For those of you in search for some more heavenly nectars besides Madeira wine: I was lucky enough to taste a couple of Sherries, Montillas and others at the Prowein 2008 wine-fair in Düsseldorf, Germany in march, so here are the tasting notes:

Sherry:

Alvaro Domecq
PX 1730 20YO
Coffee color, thick and viscous, sweet and fruity nose, sweet palate with lots of acidity, toffee and caramel, raisins as well, long toffee finish. Very good!
Aranda Cream
Dark tawny, nutty nose and sweet palate with nuts and almonds, slightly yeasty. Made from 80% Oloroso and 20% PX, well balanced.

Lustau
East India Solera
The famous „hot house sherry“ from Lustau, showing a medium iodine brown, nose with dried fruits and bread, palate quite sweet with dried fruits as well, yeasty, nutty, high acidity, finish of medium length. Even though this sherry undergoes heating like the cheaper Madeira wines, the result is completely different.

Fernando de Castillo
PX 3YO
Dark iodine color, nutty nose with chocolate, sweet palate with nuts and raisins, chocolate finish with medium length, well done for such a young PX.

Bodegas Tradicion
Pedro Ximenez 20YO
Very dark brown, almost black in color, complex nose with sweet raisins, figs, cinnamon, amazing palate with 380 gr/l sugar, but high acidity to balance it out perfectly, toffee, raisins, figs, nuts, and cinnamon again, with a long and complex finish, what a perfect dessert wine – or as a dessert on its own!

Bodegas Hidalgo
Alameda Cream
Bright tawny, nutty nose with figs, sweet palate with nuts, orange peel, lots of acidity and a long nutty finish.
Triana PX
Coffee color, raisin nose, the palate is very sweet with almonds, figs and raisins, toffee finish of medium length.

Williams & Humpert
Oloroso Reserva Especial 15YO
Medium dark iodine, sweet oxidized note, reminding me of a good Madeira wine, but the palate is all sherry of course, nutty, just a hint of sweetness, a little coffee as well and then a long nutty and slightly bitter finish, very complex and well done.

Sanchez Romate
PX
Dark cola color, sweet nose with dried plums, coffee, raisins and caramel, the very sweet palate is dominated by figs and raisins, very complex, with a long raisin finish.

Montilla-Moriles:

Bodegas Navarro
Medium Cream PX
Bright coffee color, sweet toffee nose, palate with lots of caramel and toffee, quite sweet with enough acidity to counterbalance the sweetness. A well done sweet wine for dessert.
Pale Cream
Pale and bright yellowish lemon color, quite misleading, nutty and yeasty nose, sweet palate with lots of acidity and surprisingly dry finish, interesting wine and very unusual.
Amontillado Muy Viejo Solera Fundacion 1830
Tawny color with very nutty nose, lots of almonds too, dry palate, very nutty, complex, almonds and a long dry and nutty finish that goes on for one minute, amazing wine.
Pedro Ximenez 5YO
Dark cola color, nose with lots of figs and raisins, sweet palate with figs, raisins and enough acidity to go along, long raisin finish. Well done.
Pedro Ximenez Solera Fundacion 1830
Dark coffee color, nutty complex nose with figs and raisins as well. The palate is very sweet, with a texture and viscosity like crude oil, very complex, lots of toffee, caramel too, dried fruits, raisins, long sweet finish with figs and raisins and just enough acidity. A dessert of its own, with stunning complexity, very sweet but... wow.
Arrope
The pure grape juice of PX, slowly cooked until it becomes a thick and dark sirupy liquid, essence of grape aroma, together with caramel, no alcohol at all, perfect for dessert, with vanilla ice cream and pancakes. A great experience, and my kids liked it a lot!

Douro:

Moscatel Favaios 10YO
Golden color, typical moscatel nose with raisins, very sweet moscatel palate with orange and a little lemon, enough acidity to balance the sweetness, lemon finish of medium length.

Moscatel de Setubal:

Casa Ermelinda Freitas Moscatel Superior 2000
Bronze color, nose with typical moscatel flavor and apricot as well, the palate is all apricot and typical moscatel raisin flavor, very sweet and enough acidity to go with it, long and sweet apricot finish.

Ever since the Great Seattle Madeira Tasting with Roy in January 2007 I had dreamed about a Madeira tasting in Central Europe. So a couple of months ago I set out to organize a tasting of about 15 old Madeira wines. But how soon was I to realize that Central Europe is not really the heart of Madeira wine lover country. Response was minimal and so the planned tasting did not come to life. But the idea still lingered in my mind and when I met three other Madeira aficionados a couple of months ago at the German Prowein 2008 wine fair in Duesseldorf, we decided for a small scale tasting as a start. So Sunday the 8th of June we met in Wiehl for a tasting of 8 old Madeira wines. Our hosts Maik and Claudia had prepared a delicious menu as a solid foundation. They are serious Madeira wine fanatics, in fact their home is the only place known to me that features a painting of -guess what- a Madeira wine bottle as decoration, it's a Blandy 1971 Boal to be exact. After a wonderful meal we went right to work with 8 old wines with a medium age of 103 years and a total of 821 years of Madeira wine history, the youngest wine being 52 years of age, the oldest being 173 years old.

Wonderful decoration for the Madeira tasting.

The lineup was:
More than 40 years, Verdelho-Blend, Manuel Eugenio Fernandes Lda.
1955 Verdelho, Manuel Eugenio Fernandes Lda.
1882 Verdelho, AO-SM/Miles
1835 Brown Madere Imperial, Nicolas-Charenton-Seine
1925 Boal, H. M. Borges Lda.
1900 Boal, Adegas de Torreao Vinhos Lda.
1890 Malmsey, Cossart Gordon
1900 Moscatel, D'Oliveira
And as a special treat we had a port at the end of the tasting:
Porto Dom Rozès, more than 40 years, Tawny

The line-up of the Madeira wines.

More than 40 years, Verdelho-Blend, Manuel Eugenio Fernandes Lda.
This wine had been started by Manuel Eugenio Fernandes as a private reserve in his house in Seixal. For his 96th birthday the wine had been bottled by the Madeira Wine Company in 2002. Since the regulations of the IVBAM only allow a blend with a maximum age of 40 years, this wine had to be labelled as a 40YO, even though the age of the blend was 52 years. The wine had a bright iodine color and was quite turbid, with long legs in the glass. The nose was very subdued at first, lots of volatile acidity and only little fruit. But the bottle had just been opened the night before, so there was good hope for a positive development as the tasting went on. And indeed, after three hours the wine had opened up perfectly, with a wonderful fruity nose, vanilla as well. The palate had been rather spirity at first but now showed good fruit, perfectly balanced acidity with just the right amount of sweetness, then a creamy toffee aroma, impressions of an old cognac and a long fruity finish. A good wine that demonstrated perfectly how important a long decanting time is for Madeira wines.

1955 Verdelho, Manuel Eugenio Fernandes Lda.
This was a bottle without any IVM or IVBAM seal, the bottling company was not mentioned. The color was brilliant iodine with tawny rim. The bottle had also been opened just the night before, so the nose was again very subdued, with little toffee and small amounts of VA. After three hours the wine had also opened up, but not as much as the first wine. So a fair judgement of this wine was not really possible, since I am sure that the wine needed more breathing time. The palate was spirity with only little fruit and a bitter finish, in general very much alike the first wine, but lighter in style. I will have to come back to this wine at a later time.

1882 Verdelho, AO-SM/Miles
This Verdelho had been bought by the MWC from D'Oliveiras in the 1970ies or 1980ies, shown by the letters AO-SM (Anibal D'Oliveira, Sao Martinho) on the bottle. A lot of the bottled wines had these letters removed later since the mid 1990ies but this bottle had been older, so the letters were intact. The wine showed a warm and dark iodine color with long legs in the glass. The nose was wonderfully harmonious with just the right amount of VA to add complexity, toffee and dates as well. The palate showed a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity, in fact the wine was quite sweet for a Verdelho, lots of fruit and raisins, toffee and creme brulée, also a background of roasted aromas that were also dominant in the long fruity finish. A wonderful wine and the first highlight of the tasting!

Three Madeira wine beauties.

1835 Brown Madere Imperial, Nicolas-Charenton-Seine
After I had been able to taste this wine twice, now had been the third time. The bottle had been bought at auction and since it was leaking from the transport I had overwaxed the cork. Until the 1970ies, the Nicolas Company, wine merchants in Paris had a couple of small casks filled with old Madeira, and the bottle had been from one of these casks. I had decanted the wine 8 days before the tasting, knowing that it was a very concentrated wine. Initially the wine had displayed a disgusting nose of sweating horse and insane amounts of VA. Now the color was medium bright ebony and the nose still had some VA, but also fruit, toffee and violets, two days later I also noticed pipe tobacco and bees wax. The palate showed lots of acidity, but well balanced with medium sweetness, fruit and violets again, also some roasted aromas in the background that led to long and bitter finish. A concentrated wine and quite complex.

1925 Boal, H. M. Borges Lda.
This bottle had the typical wicker cover of the cheap three year old blends that are commonly used to scare tourists away from becoming Madeira wine lovers. It featured a small and round JNV seal of authenticity on the neck that insisted on sticking to the wicker. The color was medium iodine brown and the nose was perfectly mellow and harmonious, lots of toffee, fruity, violets and roasted aromas as well, after a while also a pleasant honey aroma. On the palate the wine even shifted to a higher gear, showing lots of fruit and even more caramel, lots of toffee as well, mellow and complex, a glimpse of violets and then a long toffee finish with a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. The wine had been opened a couple of months ago and now showed the full glory of a perfect and classic Boal, another highlight of the tasting.

1900 Boal, Adegas de Torreao Vinhos Lda.
This bottle with an IVM paper seal had been bought in Portugal. The stencils had been damaged by leaking bottle in the package, but they were still clearly legible and the cork was printed with "Adegas de Torreao, Vinhos, Lda, Madeira". The wine showed medium bright iodine and featured a mellow and harmonious nose of toffee and ginger cake. At the first sip the wine really jumped at you, with lots of acidity, just a little spirity at first, caramel, toffee and fruit and then... a short and bitter finish, leaving the mouth yearning for more. From the nose and the first attack I had expected a bit more length and body, but the wine was nevertheless interesting. After three hours in the glass it developed more length, even though the wine had been decanted 8 days before.

Shades of pleasure.

1890 Malmsey, Cossart Gordon
This wine was another highlight of the tasting. With dark iodine color and a very harmonious caramel nose it showed its full power in the mouth. The wine was very impressive with lots of sweetness but well balanced, raisins were dominant at first, but also bread, huge amounts of caramel and a creamy toffee taste as well, mellow and mouth watering, then a shift towards more darker and roasted aromas with coffee and molasses and finally a long toffee finish. The roasted aromas kept the wine from being cloying and so this malmsey was very pleasant. A perfect wine, a classic malmsey, complex and impressive.

1900 Moscatel, D'Oliveira
Even though I have known this wine a long time, liking it for a long time I am always happy to taste this Moscatel Madeira. These Moscatels are rare today, the only other two wines that are still available are the 1875 Moscatel from D'Oliveira and the Moscatel Reserva Velha from Artur de Barros a Sousa, two wonderful wines as well. This Moscatel showed a warm and dark chestnut brown with orange rim. The nose was all sweet figs with a little bread as well. On the palate the wine was very sweet, showing just enough acidity to balance the sweetness, and then there were lots of raisins, caramel and a little molasses. Also in the finish the wine showed a slightly roasted impression keeping it from being cloying despite the dominant sweetness. A wonderful wine that wins me over every time and a perfect wine for the end of the tasting.

Porto Dom Rozès, more than 40 years, Tawny
This interesting tawny in an old-style port bottle was our dessert. With a brilliant brick color and a fruity and grapy nose the wine reminded me almost of a Moscatel de Setubal. Also on the palate this tawny was very fruity and grapy, sweet and mellow, again with hints of Moscatel. What an impressive wine, especially for me as a port-only-twice-a-year drinker.

Three satisfied Madeira tasters.

Five hours went in a hurry and even though the discussion still went on, especially about the Fernandez wines, we had to part. Also the European soccer championship was about to continue with the evening match up of Germany vs. Poland, even though I admit my sympathies are with the NFL. As a bottom line, we had tasted 8 wonderful and fascinating old Madeiras and the motivation was (and is) strong in all of us to work out another Madeira tasting on a larger scale of 12 to 15 wines. Anybody interested in a tasting in Central Europe/Germany is welcome to email me and as the planning moves ahead you will be notified.
A big thank you goes to the hosts Maik and Claudia for the perfect preparation and the delicious menu and to Gerd for three outstanding rarities. I will taste with you guys anytime!

