April 14, 2024 - Lovely soy sauce aroma, classic Madeira. Raisins, prunes, and pecans. Lively acidity keeps things moving on, far from intense PX character. Dashi, walnut, and coffee as well, plus Chinese dried tangerine peel and maybe some five spice, Heath Bar toffee, and iodine. Lively and complex.
December 31, 2023 - This was more complete than the glass recently tasted. Elegant and pure and wonderfully attractive.
December 22, 2023 - This was very interesting, quite different stylistically from, say, Blandy's. It is sweet but not very much, and the acidity is enormous while aromas (raisins and smoky lava notes) are ethereal. Excellent drink and very good with a complicated dessert.
November 15, 2023 - By the glass. Varietal Malvasia from the collection Barbeito 10 years old. Evidently the sweetest and fleshy of the three tasted varieties. Excessive concentration on the palate with a candied fruit finish. In my humble opinion it needs more time to develop complexity and depth.
Por copas. Varietal Malvasía de la colección 10 anhos de Barbeito. Evidentemente la más dulce y carnosa de las tres variedades catadas. Excesiva concentración en boca con un final de fruta confitada. En mi humilde opinión necesita más tiempo para desarrollar complejidad y profundidad.
November 19, 2022 - Salted caramel and nuts, dates, bouillon; sweet, yes, but beautifully balanced by acidity. Lovely orange zest note, chalk and minerality. Long and very complete. Excellent. 17.5/20
September 3, 2022 - Made with Malvasia Branca de São Jorge grapes sourced from São Jorge on the northern side of the island. The grapes are fermented for approximately 1-2 days. Then the must is rectified to approx. 20% ABV with 96% ABV grape spirit to halt the fermentation, after which the fortified wine is transferred to old French oak casks. The wine is aged in Canteiros, ie. in warm warehouses, in which the wines age in casks that are never topped up. The wine is blended from different casks resulting in a wine that is stylistically approximately 10 years old. Bottled filtered. Labeled medium-sweet. 19,17% alcohol, 101 g/l residual sugar, 6,85 g/l acidity, pH 3,48 and 0,87 g/l VA.
Medium-deep amber color. Wonderfully fragrant and even subtly floral nose with layered aromas of orange blossom, some toffee, a little bit of roasted chestnut, light honeyed tones, a hint of crème brûlée and a touch of old wood. The wine feels rich, round and nuanced on the palate with a moderately full body and sweet flavors of caramel, some floral complexity, a little bit of dried apricot, light oxidative nuances of roasted walnuts, a hint of acacia honey and a touch of butterscotch. At first the wine feels a bit soft and only medium in acidity, but slowly the acidity comes to the fore, making the wine feel quite structured and less sweet than it initially came across as. The finish is rich, round and sweet with a lengthy aftertaste of caramel and dried apricot, some raisiny notes of Sultanas, a little bit of honeyed richness, light nutty notes of rancio and peanut bitter, a hint of orange marmalade and a lifted touch of sweet VA.
On the nose this wine was so much more expressive and nuanced than the other Barbeito's 10 Years Olds I tasted, but on the palate this wine seemed at first to be lacking in freshness and zip compared to the other wines. Fortunately this feeling passed, as the bright, zippy acidity only took a bit of time to emerge from the rich, slightly viscous texture. I can imagine this wine might be a bit too rich and weighty for the fans of dried style of Madeira, but from the quality perspective this wine was simply the best out of the Barbeito's 10 Years Olds I tasted - no other wine showed similar level of vibrancy, depth and nuance. And even if I would've loved the wine to show more acidic verve and cut, this was still a wonderfully fresh and balanced effort with great sense of harmony between the body, the sweetness and the acidity. Fine stuff, solid value at 25€.
March 27, 2022 - About 8 years in the box finally got to this. Really perfect young madeira. Gobs of nutty butterscotch, slight oxidation, dried flowers, toffee, medium sweet. Nothing else quite like this. A wine like this transports you to another place and time.
UPDATE: I have been nursing this for almost 3 month, just kept corked in the fridge. It has remained really nice, with caramel, raisin, and orangey notes. This could be from nowhere else.
July 4, 2020 - Great one! In the nose very elegant with slightly salty and pear aromas. Palate balances freshness, with stunning toffee and rancio aromas, a bit of caramel, but balanced with impressive acidity.
I am a big fan of Australian fortifieds, but this Malvasia beats them at length, as it superbly balances sweetness and freshness!
January 8, 2019 - Deep amber in the glass. Awesome nose, very expressive and complex - notes of roasted hazelnuts/chestnuts, dried apricot, candied orange, ginger, tobacco and hints of dried berry fruit. Full body, refreshing acidity beautifully integrated with the high alcohol. No cloying sweetness here, everything is in great balance. Long finish.
October 24, 2017 - Most striking is the great balance in the mouth, with the fresh acidity perfectly balanced by an inviting sweetness. The drinkability is further enhanced by the well integrated alcohol, no burning, no heat, only a pleasant weight on the palate while you enjoy the stone fruit aromas and nuts, caramel, dried dates, toast, vanilla scents.
The long finish crowns this really good wine which I recommend.