October 2, 2020 - Very complex, garam masala, brown sugar, ripe guava, flower, very lovely and lovely with all sorts of warm spices, incredible. Great acidity, gentle sweetness, excellent inner mouth perfume and great elegance. Complex savouriness, delineated, powerful and light at the same time. Good length.
December 25, 2016 - Wines for Christmas Goose (San Francisco): Amber. Off dry, nutty, long, and salty. Excellent bottle.
September 24, 2016 - Finally finished this three months after I popped this. It is unbelievable how Madeira comes together after a few months. I would say it actually improves with time open. The acid is tamed weeks later and its sweetness is popping. A very nutty madeira. This is the second time this bottle and I'd love to have it again.
November 19, 2015 - Last pour from a bottle that I'd been slowly following over a couple of months. This has really changed from the first few sips I had, when it was all screechy acid. Now the acidity's much better integrated into the wine, and there's a remarkable array of savoury flavours here - tobacco, leather, and roasted nuts, augmented by sweeter molasses and dried fruit notes. Incredibly complex and long. I definitely need to buy more Madeira.
October 3, 2015 - Iberian Wine Dinner (Milford, CT): A Sercial for those who really love Sercial. A sharp, lean, high-toned, wine with nut skins, lemons and a touch of varnish. Medium length with a tangy finish of granny smith apples in toffee. I enjoyed this, but the enamel-stripping acidity may not be for everyone.
October 3, 2015 - Iberian dinner (Milford, CT): Holy crap, the acidity on this one. A really high toned, piercing nose with cardamom, fennel seed, molasses, roasted nuts, and coffee notes, but it comes across almost dry on the palate with tart citrus and figgy fruit and nutty flavours lifted by powerful acidity. Really curious to see how this bottle develops with more time/air, but it's compelling stuff, though not as pleasurable as the Verdelho.
December 14, 2014 - Dark tawny gold. Deep and slightly volatile nose of candied stone fruit. The palate is a little saline, molasses, roasted nuts, burnt sugar, and overripe peaches. The finish is very long and a bit warming. Overall really intense dessert flavors totally lightened by huge but palatable acidity .
March 22, 2014 - Madeira with Eric Ifune (Sunnyvale, CA): Fresh, lively nose with slight nuttiness, great freshness, almost like great sherry; full bodied, dry, incredible complexity, cigar, caramel, constantly evolving flavor, great fresh acidity throughout; long finish. The palate is really where this wine just explodes. 94
December 23, 2013 - I love this wine but at the risk of offending the sherry gods not sure it is any better than the case of amontillado from Alvear I bought about 10 years ago.
August 20, 2013 - Besøk hos Pereira d'Oliveira (Funchal, Madeira): Duft: Kraftig nese.
Smak: Fantastisk munnfølelse, frukt og syre, laang ettersmak og en fantastisk syre.