Berlin is always worth a visit. But on Thursday, October 16th, this was even more so. The AICEP, the Portuguese chamber of foreign investments and commerce represented by Matthias Meichsner had invited for a tasting of Portuguese wines. Having joined forces with the Independent Winegrowers Association IWA and the Instituto do Vinho do Bordado e do Artesanato da Madeira IVBAM, 10 different producers presented almost 80 wines for tasting.
From Madeira island, four producers had come to Berlin. Henriques & Henriques Vinhos SA was represented by Humberto Jardim, who had brought the full range of blends, as well as a medium rich 1998 harvest wine. The Madeira Wine Company SA, represented by Jaques A. Faro da Silva showed a wide range of blends together with four different colheitas and a single harvest wine from 1998. Americo Pereira from Vinhos Barbeito Lda. had brought many blends and also the unique 2000 Malmsey single cask 44a, the 20yo lote 6072 and a single harvest wine from 1997. Last but certainly not least, Vinhos Justino Henriques Filhos Lda. had brought the full range of blends, also some wines bottled under their East India brand and the 1996 colheita. Julio Fernandes was their representative and shocked me with the sad news of the death of Sigfredo da Costa Campos, owner of VJH, with whom I had met just a couple of months ago at the Düsseldorf ProWein wine fair. I still remember sipping on their Old Terrantez Reserve with him and his energetic wife Helena. After John Cossart, this is another tragic loss to the community of Madeira wine lovers. Julio Fernandes lightened my spirits though by giving me a bottle of VJH’s 10yo Malmsey, one of my favourite 10yo blends. This was only topped by Paulo Rodrigues, chairman of the board of the IVBAM, giving me a beautifully embroidered apron from Madeira that will have a place of honour in my Madeira wine cellar.
After a perfect afternoon of tasting Madeira wine and eating delicious Bolo de Mel, a Madeira wine seminar with Portuguese wine expert David Schwarzwalder was yet another highlight. My head was filled with pleasant tasting memories (and some Madeira wine too) as I took the train home. A big thank you goes to Matthias Meichsner of AICEP for the invitation, to all the representatives of the producers and to Paulo Rodrigues of IVBAM. From the reaction of the 150+ wine lovers attending the tasting, I would conclude that it was a successful event and one that should be repeated in 2009.
Amongst many other wines, the following wines had been opened for tasting:

Henriques & Henriques Vinhos SA
1998
Medium Rich Single Harvest
Made from Tinta Negra Mole, this wine shows a medium dark mahogany color and a beautiful and fudgy toffee nose. In the mouth there is medium sweetness, a sharp acidic entry, then more toffee and a coffee finish of medium length.

Madeira Wine Company SA
Alvada, Blandy
Yes I know what serious Madeira wine lovers think of Alvada. I admit I used to be one of those. But drinking it slightly cooled, this medium mahogany colored wine shows a rich and fruity nose and a sweet and very fruity palate with a surprisingly long fruity finish. This wine is easy to drink and very enjoyable.
15YO Malmsey, Blandy
This wine has a brilliant medium dark iodine color and a complex nose with fudge, nuts and some roasted aromas. On the palate it was rather sweet, with high acidity, lots of caramel but also some dark and roasted aromas that keep it interesting. The finish of caramel with a little coffee is of medium length. Pleasant.
2001
Malmsey Harvest, Blandy
This harvest wine is of bright iodine color and has a fudgy nose. The palate is sweet and nutty, then changes to a more fruity middle and ends with a medium long toffee finish. This Malmsey spent 6 ½ years in cask and is quite complex.
1998
Verdelho Colheita, Cossart Gordon
The color is a very bright iodine, the nose is all nuts. In the mouth the wine is quite sweet for a Verdelho, also lots of fruit and acidity, nicely balanced with the sweetness, and then a long bitter finish. Interesting!
1997
Bual Colheita, Cossart Gordon
This colheitas wine shows a bright straw color and a fruity nose with some toffee as well. On the palate there is lots of toffee, leading to an almost creamy feel, but there is powerful acidity as well. It all ends in an impressive all toffee finish.
1996
Malmsey Colheita, Cossart Gordon
This is the darkest of the displayed colheitas, showing a dark cola brown. The nose has a strong whiff of VA, even though on the technical sheet they will tell you that it is only 0,66%. The nose also has honey with some pleasant roasted aromas as well. In the mouth this wine is rather sweet, even for a Malmsey, but this is well balanced with a complex palate of honey and caramel and lots of acidity. The finish is very long and ends with rich and beautiful caramel.
1991
Sercial Colheita, Cossart Gordon
This the lightest of the MWC wines at the Berlin tasting, with a very bright iodine color. The nose shows lots of nutty flavours and bees wax as well. The wine has a very dry entry, then softens a little and shows nuts and almonds. The acidity is high but not to much so and carries the wine on to an interesting acidic finish of medium length, that leaves the mouth refreshed.

Vinhos Barbeito Lda.
20YO Malvasia Lote 6072, Barbeito
This rarity shows a honey color and even more honey in the nose, together with lots of fruit. On the palate this wine is high on acidity, very fruity, complex with multiple layers of honey and grapes, with a long acidic finish. Though not easy to drink, this wine is very complex and interesting.
2000
Malvasia Colheita Single Cask 44a, Barbeito
Because of the long hot summer in 2007 and the storage in a hot place (“a” to “c” indicate different places of storage) this wine underwent rapid concentration that lead to the early bottling of 1.026 bottles from cask 44. The wine has a bright straw color, the nose shows almost no oxidation but lots of fresh and fruity aromas, almost like grape juice. In the mouth this wine lives up to the nose, starting with grapey sweetness, then an almost Moscatel-like flavour, lots of acidity, still no oxidation, no roasted or dark aromas at all, but nevertheless very complex and impressive, ending with a long grapey finish. This wine is something of a rarity and certainly not a typical Madeira, but very pleasant!
1997
Medium Dry Single Harvest, Barbeito
This TNM wine has a bright straw color with tawny edges. The nose is very grapey and the palate is fresh, almost crisp and very acidic, but balanced with enough fruit and sweetness to make it very pleasant. The acidic finish leaves the mouth refreshed.

Vinhos Justino Henriques Filhos Lda.
1996
Colheita, Justinos
I had hoped for another sip of the Terrantez Old Reserve, but this wine was just as amazing, though something completely different. The wine has a medium dark iodine color and a very rich, sweet and nutty nose, with toffee too and figs. The palate has medium sweetness and is perfectly balanced with medium acidity, toffee, almonds, nuts, then also darker aromas. The vinous finish is very long and the wine in general is very enjoyable to drink, combines complexity and harmony! This reminds me a lot of the Broadbent 1996 Colheita and might just be the same wine.

In 1773 Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, wrote to Barbeu Dubourg, his translator, on the general subject of causes of death. He included some experiments for recalling to life those who had apparently been killed by lightning and he also told the story about the three flies in Madeira wine. He wrote:

” I have seen an instance of common flies preserved in a manner somewhat similar. They had been drowned in Madeira wine, apparently about the time when it was bottled in Virginia, to be sent to London. At the opening of one of these bottles, at the house of a friend where I then was, three drowned flies fell into the first glass that was filled. Having heard it remarked that drowned flies were capable of being revived by the rays of the sun, I proposed making the experiment upon these; they were therefore exposed to the sun upon a sieve, which had been employed to strain them out of the wine. In less than three hours, two of them began by degrees to recover to life. They commenced by some convulsive motions of the thighs, and at length raised themselves upon their legs, wiped their eyes with their fore feet, beat and brushed their wings with their hind feet and soon after began to fly, finding themselves in Old England, without knowing how they came thither. The third continued lifeless till sunset, when, losing all hopes of him, he was thrown away.”

This story is certainly wrong from a scientific point of view. No fly could have survived being drowned in Madeira wine for months or years and then buzz off to a second life in “Old England”. My guess would be, that the bottle had been opened a couple of hours before , maybe even decanted and put back into the rinsed bottle, giving any fly a good chance to be lured into the bottle by the lovely aromas of Madeira wine. Nevertheless I like the story because it shows, among other things, two interesting facts:

First: Man was, is and always will be fascinated by the thought of bringing the dead back to life. To be able to pull someone out of Death’s tightly closed hands is a deed unmatched. Even with resuscitation becoming somewhat “normal” business in modern medicine, the excitement, the thrill and the relief will still be felt by those working together to succeed in “recalling to life” a human being.

Second: So highly was Madeira wine regarded back then, that the reputation of Madeira wine to have special, almost mystical, qualities seems to have been common thought in 1773. Today it is common knowledge that the “medicine of wine” can indeed prolong your life. May be this is just another example of something being common knowledge, before science could prove it 200+ years later? Anyway, it’s one more good reason to drink Madeira wine - not that anyone should need one more good reason...

At the end of March the ProWein 2009, one of the largest wine fairs in the world, took place in windy Düsseldorf. About 3000 producers from all over the world presented wines and other alcoholic drinks to the public. Even though the impact of the international economic crisis was well visible, the event was very much complete in terms of different countries and wine regions presented at the fair. This year I focused on Rieslings from the Palatinate and Champagne, but of course my main interest was Madeira wine.

The Madeira Wine Institute IVBAM had organized a common booth for the Madeira wine producers. The companies of Henriques & Henriques, represented by CEO Humberto Jardim, the Madeira Wine Company, represented by commercial manager Ricardo Tavares and Vinhos Justino Henriques, represented by commercial manager Julio Fernandez showed their range of blends, as well as Colheita wines and Vintage Madeiras. Unfortunately Vinhos Barbeitos had to cancel their planned appearance at the ProWein. Besides a lot of sampling from the wines shown at the Madeira booth, there was a lot of interesting news from Madeira island and some talk about how the struggling economy affects the Madeira wine business. An interesting tasting seminar had been organized too, hosted by sommeliere Yvonne Heistermann. A big THANK YOU goes to all the people from the producers and the IVBAM who were very helpful, generously poured samples and provided lots of information.

Here are some news and tasting notes from the three companies present at the Düsseldorf ProWein 2009. In general the overall quality of Madeira wine is becoming better year after year, especially the quality of the TNM wines. I am looking forward to next year’s ProWein and many new Madeira wines in 2010!

Henriques & Henriques:
I talked to Humberto Jardim about future prices for vintage Madeira wines. Because of the enormous costs involved in the production of vintage Madeira, there will be no drop in prices, despite the world wide crisis of the economy. New releases of vintage Madeiras are currently not in the pipeline. The company wants to focus on existing products and rather wait and react to the market as things develop. H&H had a very good Colheita wine for tasting as well as the complete range of blended wines, which are always worth tasting..
Henriques & Henriques 1998 Colheita
Like the other producers too, H&H now mark the Colheita wines as „Single Harvest“ to make marketing easier on the international markets. This Colheita is made from Tinta Negra Mole (TNM) and has a residual sugar of 120 gr/l, 19% alcohol and about 4,5 gr/l of total acidity. The wine has a dark amber color, a nose stuffed with caramel, roasted aromas and lots of toffee. The wine is remarkably sweet, rather complex, lots of caramel in the mouth too, some darker roasted aromas as well, then a wonderful toffee finish of medium length. Again this wine shows the level of quality the wines from TNM can achieve if the producers put enough effort into it.

