with more experience at the table said that these may have been a quarter-step sweeter than Sercial usually is. I certainly didn't find them too acidic and really liked the freshness and food-friendliness. The Rare Wine Co example had the classic character of this style, but the vintage wine just brought so much more complexity and vibrancy that it was the easy pick as the favorite.
Flight 3 - Verdelho (3 notes)
The "half-dry" style, this flight was one of my favorites. The 1890 D'Oliveiras Verdelho was just truly superb, likely one of the best wines I've ever had. It had just crazy complexity on the nose and also especially on the palate with great vibrancy throughout. It was a clear step above even the other vintage Madeira at this tasting. The single-cask Colheita styled wine was very good, but had a much lighter color than the other two.
Flight 4 - Terrantez (1 note)
A very rare varietal, only about 1000 liters is made of this grape each year. I can see why it has such fans, since it blended the slight sweetness of a Verdelho to Bual with superb lively acidity even better than most of the other Madeiras at this tasting. It also had the clearest, purest fruit. A wonderful and rare treat.
Flight 5 - Bual/Boal (2 notes)
The Bual is the "half-sweet" style. This was the sweet spot (haha...) for the Rare Wine Co series, as most seemed to like this one the best. I mostly agree, but I also really liked the Malmsey and Sercial styled versions very much. The 1968 D'Oliveiras Boal is legendary, per Eric, of being able to stand up to wines much older and much more expensive than it. Indeed, at just about $150, this is a true "value" in vintage Madeira. Some of the older ones were still better, but this was excellent value.
Flight 6 - Malmsey (2 notes)
The sweetest of the bunch, these would all make fantastic after-dinner drinks and still have more than enough freshness to balance out the sugar. Both were excellent, but again the vintage (1914) easily stole the show as the #2 wine of the night.
Flight 7 - California (1 note)
Just for fun, a taste of the California equivalent of Madeira. Actually, it was surprisingly good, though made in a slightly different style (with red grapes, possibly zinfandel).
Closing
Clearly, the 1890 and 1914 were once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and it was incredibly generous of Eric to share those experiences with us. A few lessons:
1) The Rare Wine Co Madeira are superb examples of the style, but they are still no match for true vintage Madeira.
2) I'm surprised at how close in style the Sercial and the Malmsey seem to be. Instead of being the different between completely dry and completely sweet, it was the difference between slightly sweet and sweeter with great acidity to prevent it from seeming unctuous... surprisingly close together.
3) Since these can stay open and be enjoyed over months to years, the pricing still ends up being reasonable. A light drinker may need only a couple bottles of Madeira a year, so may as well make it the wonderful vintage ones!