Madeira Wine Company:
There is interesting news from the MWC: In the near future the MWC is going to produce 5YO blends from the TNM grape to relief some pressure from the white grape varieties in order to free capacities for Colheitas and vintage Madeiras. May be the 5YO TNM blends are going to replace the 5YO blends from the classic varieties completely, this is not yet decided and will depend on the development of the market. There was a dry and a rich 5YO TNM blend for tasting at the ProWein, both were quite good, another proof for the skills of the winemaker Francisco Albuquerque, “winemaker of the year” third time in a row. Also a Blandy Terrantez Colheita is going to be released in the near future. In general the MWC will focus even more on the main brand of Blandy’s. Miles is only available on the island; Leacock is only being kept for Scandinavia, where the brand is well established. Finally the MWC introduced new corks printed with the vintage year of the wine bottled, as well as the year of bottling.
Blandy’s 5YO Dry Blend (TNM)
This is the new TNM blend for the near future, showing a nice orange-brown color. The nose shows nutty flavors, grapey fruit and raisins. On the palate the wine is quite fruity, not to dry, pleasant to drink, with enough acidity to keep it interesting. Certainly less nutty flavors compared with the 5YO Sercial, but nevertheless a well done wine for everyday drinking.
Blandy’s 5YO Rich Blend (TNM)
The sweet variety of the 5YO TNM blend shows a warm cola brown and a big and very rich nose of figs and raisins –wow!- then in the mouth considerable sweetness, but no to sticky, raisins and lots of toffee, lots of acidity, much more than in the 5YO Malmsey, very well integrated, long finish of fruit and caramel. This is a very good blend, and is even better than the 5YO Malmsey IMHO.
Blandy’s 1992 Malmsey Colheita
This wine has only been bottled in January 2009 and shows a medium dark mahogany. The nose is subdued, mainly toffee. Then in the mouth the wine switches to a higher gear, with a spectacular acidic attack at first, then caramel and butter, toffee, leading to an almost creamy impression, before ending with a slightly bitter caramel finish. After 17 years in the cask this wine is impressing, powerful and complex.
Blandy’s 1991 Boal Colheita
This Colheita spent 18 years in cask, you might call it an almost-vintage Madeira. In fact a good Colheita Madeira could spend a couple more years in cask and return to the market as a vintage Madeira later, if enough wine has remained in cask to warrant the effort. This wine now shows a nice orange-brown color and a sweet toffee nose. On the palate there is pleasant sweetness with enough acidity as a counterpart, also some roasted, darker aromas, quite complex, lots of toffee, and a dark toffee finish. Well done and rather concentrated, thanks to the 18 years in cask.
Blandy’s 1990 Malmsey Colheita
And another interesting Colheita with a shiny iodine brown and a fruity raisin nose with lots of toffee added. On the palate the first impression is that of a Chinese sweet and sour sauce, because of the concentration, but the balance of sweetness and acidity is well done, a little sharp in the beginning, probably not decanted long enough, only little caramell and toffee, but lots of fruit, lemon, orange, a little Moscatel, also a long fruity finish with a touch of bitterness at the end, reminding me of candied orange peel. Very interesting and well done, for me the best Colheita of the 2009 ProWein, a perfect example of the modern fruity Madeira style.
Blandy’s 1977 Boal
After 30 years in cask, this Boal has been bottled in 2007. Even though quite young, the color is a rich and warm iodine brown. In the nose there is a little amount of volatile acidity, then figs and honey, a little caramel. On the palate the sweetness is forthcoming with just the right amount of sugar (80 gr/l), lots of acidity, a little sharp at the beginning, but the bottle had been opened just an hour ago, then lots and lots of sweet toffee, with still enough acidity in the background, and a long creamy toffee finish. This is a very good Madeira, a typical Boal, impressive already, it will benefit from more time in cask.
Blandy’s 1966 Sercial
Bottled in 2004 the wine has been in cask for 38 years. The color is a dark tawny, the nose is all nuts at first, then a little fruity as well. The first impression on the palate is a real acid punch, but then the acidity becomes a kaleidoscope of fruity aromas, the wine changes to a softer layer of nuts and licorice –is this really a Sercial?- even a little toffee and a long almond finish, still carried through by the acidity. A well done combination of the two sometimes rather different styles of Sercial: acidity and nuts. Very interesting, even for those who usually do not really like Sercial.

Vinhos Justino Henriques:
There is news from VJH too: I saw a new brand for the European market called „Colombo“. According to VJH the brand had existed before (besides Justino’s and East India) but had not yet been shown at the ProWein.
Justino’s 1998 Colheita
This is the successor to my favorite Colheita of 1996. Unfortunately it can not fully compete with the predecessor. Nevertheless the wine is well done, shows a shiny iodine brown, a nice caramel nose and on the palate a solid balance of sweetness and acidity with fruit, caramel and a sweet toffee-finish.
Justino’s 1996 Colheita
This is the first really convincing wine for me, made from TNM. It has a medium dark iodine color and a very rich, sweet and nutty nose, with toffee too and figs. The palate has medium sweetness and is perfectly balanced with medium acidity, toffee, a little vanilla, almonds, nuts, then also darker aromas, coffee. The vinous finish is very long and the wine in general is very enjoyable to drink, combines complexity and harmony!

What a complicated name for such an enjoyable thing like this tasting of six old Madeira wines. Ever since Roy’s exceptional tasting in 2007, I had wanted to re-taste with Roy, but only when I visited the U.S. in July 2009, was there a chance to meet Roy again. Summer is not the typical time of year to seriously taste a lot of high-alcohol heavy wines, but for real Madeira wine fanatics, there is open season all year round. Roy had invited his friends Chuck and Justin to the event. I knew both guys from the Seattle tasting in 2007 and really looked forward to that evening. We had a perfect time tasting six old Madeiras and this tasting was crowned by a delicious dinner, some other serious wines (a 1976 Schloss Eltz Eltviller Sonnenberg Auslese Riesling among them) and a lot of interesting conversation. Thank you guys for such a wonderful experience, I would bring a great bottle of Madeira for a tasting with you anytime!

Tasting notes of the wines, in order of the tasting:

1830 Justino Henriques Sercial Solera
Since this bottle had only been 2/3rds full, I had been able to buy it at a very competitive price. I expected next to nothing from this particularly wine. Interestingly, the label said "Solera of the Vintage", but I still think it was a Solera wine. The wine had been bottled by Vinhos Justinos Henriques, but originally came from the estates of Joao Alfredo Faria. The previous owner of the bottle had bought it about 50-60 years ago and it was found again when he cleaned out his cellar. The bottle was #178 of a total number of only 700 bottles. The wine had a muddy brown appearance, very cloudy, probably stirred up sediment from the transport. The sweet and spicy toffee nose had considerable VA and walnuts. The palate was quite sweet for a Sercial, in fact the wine seemd a little on the soft side, especially for a Sercial. There were nutty flavors, some roasted, slightly bitter aromas, but the wine was not very complex and had a bitter and acidic finish of medium length. Certainly not in the top ranks, but not a bad value for the bargain price. 92 points in 7/2009.

1905 D’Oliveira Verdelho
This wine was also quite cloudy with a bright iodine brown, brighter than I had expected and showed a weird nose with an initial blast of burned sulphur, also lots of VA and stewed fruits. On the palate there was little sweetness, lots of acidity, citric lemon flavors, also some nuttiness, but the wine was not well integrated, the acidity seemed hot and spirity, even raw, when ending with a bitter, roasted finish. I have had this wine a couple of times before and this one usually is a very fine and nutty example of Verdelho. Something was certainly wrong with this bottle, so no points here.

1839 Terrantez (producer unknown)
I had bought this wine at an auction a couple of years ago, together with a second bottle with no label, but of similar appearance. Supposedly both bottles contained the same wine (and looking back, I think it was the same wine), so I had opened the bottle without a label in 2006, finding it to be a perfect example of a highly acidic Terrantez. Knowing that Roy likes Terrantez and acidity I just had to bring the second bottle to this tasting. It had only a small handwritten paper label (fastened with scotch tape…) with “Terrantez (Madeira)” on it. It also featured some more writing after the “(Madeira)” that looked like “Pyreivan”, but I could not really convince myself to think of “Pereira” as in Pereira D’Oilveira. So the exact producer of this wonderful wine remains unknown. It featured a dark brown coffee color, also a little cloudy. The nose was lively and multi-layered with coffee, singed caramel and a little VA that softened nicely. In the mouth there was a perfect mixture of some sweetness with very high acidity, rich and decadent, but very precise, fudgy, with a hint of cinnamon, ending with a very long finish of brown sugar and coffee, and still that pinching acidity was shining through. Wow, what an amazing wine. To me there is no doubt that Madeira wine is at its best when produced from the difficult but rewarding Terrantez grape. Unfortunately there is no way to tell where this wine came from. 98 points in 7/2009.

Three of the wines tasted.

1900 Manoel de Sousa Boal
Since little is known about this producer, I had bought two bottles of this wine at auction for a relatively low price. The cork seemed to be very short, just 13mm in length, so I had recorked the wine before the flight to the U.S., destroying a beautiful MSH (Manoel de Sousa Herdeiros) wax seal. The wine showed a rather dark cola color, the darkest of all wines, with an orange brown rim. The spicy nose was very impressive with prunes, stewed fruits, a little VA to make it even more complex. In the mouth the wine was quite sweet, but the sweetness was overpowered by a nearly insane acidity. The wine was very concentrated with caramel, toffee, quite complex and harmonious, with a long and slightly bitter but highly acidic finish. The acidity was so high, it almost seemed to be not fully integrated. A wine for acid freaks, powerful and concentrated, I liked it a lot. 96 points in 7/2009.

1903 D’Oliveira Boal
Chuck had opened this wine many months before the tasting, so we were anxious to see how well it had kept. Showing a brilliant dark brown color, this Boal was not only in perfect shape, but also showed how beneficial a long decanting time can be. The nose was a perfect Boal nose with fudgy caramel, slightly nutty and still a little VA. The palate was equally impressive with lots of creamy caramel, backed by still crisp acidity, walnuts, and a long toffee finish, all very rounded and harmonious. A wonderful and classic Boal, at its best after being opened half a year ago! 97 points in 7/2009.

1827 Quinta do Serrado Boal
This is one of my all time favorites and I was very happy to see, that Chuck had brought this wine to the tasting. This Boal showed a brilliant dark iodine brown with a slightly red center. The nose was a little subdued, with hints of VA, caramel and toffee. The palate shifted to a higher gear, with elegant sweetness in perfect balance with powerful acidity. This wonderful Boal displayed brown sugar, multiple layers of nutty caramel, a hint of vanilla, and a long and acidic caramel finish with a little roasted coffee in the end. Hmmm, the taste kept sitting in the far corners of the mouth for a long time, a wonderful example of Boal, perfectly showing why this is considered a classic collectors Madeira. 97 points in 7/2009.

At the 5th of October, the Portuguese chamber of foreign commerce AICEP and the Madeira Wine Institute IVBAM held their annual Madeira wine tasting event in sunny Hamburg, Germany. The tasting took place in the beautiful Grand Elysee Hotel. Interesting, that the IVBAM decided to go against the stream of the world wide depression and expand this event, compared to the tasting in Berlin last year (see the post about the Berlin tasting 2008 here). Thanks to many wonderful Madeira wines, an interesting masterclass and a perfect organization, the event was a great success. It certainly sparked the enthusiasm of the people present for Madeira wine.

Panoramic view of beautiful Hamburg, Germany.

This time five Madeira wine producers were present: H. M. Borges Lda, represented by Goncalo de Spinola, Henriques & Henriques Vinhos SA, represented by Humberto Jardim, the Madeira Wine Company SA, represented by Ricardo Tavares, Vinhos Barbeito Lda., represented by Americo Pereira from Diogos Wine Shop in Funchal and Vinhos Justino Henriques Filhos Lda., represented by Julio Fernandes. The IVBAM itself was represented by vice director Joao Nunes. As always, Matthias Meichsner represented the AICEP. Lots of information about Madeira wine was available, an advertising movie with wonderful views of Madeira island was shown and tasty hors d’oeuvres and delicious Bolo de Mel relieved any hunger. All the companies present had brought their range of blends as well as some rarities, free for tasting.

Madeira masterclass in Hamburg.

The Madeira masterclass certainly was the highlight of the event. It was hosted by Michael Pleitgen, head of the Berliner Weinakademie, associated with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust WSET. Ten most impressive Madeira wines were tasted. Michael Pleitgen also gave a half hour presentation about the special features of Madeira wine that fascinated even the seasoned Madeira wine veterans.

A great thank you goes to Joao Nunes, IVBAM and Matthias Meichsner, AICEP for the invitation to this perfect event, as well as to the producers for generously sharing their Madeira wines. If this event is any hint at how the future of Madeira wine is going to be then there is no need for worries! The tasting notes of fourteen wines that impressed me most are posted below. You might notice that the emphasis was on sweet and semi-sweet wines, but to me this was only fitting for the start of the cold season.

The ten wonderful wines of the Madeira masterclass.

H. M. Borges
1998 Malvasia Colheita
This Colheita shows a dark mahogany color. The nose is dominated by roasted dark hazelnut-aromas together with a fair amount of volatile acidity and orange. The taste is rather sweet, but well balanced with acidity, together with lots of caramel and even a hint of vanilla, then nuts again and a long caramel finish. A good example of a classic Malvasia wine. 91 points 10/2009.

1995 Boal Colheita
A bright but cold iodine brown is the interesting color of this wine. Heavy and singed caramel together with a small amount of volatile acidity please the nose. In the mouth the first sip leaves a roasted, almost smoked impression, lots of toffee here and caramel as well, but also a good measure of fruity acidity. A clean caramel finish of medium length leaves the mouth waiting for the next sip. A very nice old-style Madeira. 92 points 10/2009.

1977 Sercial Vintage
This rather young vintage Madeira displays a bright iodine brown, almost tawny color. The nose is fresh and nutty, with a slight hint of oak and a splash of volatile acidity adding to the overall impression of lightness. On the palate this Sercial is rather sweet, so this is a pleasant surprise for all those who usually do not like Sercial. A nutty foundation with powerful acidity carries caramel, a little toffee and lots of walnuts to the long finish. An impressive wine and a Sercial that is pleasant to drink without having to wait a couple of decades. 93 points 10/2009.

Henriques & Henriques
2000 Bual Single Harvest
This single harvest wine shows its young age by the bright mahogany color with a greenish rim. In the multilayered nose with a little volatile acidity dried fruits and caramel dominate, but there is also a hint of vanilla. On the palate the wine is pleasantly sweet, but also rounded and harmonious with lots of caramel and soft acidity. In the background there is subdued fruit that carries on to the creamy caramel and toffee finish. This wine might not have a lot of personality but it is just easy to drink and a real fun wine. A nice drink for the cold season too. 92 points 10/2009.

1998 Rich Single Harvest
This wine is made from Tinta Negra Mole and shows a bright iodine brown color. The nose is multilayered with caramel, toffee, walnut, raisins and a hint of coffee beans. In the mouth there is a fierce attack of acidity that carries on as a backbone, but also yummy aromas of citrus fruits that compete with a broad layer of caramel. The rich sweetness adds to the pleasant impression of this wine, ending in a long and fruity finish. A well made TNM wine! 91 points 10/20009.

Madeira Wine Company
2001 Blandys Harvest Malmsey
A golden brown color with a slightly reddish rim, almost like a chestnut brown promises a rather heavy Malmsey. The nose is packed with caramel and different nutty aromas, a hint of roasted aromas as well. In the mouth there is considerable sweetness but also lots of acidity, so this wine is in good balance. There is lots of caramel, lots of walnut and a funky roastiness that carries on to the caramel finish, keeping the wine from being cloying. Very nice and pleasant to drink, a great wine for the cold season and already quite complex despite its young age. 92 points 19/2009.

1990 Blandys Colheita Malmsey
This colheita shows a dark iodine brown with a slightly greenish rim. The nose is rather subdued, with a hint of volatile acidity and some caramel. But once on the palate, the wine shifts to a higher gear with a very good balance between heavy sweetness and powerful acidity, bitter-sweet fruits to go with it, almost a hint of grapefruit there, then a caramel finish of medium length. An impressive wine that would benefit in complexity from a couple more years in cask and might even return as a young vintage Madeira. 91 points 10/2009.

1976 Blandys Terrantez Vintage
This Terrantez vintage Madeira was the best wine of the tasting for me. Later one of my Madeira wine comrades told me, that this wine is one of his favorites and that he has been buying it for years. I had never had this wine before, but after tasting it , I can easily see why. The color is a dark mahogany. In the nose there is a kaleidoscope of aromas, lots of volatile acidity, a little musk, dark and roasted aromas, then a touch of something wild, funky, leathery, waxy, hard to describe, but pleasant and very well fitting into the overall impression, and finally a lot of dried fruits. So much fun before even the first sip, wow. And then with the first sip the wine keeps its promise: nutty sweetness, powerful acidity, a layer of bitter walnut, lots of caramel, raisins, molasses, that wild, funky, leathery thing in the background again and then a long bitter walnut finish. What a great wine, hard to believe it only had 21 years in cask. I just hope they will give it more time, since this is going to become a classic Terrantez vintage Madeira. 94 points 10/2009.

Vinhos Barbeitos
VB Reserve
Lote 2 Cask 12d und 46a
This rarity displays a bright iodine brown color and a fruity nose with caramel to go with it. The palate is also very fruity, funky acid there as well, leading to a clean and fresh impression, then there is some caramel and medium sweetness in the finish. A nice wine that will do well as an aperitif as well as an after dinner drink. 92 points 10/2009.

Malvasia 20 Years Old
This rare 20 YO Blend shows a tawny color with straw colored rim. The nose is focused on nutty and fruity aromas. In the mouth the wine is rather sweet, but complex, with lots of acidity, a little overpowering, lots of fruit and a long bitter walnut finish. Other participants liked this wine a lot more then I did. 89 points 10/2009.

2001 Boal Colheita
Interesting straw color with a hint of yellow here. The nose displays candied orange and grapey fruit, reminding me of a Moscatel de Setubal. The palate is also on the light side with lots of sweetness but rather little acidity, a hint of fruit, then toffee and caramel. For an acid freak like me the wine was a little cloying and one-dimensional. The all-caramel finish was rather short. 89 points 10/2009.

1981 Verdelho Vintage
A well-known Verdelho to me, this 1981 wine, that spent 24 years in cask until 2005. The color is a medium bright tawny with a hint of red. The nose has dried fruits, a hint of cinnamon, some raisins, more complex then I remembered. The palate is quite powerful with lots of fierce acidity, only little sweetness in the background, leading to an almost dry overall impression, nice citric fruit here with only little caramel, but complex and nutty. The powerful acidity carries through to the walnut finish. A good and very powerful wine! 93 points 10/2009.

Vinhos Justino Henriques
1995 Colheita
The predecessor of my favorite TNM-colheita shows a golden brown and an unusual but pleasant nose with fruity caramel and an initial blast of peppermint. The palate is sweet and balanced with pleasant acidity, nice fruit in the background, but the focus is on caramel, walnut and almonds, with a slightly bitter nutty finish. A well made TNM wine. 91 points 10/2009.

1996 Colheita
This TNM colheita has been a favorite of mine for a long time and it impressed me again. With its dark iodine brown color and its rich nose of figs, nuts and coffee this colheita is complex and fun to drink. In the mouth it is quite sweet, perfectly balanced with just the right amount of acidity, then toffee, almonds, walnuts, also some darker more roasted aromas as well. This time the wine is even more rounded and mellow, may be because of the longer storage time in cask. The grapey finish is long. A very pleasant drink and a good combination of complexity and harmony. 92 points 10/2009.

At the last weekend the ProWein 2010, one of the largest wine fairs in the world, again took place in Düsseldorf. About 3500 producers from all over the world presented wines and other alcoholic drinks to the public. As usual I focused on Rieslings from the Palatinate and Champagne, but of course my main interest was Madeira wine. To bad the Sherry organization had decided against the usual Sherry lounge, but on the other hand this meant more time for Madeira.

The Madeira Wine Institute IVBAM had organized a common booth together with four Madeira wine producers: H. M. Borges Lda, represented by Goncalo de Spinola, Henriques & Henriques Vinhos SA, represented by Humberto Jardim, the Madeira Wine Company SA, represented by Ricardo Tavares and Vinhos Justino Henriques Filhos Lda., represented by Julio Fernandes. The IVBAM itself was also there with its friendly staff and as always, Matthias Meichsner represented the Portuguese chamber of foreign commerce AICEP. The main topic besides the wines themselves was the flooding of the island, just a few weeks ago. None of the producers was severely hit by the floods and things were very much back to normal they reported. It looks like Funchal will be perfectly ready for the Flower Festival in April. Lots of information about Madeira wine was available and an interesting wine-food-paring event was hosted by Michael Pleitgen, head of the Berliner Weinakademie, associated with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust WSET. All the companies present had brought their range of blends as well as some rarities, free for tasting.

A great thank you goes to the IVBAM and Matthias Meichsner, AICEP as well as to the producers for generously sharing their Madeira wines. The tasting notes of some wines that impressed me most as well as some additional information are posted below.

Madeira Wine Company
I asked Ricardo Tavares about the Harvest-Colheita-Vintage legislation and he told me that indeed a wine bottled as a Colheita could indeed become –after further cask ageing- a vintage Madeira. In fact the MWC has wines in cask that already have been bottled as a Colheita wine, but look promising enough to keep a part of the vintage for further ageing. Should the winemaker later decide that the wine did not quite reach vintage Madeira qualities, it could still be used to back up the blends.
2001 Harvest Malmsey
This Harvest wine shows a iodine brown color with a lovely and rich walnut nose, some raisins and an atypical, almost floral background (or was it the detergent?). On the palate the wine is rich with sweet walnuts and some roasted aromas like coffee and molasses, but it is all carried by a solid fruity backbone, ending in long caramel and walnut finish. 92 points in 3/2010.
2000 Colheita Verdelho
A bright iodine brown color and a nutty nose with a splash of VA lead the way to a moderately sweet but very nutty and elegant palate with an almost lean impression, well defined with walnuts, little toffee and almonds, ending in a nutty finish of medium length. 90 points in 3/2010.
15YO Malmsey
This wine shows a brilliant medium dark iodine color and a rather rich nose of nuts, fudge and some darker aromas like ashes and burnt sugar as well. In the mouth the wine is very sweet, but with solid acidity as a counterweight, lots of caramel here but again the roasted aromas that also showed up in the nose. Burnt sugar, a hint of cinnamon and coffee are coming through and keep the sweet wine interesting and very complex before ending on a long caramel finish with just a hint of roastiness at the very end. 93 points in 3/2010.

Henriques & Henriques
The company was not affected at all by the flooding and business is running well as usual. From some other source I have heard that the remaining bottles of the “heavenly quartet” are decreasing fast. So every Madeira wine fanatic that has never had a chance to taste these four wines be warned that time is running out on you.
15YO Bual
This 15YO blend displays a cold medium dark brown, almost cola-like. The nose is very interesting with a kaleidoscope of walnuts, caramel and toffee, rich and decadent. On the palate there is caramel sweetness to begin with, also lots of toffee and then the acidity really jumps into your face and opens a second stage of raisins, figs and other dried fruits. A base layer of figs goes through to the long caramel end. 92 points in 3/2010.

Vinhos Justino Henriques
Due to its location up hill in Cancela the company was also not affected by the flooding. After being very successful with the Colheitas of 1995, 1996 (one of my favourite Colheitas ever!) and 1998, they finally closed the gap by presenting the 1997 Colheita.
1997 Fine Rich Colheita
So after the brilliant 1996 Colheita I was looking forward to this 1997 wine. This Colheita shows a reddish iodine brown with, very interesting and brilliant color. The subdued nose is dark and roasted, some raisins there as well but the overall impression is one of singed and burnt aromas. Then to my surprise the palate is very fruity, rich sweetness in good balance to high acidity, rather little caramel and more on the fruity and grapey side of aromas, with a long fruity and highly acidic finish. Different then the 1996 Colheita but definitely a very good wine too. 92 points in 3/2010.

H. M. Borges
Things are going very well for H. M. Borges, Goncalo de Spinola told me, since they decided to enter the German market only last year. Also the other European markets are on a slow but steady rise. The economic crisis does not seem to have a severe effect on Madeira exports. H. M. Borges is thinking about new facilities, depending on how the economy will unfold in 2010. In general there seems to be a change of attitude at Borges, shifting to a more expansive and competitive strategy. Also there are plans to release a second bottling of the 40+ years Malmsey blend, which could be a 60+ years blend if only regulations weren’t standing in the way. The first bottling was only 1000 bottles and these were gone in a hurry.
Rainwater
This rainwater is intended for the everyday-madeira-market and is made from Tinta Negra Mole. It should be served very cold and I am sure that the level of sweetness will then be semi-dry. At the rather high temperature of ProWein conditions the wine is semi-sweet, soft and rounded, mellow, indeed with a rain”watery” feeling but in a very positive way. This light brown wine with its subdued nutty nose is certainly the sweetest rainwater I have ever had, but it is well done and a great value. 87 points in 3/2010.
1998 Single Harvest Malmsey
After 8 years in cask, this Single Harvest Malmsey shows a medium dark mahogany color with a fruity toffee nose. In the mouth this wine is all harmony, soft and rounded, very much on the toffee and caramel side with lots of sweetness, some walnuts and almonds and a long and sweet caramel finish. Maybe this wine is old fashioned in its caramel and toffee design but very well done. 93 points in 3/2010.
1977 Boal Vintage
Opened just minutes ago this wine shows a muddy iodine brown color. The nose has lots of VA, dates and figs, then a second layer of nuts and even fruity grapes in the background, impressive and multidimensional. In the mouth the wine is medium sweet, nutty and fudgy then it shifts to a more roasted side but still with fudgy nuts in the foreground, ending with a slightly roasted finish with medium length. 92 points in 3/2010.

The following video is a short feature about the Prowein 2010 with focus on Rieslings from the Palatinate, Champagne and Madeira wine of course. It is my first video ever, so please be lenient… And of course I am not a native speaker, but nevertheless I thought that 98% of the earth’s population would still be better off with my bad English instead of my perfect German :-)

The following text has been taken from Edward Vernon Harcourt’s “A sketch of Madeira”, published in 1851. The chapter V, titled “On the agriculture of Madeira” gives a precise overview of all the island’s cultivated plants, including vines. Harcourt seems to be well informed with the only exception that the Terrantez grape is not mentioned in his book. I have no explanation for this, especially since the Terrantez grape was commonly regarded one of the best grapes for making Madeira wine even though it was difficult to cultivate. It is a strange coincidence that in the same year Harcourt published his “A sketch of Madeira”, Oidium infected the vines in 1851. Before the wine industry had recovered, the second plague Phylloxera hit the island in 1872. As we know today, the wine industry took decades, better centuries, to fully recover.

A sketch of Madeira
By Edward Vernon Harcourt, published 1851
Part of chapter V
On the agriculture of Madeira
Pages 94 to 99

Cultivation of the vine
The staple of the agriculture of Madeira, and the principal object which occupies is population, is he wine. Vines were formerly planted at a depth of only twenty inches, and sometimes, though never generally, by means of a plough. The instrument was dragged over and over the same ground, till the required depth was attained. Such a practice has long since ceased; indeed, there are very few places in the island, from its rocky nature, where a plough could penetrate twenty inches into the soil. The vine in the south is now always planted in trenches, varying from four to six feet in depth. The depth of the trench is regulated by the nature of the soil. The object in cutting so deep is to allow the roots of the vine to penetrate sufficiently far through the fresh turned earth, to prevent their being dried by the effects of the sun, and a long-continued season of drought, when water for irrigation is scarce. Lumps of pedra molle, and other stones, are placed at the bottom of the trench to keep the earth loose, and prevent the roots of the vines from reaching the stiff soil below. The trenches are filled up slantingly one-third of their depth, the bacello, or cutting, never being planted lower than two-thirds of the depth opened. The new roots shoot mainly from the upper part of the bacello, and at no great distance from the surface of the ground: the part below the roots decays and rots off. When rooted vines are planted they are not put in so deep, although the ground is trenched in the same manner as for bacellos.

Different soils
The names given to the different kinds of soils in which the vine is planted are saibro (decomposed red tufa), cascalho (stony soil), pedra molle (an arenaceous soil, of decomposed yellow tufa), and massapes (clay resulting from the decomposition of dark tufa). The vine lasts the longest in saibro and cascalho. In pedra molle and massapes it produces at first more freely, but the wine is weaker in body, and the plant is soon worn out. The best soil, both for wine and the endurance of the vine, is saibro with a mixture of stones, the plant being always partial to stony or rocky ground.

Best wine districts
The fines wines of Madeira are produced in the parishes of Camara de Lobos, Sao Martinho, and Sao Pedro; in the lower parts of Santo Antonio, the Estreito de Camara de Lobos, Campanario, Sao Roque, and Sao Concalo. The upper parts of the last five parishes produce only second and third-rate wines. The finest Malmsey and Sercial are from the Faja dos Padres, at the foot of Cabo Girao, and from the Paul and Jardim do Mar.
The best vine to graft on is the stock of Malmsey. The best vine to pant in the south is the Verdelho. It is obtained either in the north or from Curral das Freiras.
The length of time that a vineyard will last depends as much on the cultivator as on the quality of his soil. Where the farmer is careless, or intent only on his bemfeitorias, the vines are often huddled into the ground close together, when they often grow up weak and sickly, yield comparatively but little fruit, and die off in eight or ten years, unless forced to exist a few years longer by parsimonious doses of manure. A prudent cultivator will plant his vines ten or twelve palmos [a palmo is about 8 to 9 English inches, depending on the area of the island] apart, when in the same ground, with proper treatment, the plants will yield better, and last from fifty to a hundred years.
The vines, excepting in the north of the island, where they luxuriate wild on the branches of the chestnut trees, are trained on a sort of trellis-work made of the Anundo donax, to which they are bound by split shoots of willow. This framework, when the leaves are off, has the appearance, as you look down upon it from the hills, of nets spread on the ground. One or more walks intersect each vineyard. Along these walks, wooden pillars of about seven feet high are erected at regular distances, to support frames which slope down from them on each side to within two feet of the ground. At this elevation the reeds extend over the whole vineyard. There is barely room for men to creep under these lattice-works either for the purpose of weeding, pruning, or gathering the grapes.
An alqueire (15,625 square palmos) of ground, being soil of the best description, and well cultivated, will produce in an average year from twelve to fifteen barrels of wine, of which twelve go to the pipe. If the soil is of medium quality. And well cultivated, it will produce from eight to ten barrels. Ground of either the best or medium quality in bad hands will not procure more than one or two barrels. In bad land, of course, no vines are planted.
The exportation of wine from Madeira and Porto Santo during the last three years has averaged 6738 pipes, whereas the amount grown has averaged 15,887 pipes. This leaves the large amount of 9149 pies annually consumed in the island, or converted to brandy. The largest amount is drunk by boatmen and burroqueros, who spend about one third of their means in a liquor, which comes under the denomination of low wine. Of the wine exported from the island one-third may be considered of the finest quality, one-third of a medium quality, and one-third as low wine. The first cost of the wine at the press (before fermentation) has this year been from £2 10s to £12 10s per pipe.

Kinds of wines
The names of the different kinds of wine produced in Madeira are – Malvasia, Sercial, Tinta, Boal, Verdelho, Bastardo, Negrinho, and Maroto, all made from grapes bearing those names. The three last are seldom seen, and the Negrinho and Maroto are a bad species of grapes, always used in the manufacture of vinho verde, or refuse wine. The wine called Madeira is made principally from the Verdelho grape, with an admixture of Tinta and Boal: the first gives it body, the two latter flavour. The ordinary Bastardo is a black grape, which yields only a light-coloured wine; the Bastardo branco is rare. The Tinta, or, as it is sometimes called, Negra molle, gives a dark colour to new wines. When it is made into wine by itself, the husk is separated from the stalk and fermented with the juice of the grape, otherwise the Tinta wine would be wanting in the peculiarities of colour and flavour which distinguish it.

Manufacture of wine
To make fine wine it is essential that the grapes should be fully ripe. The ripeness is judged of by the softness of the bunches, which lose their rigidity when the sap ceases to enter them. All unripe grapes, and those of inferior sorts, must be carefully picked out and put aside for the vinho verde. When the wine press is full the grapes are trodden, and then pressed under the beam of the lagar (wine press). The must is carried away in goat-skins and transferred to casks, there to undergo fermentation. When the violence of the fermentation is over, that is to say, in ten or twelve days, it is approved practice to throw into each cask two or three pounds of powdered gypsum, stirring it up in the wines daily for the next ten days. The gypsum is said to take up the watery particles of the wine, and prevent its becoming ropy: the fermentation then gradually subsides, and at the end of six or eight weeks the lees are racked off, and a gallon or two of brandy added to each pipe.
Madeira wines are considerably advanced and matured by heat. It is a common thing to give these wines a passage to the East or West Indies, before they are landed in England.
The heat of a ship’s hold in India, or of a sugar-laden ship in Jamaica, sometimes exceeds 110° of Fahrenheit. By some, the wine is ripened at home in stoves; the abuse of which, by giving a false appearance of age to inferior wines, has at various times been prejudicial to the trade of the island.
The countrymen calculate that one-tenth of the produce of a vineyard is destroyed by flies, lizards, and rats.

Since the server for the MadeiraWineGuide website is located in the U.S. I always had a hard time to put new contents on this website. All the hassle of transfering pictures and text from Europe to Seattle added to the sometimes rather slow groth in content of this website.

Now that the weather turns to rain again (at least here in Europe) and since that means more time for writing up items for the MWG, we decided to implement Windows Live Writer as a tool for changing the contents of the MWG pages.

So I hope this works out well and the changes will result in more and better information on Madeira wine for you.

With kind regards

Peter

Summer is finally over, autumn is here and it is Madeira drinking time again! In my opinion rather heavy wines like Madeira do not drink so well when it is hot. So even when the weather is turning to clouds, wind and rain, the really good thing is: now is the time for drinking Madeira wine (again).

So now is also the time to fill up your Madeira wine stocks if you haven’t done this already. I generally prefer the 10 year old or 5 year old blends for everyday drinking. Also Colheita wines are a very good value when it comes to special occasions. And some three year old wines are certainly worth giving them a try before using them for cooking only…

This is the first post using the newly installed Windows Live Writer technology with the Madeira Wine Guide website and I am really anxious to see how this is going to work out.

Enjoy your autumn time - cheers!

Peter

Arriving at Hamburg the weather was rainy, cold and rather windy – perfect conditions for the tasting of Madeira wines. On October the 27^th, the IVBAM, represented by Joao Nunez and the Portuguese chamber of foreign commerce AICEP, represented by Matthias Meichsner, held their annual Madeira wine tasting in the north-German Hanseatic-League town. After the very successful tasting last year, this year was even a step up. Five producers had come to Hamburg to present their range of blended wines as well as some Colheitas, single harvest wines and Frasqueiras (=vintage Madeiras): H. M. Borges Lda, represented by Goncalo de Spinola, Henriques & Henriques Vinhos SA, represented by Humberto Jardim, the Madeira Wine Company SA, represented by Ricardo Tavares, Vinhos Barbeito Lda., represented by Marianna Pinto and Vinhos Justino Henriques Filhos Lda., represented by Julio Fernandes.

The afternoon started with a Madeira Master Class about Madeira blends. This event was hosted by Michael Pleitgen, head of the Berlin Weinakademie, associated with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust WSET. He gave an hour long presentation about the special features of Madeira wine that contained lots of information for even the seasoned Madeira wine veterans. First we learned some Madeira wine history, heard about John Hancock, the 1768 Madeira party and the sons of liberty. Then the focus shifted to geography, with information about soils, climate and the building of the levada irrigation system. After grape varieties, viticulture, the wine-production and the different styles of Madeira, we went on to taste four samples of 10 year old blends and the MWC’s Alvada 5 year old blend.

After the Madeira Master Class, the five producers offered their range of wines for free tasting, accompanied by a delicious variety of food, perfectly matched to the wines by the chefs of the Hamburg Raddison Blue hotel. Over 40 wines were to be tasted; tasting notes of 14 of them are listed below. The overall level of quality and the price-value-ratio were even higher than in 2009.

A great thank you goes to Joao Nunes, IVBAM and Matthias Meichsner, AICEP for the invitation to this perfect event, as well as to the producers for generously sharing their Madeira wines. Over the last years now these tastings have become a jour fixe in the autumn time for Madeira wine lovers in central Europe. It is fun to see that each time the IVBAM and AICEP somehow manage to even top the level of last year’s event. No doubt these events boost the popularity of Madeira wine amongst wine lovers and help restore its rightful place at the top of the fortified wines.

H. M. Borges

10 years old Sercial

This wine shows a bright iodine brown with a fresh and very appealing citrus nose with a little walnut and almond as well and some toffee in the background. The palate is just off-dry, soft and nutty, with a little toffee too and only little acidity, ending with a clean dry finish. 89 points 10/2010

1995 Boal Colheita

This Colheita features a bright but cold iodine brown color with a voluptuous caramel nose together with a small amount of volatile acidity. The palate offers an intense layer of toffee with a good measure of fruity acidity, some vanilla is also there. Last time I also noticed some dark and roasted aromas that I didn’t really find this time. A long sweet and acidic toffee finish ends this tasty Colheita. 92 points 10/2010

Henriques & Henriques

10 years old Malmsey

This wine shows a medium dark mahogany color, the nose is dominated by raisins, some roasted aromas and a little VA. The palate is very sweet but the sweetness is also perfectly counter-balanced with high acidity. Toffee is dominating the palate, but a little smokiness and the high acidity keep the wine from being cloying. The finish is also a little smoky so it all works out perfectly. This wine may not be the most complex one, but is powerful and very pleasant to drink. 90 points 10/2010

20 years old Terrantez

I never had this wine before so it was a huge surprise for me when I first saw this 20 years old Terrantez blend. The color is of brilliant medium dark iodine with a chestnut rim, the nose is sweet and nutty, rather subdued. The palate shifts into a higher gear with an initial soft feel of mainstream nutty sweetness, but then a slightly bitter, but typical Terrantez-backbone comes shining through. The wine evolves in your mouth into a wonderful example of Terrantez with a long and sweet finish that gives a glimpse of Terrantez-bitterness at the very end. Well done. I hope they put this on the market soon! 92 points 10/2010

Madeira Wine Company

5 years old Blandy Alvada

I like this entry level but very well made blend with its medium mahogany color and its rich and fruity nose. The sweet and very fruity palate and the surprisingly long fruity finish make this wine very easy to drink and very enjoyable. 90 points 10/2010

Cossart Gordon Colheita Sercial 1997

The bright straw color of this Colheita is very appealing; the sweet nutty nose with a little ginger and cinnamon is very elegant. The palate is dry and refreshing, nutty, a little ginger again in the background, lots of clean acidity and a dry nutty finish of medium length. 91 points 10/2010

Cossart Gordon Colheita Bual 1997

This Colheita shows a medium dark mahogany color with sweet and soft toffee nose with a touch of vanilla, hmmm. The palate is quite sweet, with lots of toffee, walnuts, a sweet vanilla backbone and a sweet almond finish of medium length. This is a nice and rather typical Bual Colheita. 92 points 10/2010

Cossart Gordon Colheita Verdelho 1998

The color of this Colheita is medium dark iodine, with a subdued nutty nose. The palate is rather sweet for the Verdelho range, but soft and elegant, with a nutty base and a soft toffee layer on top. Just when you think that this is a little mainstream some darker coffee aromas appear and lead over to a slightly bitter finish of medium length. An interesting wine! 92 points 10/2010

1976 Blandys Terrantez Vintage

This was my favorite wine last year in Hamburg and it repeated first place in 2010. The color is dark mahogany with a rather aggressive nose with volatile acidity, a little musk, dark and roasted aromas, then a touch of something wild, funky, leathery, waxy, hard to describe, but pleasant and very well fitting into the overall mysterious impression, and finally a lot of dried fruits. The nose keeps amazing me, even though I have had this wine a couple of times now. The palate is nutty sweetness at first, with powerful acidity, a layer of bitter walnut, lots of caramel, raisins, molasses, that wild, funky, leathery thing in the background again and then a long bitter walnut finish. Every time I just think: Wow, what a great wine, hard to believe it only had 21 years in cask. 94 points 10/2009

Vinhos Barbeitos

10 years old Verdelho

This Verdelho blend shows a rather bright iodine color, with an appealing fresh but nutty nose with a tough of wood in the background. The palate is quite sweet for the Verdelho range, but soft and mellow with a nice mélange of walnut, toffee and caramel, no roasted aromas whatsoever, so the overall impression of softness goes through until the walnut finish of medium length. This blend is perhaps a little mainstream, but the perfect wine to sip when it is cold and rainy outside. It was the first wine of the Madeira Master Class and really made me feel welcome. 90 points 10/2010

1988 Sercial Vintage

The color is cold bright iodine; the citrusy nose displays lots of lemon and orange aromas, fresh and zesty. The palate is highly acidic, a little fruity sweetness in the background, with lots of lemon and orange, but no nuttiness here. This is all about citrusy fruit aromas, with an acidic finish of medium length. Well done! 92 points 10/2010

2002 Colheita Canteiro Single Cask 110, Tinta Negra sweet

This Colheita has just been released and is the sweetest wine in the whole Barbeito range. The color is dark orange-yellow with a sweet nutty nose. The palate is very sweet, but there is also a lot of acidity to keep the wine in balance. The overall impression is richness, with sweet nuts, toffee, a little burnt sugar in the background and persistent acidity to keep the wine from being sticky sweet. The wine has been aged in a hot warehouse, you can tell that from the slightly burnt taste in the long sweet toffee finish. Wow, this is made from Tinta Negra, hard to believe, but just adding proof to the quality of the TNM grape. 92 points 10/2010

Vinhos Justino Henriques
10 years old fine dry

The wine has a medium bright warm brown with orange rim and a nose dominated by lemon and citrus aromas so intense it leaves the impression of a lemon candy. There is no nuttiness whatsoever, but intense fruit with a slightly vegetable-like background, still very pleasant though. The palate is dry, but with lots of fruity citrus aromas –pineapple, lemon, a little orange- leading to an almost sweet impression. This wine is all about citrus fruit, with an acidic finish of medium length, no toffee or caramel, very impressive and refreshing. 91 points 10/2010

1996 Colheita
This Colheita still is my favorite TNM wine, with its dark iodine brown color and its rich nose of figs, nuts and coffee. The wine is quite sweet on the palate, perfectly balanced with just the right amount of acidity, then toffee, almonds, walnuts, also some darker more roasted aromas as well. I have been following this wine for four years now and probably had it a dozen times. It seems to become more rounded and mellow, but the complexity and the long grapey finish still make it fun to drink every time. 92 points 10/2010

In 1901 Pierre Viala and Victor Vermorel started their monumental task of collecting knowledge of all the grape varieties used for viticulture by man. It took the two and about 70 other colleagues almost ten years until they completed the work in 1910. The work named “Traité Général de Viticulture – Ampelographie” was published by Masson et Cie, Paris and contained 7 heavy volumes. With more than 3000 pages and 50 pounds of solid book, they had collected 24.000 grape varieties, showing the most important of them on 500 chromolithographed plates, 70 engraved plates, and 840 engraved illustrations in the text. The first volume offers general information about grapes, grape biology and viticulture. Volumes II to VI contain information on different grape varieties a well as the beautifully chromolithographed plates. Volume VII is a dictionary on grape varieties, listing all the different synonyms.
F. Chempenois, Paris, the famous fine art printing company that produced most of Alphonse Mucha’s finest work, printed the 500 chromolithographed plates after the perfectly detailed drawings of A. Kreyder and J. Troncy. Many volumes were later sliced apart to sell single chromolithographed plates to wine lovers and collectors all over the world. Even after 100 years, the colors of the grapes still shine vibrantly and intense and are a joy to watch.

In 1991, exactly 90 years after the start of the works for Viala’s and Vermorel’s epic publication, Jeanne Laffitte, Marseille, edited a reprint of 1000 complete sets, almost as heavy and beautiful as the original. The French agricultural banking company Crédit Agricole had subsidized the re-edition of this monumental encyclopedia.

So how much did Viala, Vermorel and their colleagues know about the grapes used for the production of Madeira wine? With Madeira wine having a long and glorious history certainly experts like Viala and Vermorel must have mentioned the grapes of Madeira in their work.

And indeed they have: The Madeira grapes start with Verdelho de Madere in volume III at page 88. Bastardo appears in volume IV on page 208.The Boal grape is mentioned in volume VI, starting at page 213. Sercial can also be found in volume VI at page 218. It is not that easy with Malvasia, Moscatel and Terrantez. The first two simply have so many synonyms and varieties that it is quite hard to find the “real” Malvasia and Moscatel for Madeira. Malvasia Fina is mentioned in the dictionary, Malvasia Roja has its own chapter in volume VI at page 246. A Malvasia candida is not mentioned. The today used Moscatel grape is probably synonym to Muscat d’Alexandrie and can be found in volume III, page 108. But there is also a Muscat rouge de Madere in volume III at page 319. Terrantez is mentioned in volume VII in a few brief lines. Finally Tinta Negra mole appears as Tinta Molle in the dictionary in volume VII.

The general impression is that in 1901 to 1910 the grapes and wines of Madeira have not been of much importance to the wine drinking world. Interestingly enough some detailed information about the grapes of Madeira had been contributed by J. Duarte d’Oliveira, proprietaire-viticulteur in Porto. However he has no connection to the D'Oliveiras company, as Luís D’Oliveira told me.

The pictures below show some of the beautiful chromolithographs of the 1901-1910 work of Viala and Vermorel. From time to time it is possible to get some of the cut plates at auctions.

The seven volumes of the 1991 reprint by Jeanne Laffitte.

The title of Viala’s and Vermorel’s “Traité Général de Viticulture – Ampelographie”.

Chromolithograph of the Bastardo grape. Please note that the following chromolithographs

are taken from the original 1901-1910 edition. They were all cut from the original

volumes and mounted in frames, some of them slightly damaged in the process.

Chromolithograph of the Boal grape.

Chromolithograph of the Malvasia roja grape.

Chromolithograph of the Muscat rouge de Madere grape.

Chromolithograph of the Sercial grape.

Chromolithograph of the Verdelho de Madere grape.

In 1817 William Neyle Habersham was born into the Habersham family of Savannah, Georgia. Growing up in a wealthy and well-known family he was introduced to life’s finest things, especially Madeira wine which was undoubtedly served on a regular basis at the Habersham’s family home Avon Hall, located in Vernonburg right at the banks of the Vernon river. The Habersham family had been linked with Georgia ever since James Habersham (1712-1775) had arrived in colonial Georgia in 1738. His three sons Joseph, John and James Jr participated in the revolutionary movement and later rose to influential positions in the state of Georgia. Especially Joseph left his mark in Georgia, having Habersham County in northern Georgia named in his honour, as well as numerous sites and streets throughout the state.

So the family was well established when William Neyle Habersham was born in 1817 as the great-grandson of Joseph and the son of Robert Habersham (1783-1870). Robert had been married three times, so there was a number of ten children. Becoming a successful businessman with the company Robert Habersham and Son, Inc., of which William was a copartner with Robert Beverly Habersham, he soon made himself a name as the most precise palate of his time, especially when it came to Madeira wine. He was said to be able to blindly name a wines year, grape variety and even vineyard. In his home in Savannah the excentric merchant collected Madeira wines, treating them to the sun in a specially-built glass-house as well as fining his wines with a secret method to increase the brilliance and clarity. Some say that he invented the light and pale type of Madeira wine called “Rainwater”. But not only did he collect vast amounts of Madeira wines, he also traded them to other collectors, building up a high reputation as the source of the finest Madeira wines available. His wines would often be named after the ships that had brought them over from Madeira island or after the characteristics of the pipe that they had been stored in. Famous Habersham Madeiras were the “Hurricane Madeira”, the “All Saints Madeira”, the “Painted Pipe Madeira” and others. Besides his Madeira wine interest he was an amateur flutist and an authority on salmon fishing.

In the Civil War his business came to a stop and personal tragedy hit William Neyle and his wife Josephine (1821-1893), when both their sons Joseph Clay and William Neyle Jr. were killed in the battle of Atlanta. After the war he continued his involvement in the Madeira wine trade, selling wine from his large stocks that had been hidden away during the war to the rich and wealthy in Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Philadelphia, New York and Savannah. Habersham died in 1899, the rest of his collection was sold at auction in 1900. His wines helped to keep alive the tradition of the Madeira parties, brilliantly described in Silas Weir Mitchell’s story “A Madeira Party”. The complete text of this well-written and somewhat ironic story can be found at this website.

It was 1959 when a group of businessmen from Savannah consisting of Thomas Gignilliat, Dr. Thomas A. McGoldrick, Dr. Peter L. Scardino, Major General Haywood S. Hansell Jr. and Dr. Antonio J. Waring formed the Savannah Madeira Club to revive the tradition of the Savannah Madeira parties. The members kept meeting until the 1990ies and their meetings would take place at a member’s home, including dinner, several Madeira wines and the discussion of a paper or a lecture presented by one of the members. In 1976 they celebrated the Bicentennial with a special Madeira party, dressing in historic clothing and re-acting a party very close to what Mitchell had described in his book.

Visitors of today’s Savannah can do a "Madeira Tour" at the Davenport House and even though Avon Hall burned down in the 1970ies there is still a slave cabin at the original site in Vernonburg and a plaque set in the brick walkway leading to Avon Hall by William Neyle Habersham.

About a year ago I was able to pick up a bottle of old Madeira at auction. It had been found cleaning out the basement of an old house after the owner had died. The faded handwritten label was well legible and read: “from the cellars of the late William Neyle Habersham, Savannah, Cossart Gordon PP 1824, bottled from demijohn in 1906”. Below that comes a printed part reading “Morten & Co, 58 Broad Street, New York”. I was thrilled! Here was an original wine from one of the leading Madeira wine authorities of the 19^th century America and probably of all times. And could PP be short for the famous “Painted Pipe”? After all there is at least one other bottle of “Painted Pipe” Madeira in existence, decanted, demijohned and rebottled by Morten & Co of New York in 1907 for the Vanderbilt family. However the wine merchant Ward McAllister selling this bottle claimed the “Painted Pipe” to be imported in 1790 by Newton, Gordon, Murdoch and Scott (other reliable sources like Mannie Berk say McAllister claimed the wine to be imported in 1791 by Thomas Gibbons) and now on my bottle it said 1824? But this mystery can easily be solved. As Emanuel Berk clearly shows in his brilliant expanded second edition of Noel Cossart's "Madeira - the island vineyard", the famous wines traded by Habersham "were really only blends". This does not imply that these wines weren't of the best quality. In fact being blended by the master-palate of his time, some wines were so successful that they became sought-after "brands" and so Habersham needed to re-blend considerable quantities of his famous wines again and again. After Habersham's death, his remaining wines were sold by Arnold & Co in 1900. Among the many demijohns going into sale, there was one demijohn of "Painted Pipe" carrying the date of 1824. Even though the date seems to be fictitious, it was nevertheless used in the description of the wine. So since the bottle shows the 1824 date and has been bottled from demijohn by the same New York wine merchant like the Vanderbilt bottle and since it names Cossart Gordon on the label it might well be a “Painted Pipe” wine.

However there was another big question mark about this wine. When the bottle had been found, there had only been a small cork loosely sticking in the bottle neck, no capsule, no wax cover and the level had been low shoulder. At first the seller of this bottle wanted to throw the contents away, finding more value in the antique bottle than in the wine. I was able to convince him of putting a clean cork firmly into the bottle neck and then shipping it. Miraculously the bottle survived the transport, arriving in perfect shape.

First inspection of the bottle showed a classic three-part mold with the typical seems at the shoulder. The bottle lip had been added to the neck by the use of a lipping tool and the bottle itself was in great condition, without any cracks or chips. The label was well legible, handwritten with ink on faded paper, sticking to the glass with water-soluble glue. There were no signs of seepage on the bottle, being consistent with the bottle having been found in an upright position.

I couldn’t resist for long, so here is the tasting note from august 2011: The color of the wine is a beautifully brilliant but pale bright iodine, just like you would imagine from Habersham’s special and secret wine treatment (ok, I’m getting carried away a little here…, but the color is just amazing!), showing a hint of orange at the rim, reminding me of an old Cognac I once tasted (and did not like…). The nose offers piercing volatile acidity that makes your eyes water, lots of lovage, a little toffee, with a base layer of a slightly burned or signed buttery caramel and a hint of apricot at the end. The nose is very promising, even though the very high level of VA is rather disturbing. Finally when taking a sip all my hopes are crushed. The wine shows burning acidity, being no longer drinkable, giving a paint-thinner-like feel to the throat. Even though there is some thin and almost faded black tea taste, a hint of lemon and a woody and absolutely dry background like in an old Cognac, the wine is clearly long dead, resembling somewhat of a ghost of a once probably very good Madeira wine. So is it really the original wine? Probably yes, since in the hot climate of Savannah the Madeira wine drinkers of Habersham’s time often preferred light and dry wines that were not too sweet or too heavy. For example in the above-mentioned Arnold & Co's catalogue of Habersham's wines many Madeiras are described as pale, light or dry. And what grape variety could it be? Well, many of the wines weren’t made from a single grape variety back then. And as shown above, Habersham's wines were mainly blended wines. In the case of the "Painted Pipe" this wine had been made from 8 different Madeiras. And the wine surely tastes like a blend, lacking the individual characteristics of a single grape variety.

Even though the wine clearly does not live up to the expectations it raised, I do not regret buying that special bottle. Finding out about the history and the background of this wine was just so interesting and so much fun. I had to share this information with you and I hope you enjoy reading it.

PS: If somebody is able to supply additional information about Habersham Madeira wines, the Morten & Co company of NYC or even a picture of an old Habersham bottle, forwarding it to me is highly appreciated!

PSS: Further reading can be found at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ugapressbks/pdfs/ugp9780820334479.pdf showing the complete copy of “Ebb tide” by Spencer Bidwell King Jr., a very interesting book about the diary of William’s wife Josephine Clay Habersham which she kept in 1863, with many fine drawings as well as wonderful map of the Vernon river and the surroundings of Avon Hall. Also this book offers a lot of information about the Habersham family in general.

A general overview of Robert Habersham, William’s father, can be found in complete copy at http://library.armstrong.edu/Habersham_Robert.pdf also offering lots of additional information on the companies associated with the Habersham family.

Finally a beautiful booklet with wonderful pictures of Vernonburg, Georgia can be found at http://www.dot.state.ga.us/informationcenter/programs/environment/resources/outreach/Documents/Publications/Vernonburg-GA-Booklet.pdf .

Ever since starting to collect Madeira wines I had dreamed about creating and maturing my own blend. The initial plans were to buy a small wooden cask, import about 100 liters of Madeira wine and mature the wine in cask for a couple of years. Since the bulk export of Madeira wine is prohibited by European laws these days, the only way todo this today is to buy the wine per bottle. After long talks with friends in the wine producing business, I realized that a very small cask would add a heavy wood flavor to the wine much too strong. The ratio of wine to cask surface would require at least a cask of about 80 liters in volume. As I made plans to buy the cask, I soon found out that this was going to become a very expensive experiment. 80 liters would require about 115 bottles of 0,7 liters of a good quality 10 year old blend, adding up to 115 x 25 Euros = 2875 Euros. Adding a cask of medium quality would make a total of about 3000 Euros. So this project came to a sudden death before it even started.

By accident I found a 10 liter demijohn, when I cleaned out the cellar of my parent’s house. It had a very old-fashioned wicker-case around it with two big handles and so this thing asked for being taken away. The inside was covered with the crusty remains of some old wine and at first it would be very hard to clean the demijohn on the inside. Finally my mother came up with the idea of using strong chlorine bleach to clean it. So I filled the demijohn with a mixture of water and chlorine bleach for 36 hours, after that a high pressure water gun did the rest. Of course you can get new demijohns in all sizes, but since I had the “antique” one at hand, I wanted to put it to use.

Having realized I needed to start at a small scale, at a long weekend in February 2009 I set out with the 10 liter demijohn, 12 bottles of a 10 year old blend and a wide variety of old vintage Madeiras to add certain characteristics that the blend should later have. Like the 1835 Nicolas Brown Madere for acidity, or the 1900 Torreao Boal for a bitter coffee taste. This might sound a little too simple and I admit it took me two weeks of repeated blending of small batches (28 batches of the size of 50ml) before I even came close to what I had wanted in the first place. It took another couple of weekends in March and May and then (with all the limitations of a non-professional) I had finally created something worth repeating on a larger scale. So at the beginning of June I filled the glass bulb with about 10 liters of the MadeiraWineGuide blend. If you take the 10 year old blends with an exact age of 10 years, the medium age of this first version of the blend was 30 years, 29.6 years to be exact. If you take the 10 year old blend as one wine, a total of 7 different wines went into the blend.
It was my strong impression that the small batches of the first blending try-outs always improved with a few weeks of rest. So I planned to let the blend rest for a half a year, then do some fine adjustments if necessary. Since the wine was not in cask further maturing would be minimal of course, but my guess was that it would take some time for the different wines to blend together into a new, harmonious Madeira. Visiting the U.S. in June 2009, I brought a bottle of the blend for Roy Hersh who flattered me by rating the blend with 94 points when tasting it in February 2010.

Having been encouraged by the positive results I nevertheless wanted to perfect the blend a little more and do some fine-tuning. I had used to add portions of 100ml to the 10 liter total, so that the added wine would be exactly one percent of the whole amount. I certainly do not have a professional palate/nose, but when tasting and comparing a sample taken before the adding of a new wine with the result afterwards I could tell the change. So I stepped down to adding just 50ml (1/2 percent of the total volume) and this worked much better.
Another problem was acidity: Being limited to a 10 liter total I added rather concentrated wines to the blend because I was starting to run out of space in the demijohn. However all these concentrated wines pushed the levels of acidity up to scary levels. I'm an acid freak and I still like the level of acidity in this blend, but I'm afraid I can't add much more.

After adding a few small amounts of different wines, the second version of the blend is made from exactly 10 different wines (counting the 10 YO as one wine). The base is the 10 year old Boal blend from Barbeito, about 8 bottles of it. Other wines in the blend include the Nicolas Brown Madere 1835 for acidity, 1900 Adega de Torreao for a bitter coffee note, Borges 1935 Boal for a molasses finish, 1907 Blandy Boal for vanilla, 1878 Justino Fanal (probably TNM) for orange peel and so on. And by the way, when you count the 10 YO as exactly 10 years, the wine now has an average of 42 years, so I changed the name to 40 year old, and because of the little amounts of wine added, there is still the complete 10 liters left.

Right now I am not sure about what to do with the blend, now that it seems to be finished. Will I just let it rest there in its demijohn or should I bottle it completely and sit in my cellar and congratulate myself for the suddenly stuffed shelves? We will see…

PS: Judging from the auction lists of the huge American Madeira sales like the selling off of Habersham’s cellar and others, it seems to have been common practice to save the “lees” of old Madeira wines and collect them in demijohns. Even though this was surely not for the reason of blending, it still gave the owner the opportunity to gain another few bottles of Madeira wine. It might well be, that the lees of different wines were put into different demijohns, depending on a rough classification of sweetness or character. Nowadays you would have to be a heavy Madeira wine consumer to be able to produce enough Madeira wine leftovers to even start a demijohn with “lees”, but why not start at a smaller level with a single empty bottle and save the leftovers from a tasting?

Due to the shutdown of my isp, I had to change the email address for any correspondence concerning the MadeiraWineGuide!

Please note that wopereutter@nwn.de is no longer working!

The new address for any questions or comments about Madeira wine is wopereutterNOSPAM@PLEASEweb.de. However - please be patient with any answers... (remove the NOSPAM and PLEASE parts)

Peter

Terrantez – it’s the name of a grape that provokes a lot of positive associations when heard by Madeira wine lovers. This grape is synonym for ethereal quality, unique aromas, longevity and especially for a characteristic bitterness that somehow always makes me think of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of darkness”.

Even though high quality Madeiras are on the rise again, the Madeira wine business as a whole has been struggling. Since tourism on the island is booming, more and more vineyards are converted to construction sites. The production of wine is still hardly profitable because of the severe conditions the producers face. The production of Terrantez wines is even less profitable. Terrantez is a low-yielding variety, quite difficult to grow and prone to Botrytis. The total production was just below 500 kg in 2005. Even after heavy promotion from the IVBAM, the production rose to only 2200 kg in 2009. In 2004 there was less than one hectare of Terrantez on the entire island.

It is the unfulfilled dream of many collectors of old Madeira wine to taste a higher number of old Terrantez wines together. But because these wines are so rare, that dream is very unlikely to become reality. More than a year ago, a thread about a possible Terrantez tasting originated in the FTLOP-discussion board. More and more participants joined in the discussion and so Roy Hersh and Mannie Berk set out on the herculean task to organize the greatest Terrantez tasting ever to take place. Since the would-be attendees came from all over the U.S., Canada, Europe and even the Cayman Islands, some central meeting point had to be found.

NYC seen from Rockefeller Center

New York City has been the site of many historic events, so in early 2012 another historic event was added to the long list. At the 10^th of March, a total of 20 Madeira wine connoisseurs met at Del Posto restaurant in NYC’s meat packing district to start an event that will go down in Madeira wine history as the most complete Terrantez tasting ever. 18 precious Terrantez bottles were brought in after having been aired for three to seven days. Jeff Porter, the wine director of Del Posto’s, had set up the group in a separate tasting room in the wine cellar. Thanks to the perfect organization of Roy and Mannie, every detail had been taken care of. Even the rather dim light bulbs had been changed to make for better illumination to be able to assess the wine’s color. After the tasting, Abby Blake, director of private dining, booked us to a separate dining room where we faced a wonderful dinner prepared from Chef Mark Ladner. The participants of the tasting group had not only each brought a valuable bottle of old Terrantez, but also dug deep into their cellars to bring additional wines for the dinner. Champagne, Burgundy, Barolo, Bordeaux and others, some in magnums or even double-magnums made for perfect dinner wines. The wines sparked lively conversation throughout the end of this extraordinary and singular event. Roy and Mannie provided an interesting booklet for the tasting, with insides into the history of this event, the Terrantez grape and the different wines themselves, each with its own unique story. Also professional photographs were taken, so we could all concentrate on the wines at hand.

I would like to express my deepest thanks to anyone involved in this once-in-a-lifetime-event. Roy and Mannie are the first to mention of course, the latter also for allowing me to adopt a bottle of the wonderful H&H Terrantez Reserva. A big thank you goes to my brother Hans for taking photographs at professional level. Also a big thank you goes to the staff at Del Posto for this perfect afternoon and evening. This tasting would not have come to life without the generosity of Madeira wine legend Dr. Robert Maliner and his witty wife Veronica. Thank you not only for joining us and entertaining us with many interesting stories about Madeira wine (Broadbent ******!), but also for enabling many participants to join in by opening the doors of your profound collection and letting them adopt certain wines.

All in all this was an absolutely outstanding event that likely will not be repeated, unfortunately that is. The depth of vintages, producers and also the depth of participants (collectors, traders, wine writers, producers and amateurs) made for a singular feast of Madeira wine. It was a Madeira wine lovers dream come true! I feel honored, privileged and outright damned lucky to have been at this truly transcendental Terrantez tasting. Great doubts remain that I will ever participate in an event like this again. But if anyone would like to give it a try, please give me a call :-)

The line-up of the 18 Terrantez bottles

Tasting notes:

The wines had been arranged in six flights, going from youngest to oldest. Between the flights, the participants gave their opinions on the different wines and discussed their characteristics. Also in each round we voted for wine of the flight. At the end we would vote for wine of the night, as well as for the wine we would like to take home. The overall quality of the wines was absolutely amazing, with the majority of the wines being on the sweet side. Each wine, tasted on its own, would have scored top marks, so any marks given at the tasting have to be seen within the line-up of these spectacular wines. The following tasting notes are completed with information taken from the booklet.

First flight:

1886/1887 Blandy’s Terrantez

This is the first wine to start the afternoon. The 86/87 blend once belonged to Graham Blandy who passed in on to his children in 1972. Bob Maliner bought the bottle from Christie’s in 1979. The bottle bears a simple white label with black lettering, showing the misspelled word “Terrantrez”. The wine is supposed to have spent only 13 years in wood, but the medium dark iodine with reddish rim suggests longer cask age. The wonderful nose is powerful, almost funky with some volatile acidity and dark molasses. The palate is medium dry, austere, very concentrated and quite powerful, almost a little raw with its high, piercing acidity and a rather prominent backbone of typical Terrantez bitterness. The finish is long and highly acidic and still the Terrantez “heart of darkness” shines through. May be the wine needed even more airing? It got four votes from the tasting group. 92 points in 3-2012.

1872 Quinta do Serrado Terrantez

This wine had not been part of the huge Quinta do Serrado parcel sold by Christie’s in 1989 and 1990. The Rare Wine Co. bought this wine, which came from the same vast estate as the 1827 Boal and the 1830 Malmsey sold by Christie’s, directly from the Henriques family in 1997. This Terrantez is darker than the previous wine, still medium dark iodine. The nose is also very powerful, less VA, but still well detectable, toffee and a little vanilla also there. The first sip shows an elegant and very balanced wine, with lots of molasses, also a hint of vanilla, medium sweetness, but still enough acidity as a counterweight. The wine has a wonderful silky texture, goes on with gingerbread aromas and ends with a typical Terrantez bitterness to keep it interesting. Even though I liked it a lot, the wine got zero votes from the group. 94 points in 3-2012.

1870 Blandy’s Terrantez

Patrick Grubb, longtime British Madeira wine merchant, sold this bottle in 1995, stating that it had be bottled in 1962. The color is almost the same like the QdS 1872 T, maybe a little darker and a little more on the cold side. With its rich nose of figs, molasses and a yeasty background it is quite promising, also a little VA boosts the expectations. On the tongue the wine is rather sweet, very appealing, quite fruity and grapey, very accessible with a rounded and well balanced appearance that is all about fruit. Still it has enough acid to keep the wine from being too sweet. The finish is quite long, but the typical Terrantez bitterness barely shows in the end. This is a very interesting wine. I liked it more, every time I came back to it and it overtook the QdS for first place just in the last seconds. However this wine is not very typical for Terrantez, it reminds me a little of a rich Boal. The group gave it 14 votes, making it the wine of the first flight. 94 points in 3-2012.

Shades of Terrantez

Second flight:

1862 Rutherford & Miles Terrantez

This first of the three 1862 Terrantez wines is an absolute rarity with only three bottles appearing at auction between 1971 and 2010. This one comes from the collection of Bob Maliner. The color is medium dark and rather warm chestnut brown with orange rim. After a small initial amount of VA, the nose displays caramel with a spicy background. In the mouth the wine is powerful and concentrated, quite sweet in the beginning, but then it evolves into a spicier Terrantez with high levels of acidity and the typically bitter Terrantez backbone. Like a story unfolding, the wine develops as you taste it, a wonderful Terrantez for grown-ups. It got 5 votes from the tasting group. 95 points in 3-2012.

1862 H. M. Borges Terrantez

This is Michael Broadbent’s famous desert island wine, reaching an extraordinary six stars in his book “Vintage Wine”. Dr. Maliner told us how Michael Broadbent first tasted this wine from Bob’s collection and after having tasted the 1862 started crying because Michael was so overwhelmed with it. It certainly was the wine of the flight, reaching 13 votes with its sweet sandalwood nose, including an appetizing whiff of VA and its warm brown color, quite similar to the R&M 1862 T. On the palate the wine is rather sweet, misleadingly harmonious at first, but quickly a bitter Terrantez backbone and lots of acidity burst through, together with caramel and hints of coffee. Contrary to the R&M this wine is very complete and ready, with a mellow but still quite complex and long finish. I admit even though the wine is very good I had entertained higher expectations because of Broadbent’s six star rating, however it was still wine of the flight. 96 points in 3-2012.

Undated H. M. Borges Terrantez

After being sold at the 2008 Leacock sale from Christie’s, the question remained, if this wine could be the 1862 HMB Terrantez. Apart from the wines quality also the stenciling hints at the HMB wine. So now, finally side by side with the 1862 HMB Terrantez came the moment of truth. This wine has the same warm chestnut brown color; however the nose is quite subdued, still sweet and harmonious though, almost like a small brother of the HMB wine. On the palate it is quite sweet, with lots of acidity and a well detectable Terrantez bitterness in the background, leading to an acidic finish with some caramel in the end. However I was distracted by a vegetable-like aroma that never really got away. Judging from that single experience I don’t think it’s the same wine like the 1862 HMB. On the other hand it had been tasted at the two Leacock tastings and had shown much better. This time it got no votes from the tasting group. 92 points in 3-2012.

A booklet with lots of information accompanied the wines

Third flight:

1846 H. M. Borges Terrantez

This first wine of the famous 1846 vintage was bottled in 1900. The appearance is somewhat cloudy; the color is muddy medium dark iodine, a little on the cold side. The sweet toffee nose is elegant and promising. On the palate the wine is very sweet but also highly acidic with loads of caramel. The Terrantez bitterness is not as prominent here as in some other wines of the tasting, but the wine is very complete, rounded, with a creamy texture, complex with layers of different nuances of sweet toffee and caramel and ends with a long and almost creamy finish with just a hint of bitterness. The group gave it three votes. 96 points in 3-2012.

1846 Cossart Gordon Terrantez Special Reserve

Next was the Cossart Gordon Special Reserve. The wine is a little darker than the HMB of the same vintage. The nose is rather subdued, a little caramel there, also some diesely aromas but going well with the overall impression of age. In the mouth there is lots of sweetness, powerful acidity, but perfectly balanced and rounded, also caramel, a hint of cinnamon, bread and molasses, with a general impression of richness and opulence. The whole wine is carried on a bitter Terrantez base layer to a long acidic finish. It’s a very well defined wine with power and complexity, wonderful. It got three votes from the group. 97 points in 3-2012.

1846 Avery’s Terrantez

This wine was probably purchased by Avery’s of Bristol in the 1950ies from the Madeira Wine Company, called Madeira Wine Association back then. The color is medium dark iodine with a grayish rim. The nose is not very prominent, but promising with phenolic sweetness, spices and some caramel. The first sip lets me immediately think of the CG wine, just as sweet, just as powerful and also well balanced. It’s all there, the typical Terrantez bitterness as well, the molasses and the long finish. For me the wine was a little less complete though, when compared to the Cossart Gordon wine. It could well be the same wine however, may be bottled at a different date with a different label, who knows? It got 6 votes from the tasting group, tying it with the Leacock wine for wine of the flight. 96 points in 3-2012.

1846 Leacock Terrantez

The last wine tasted from the 1846 group was also the most mysterious one. Until the 2008 Leacock sale at Christie’s, this wine had not been traded at any auctions. It sure is darker than the other 1846 Terrantez wines, with a dark chestnut brown. This is might be due to the fact, that for reasons unknown this wine was matured in malmsey casks, so it became sweeter and darker than the normal run of Terrantez. The nose is sweet with toffee as is the palate with its sweet and balanced toffee richness. The acidity is not as prominent as in the other 1846 wines, as is the Terrantez bitterness. Nevertheless the wine delivers the complete package, with creamy caramel, a little nutmeg and a wonderfully bitter Terrantez finish of considerable length. So is this the same wine like Avery’s and the CG? Hard to tell, but when Eric inspected the bottles, he found all three glass bottles to be identical. So does this prove that the same wine is in all three bottles? Certainly not, but it proves that the wines must have been bottled at about the same time and also probably in the same facility. By the way, thinking back to the wonderful Blandy’s 1846 Terrantez wine I tasted with Roy in Seattle in 2007, I am quite certain, that the Blandy’s wine was completely different from any of the other 1846 wines tasted this time. The Blandy’s wine was not as sweet, more on the smoky side and with a strong hint of vanilla that I did not really find in the other 1846 wines this time. The Leacock wine gained six votes, tying it for wine of the flight with Avery’s Terrantez. 96 points in 3-2012.

18 wonderful wines in one place

Fourth flight:

1834 Barbeito Terrantez

This whole fourth flight shows a step up in darkness of color. The 1834 Barbeito Terrantez features dark coffee brown and at first is not very promising with its very subdued caramel nose that also shows a hint of cinnamon as well as some ripe honey aromas. In the mouth however the wine is very powerful, highly concentrated, like an elixir, very sweet, with tons of yummy caramel, toffee, molasses, all balanced by powerful acidity, lasting forever it seems with its long acidic finish with a well integrated Terrantez backbone. It got three votes from the group. 97 points in 3-2012.

Henriques & Henriques Terrantez Reserva

The “heavenly quartet” of old H&H wines is well known, but there are more members of this group, amongst them an old Verdelho and this Terrantez Reserva. Only a few bottles have been left and that means that H&H will not sell this wine, so it is really nowhere to find. This bottle belonged to the John Cossart collection and had been sold to the Rare Wine Co. From what Alan Gardner had been told by John Cossart, the wine might be either vintage 1825 or 1827. As Mannie Berk told us, the wine had been rather closed after the long bottle storage. So the Reserva was put into demijohns and aired for six months before being bottled and recorked in fall 2011. This wine is the lightest in color of the fourth flight, with its dark and shiny iodine. The nose is very pleasant, sweet and grapey, elegant. On the palate the wine is medium sweet, rounded and mellow, not as heavy and powerful as the other two examples of the flight, but combines elegance with enough power, acid and complexity, with caramel and toffee floating on a layer of typical Terrantez bitterness. The wine is lean, elegant, well defined and very precise and focused, with a very long acidic finish. It is a wonderful sample of Terrantez, with four votes from the group. 97 points in 3-2012.

1802 Acciaioly Terrantez

This is the darkest wine of the tasting with a dark cola color and a slightly reddish rim. The nose is very pleasant with sweet caramel, aromas of liquorice and toffee. And then the palate – wow! The wine is so powerful, it rolls over you like a tank; it is power and concentration in perfection, yet very complex. You really have to work your way through this wine, through layers of caramel, toffee, molasses, cinnamon, as well as a nuance of roasted coffee. And then when you think you reached the end, the wine opens up and shows a beautiful Terrantez “heart of darkness” glowing vibrantly in the dark. The finish has to be measured in minutes, with the pleasant Terrantez bitterness shining through till the very end. This is a wine to kneel down and pray. It is certainly one of the top three Madeira wines I have ever tasted, interestingly all of them Terrantez wines, with an unknown 1839 and the 1846 Blandy’s being the other two. This perfect sample of Terrantez got 11 votes from the group, making it wine of the flight. 99 points in 3-2012.

The 1795, 1790 and 1760 Terrantez wines

Fifth flight:

1795 Companhia Vinicola da Madeira Terrantez

Finally, we arrived at the 1795 vintage – certainly the most famous vintage of Madeira wines. For years I had been hunting for a tasting note of the CVM 1795 Terrantez, but apart from a few personal reports there never was a published TN to be found. This bottle of 1795 CVM T had been bought by Alan Gardner at a Christie’s auction prior to 1991. It was a stenciled bottle and according to Alex Liddell there were only ever two dozen of these. So now the CVM stands in front of me and shows a warm medium dark iodine color with chestnut rim. The nose is wonderful with an overall impression of warmth and concentration, also showing some toffee and vanilla. In the mouth there is an initial wave of brown sugar sweetness, also vanilla again, caramel, sweet toffee, all coupled with high acidity with perfect balance. Also some darker aromas linger in the background, ashes, roasted coffee and of course the typical Terrantez bitterness. The acidic finish is very long and ends with a short glimpse of coffee. This wine is very impressive, a little more focused than the other two 1795 wines and got eleven votes from the tasting group, making it first wine in this flight. 97 points in 3-2012.

1795 Barbeito Terrantez

This wine is a long time favorite of mine. Unfortunately since the last bottling of the remaining 23 bottles in 2006 it has become increasingly harder to find. However it still surfaces at auctions from time to time. The wine originally belonged to the Hinton family. Oscar Acciaioly bought the wine from the HIntons and later it was devided between his descendants. Marion Barbeito bought part of the remaining wine and returned it to wood. The wine was also sold as “1795 Terrantez Garrafeira Particular” with stopper corks. The color is a warm and medium dark iodine, the nose has little VA, is quite floral, ethereal, very elegant. On the palate the wine is rather sweet, rounded, with some caramel, toffee and that typically bitter Terrantez background. The wine is powerful, concentrated, a wonderful example of a sweet-style Terrantez with a long finish of Terrantez bitterness and warm toffee. The tasting group gave it five votes. 96 points in 3-2012.

1795 F. F. Ferraz Terrantez

For decades this wine had been extremely rare, when suddenly 20 bottles sold in one day at Christie’s Leacock sale in December 2008. This wine had also been part of the Graham Blandy collection, passed on to Adam Blandy and then given to Chris Blandy who brought it to the tasting. The bottle itself is quite impressive, dark and heavy with a relief of F. F. Ferraz & Co Lda Madeira on the shoulder. The wine itself shows a medium dark oaky brown, a little cloudy. The nose is lean and elegant, shows a little VA, very promising. The palate is quite sweet, with high acidity, concentrated and powerful, loaded with toffee and typical Terrantez bitterness and a long acidic finish. Personally I didn’t like this wine as much as the other two 1795 wines, since this sample didn’t seem as multidimensional as the CVM and the Barbeito wines. But some participants who had the 1795 FFF before thought, that it did not show up to its ability. However it still got 2 votes from the tasting group. 95 points in 3-2012.

Sixth flight:

1790 H. M. Borges Terrantez

The final flight featured two wines from one of my favorite producers: H. M. Borges. Henrique Menezes Borges left several old Madeira wines that he considered being his best to his children. The 1790 shows beautifully brilliant medium dark iodine with a slightly reddish rim. The nose displays an initial blast of piercing VA, then burnt sugar and pleasant toffee. The wine is medium dry, highly acidic and very, very concentrated. A little toffee and caramel are enveloped by a rising cloud of dark Terrantez bitterness. It’s a powerful wine with the concentration and bitterness almost overwhelming, ending with a bitter finish of medium length. This Madeira might be a little over the top but is nevertheless still very impressive. It got zero votes from the tasting group. 94 points in 3-2012.

1760 H. M. Borges Terrantez

This was the last wine of the tasting, last but certainly not least. The 1760 Terrantez shows the same brilliant reddish dark iodine like its younger brother from 1790. The nose also shows a little initial VA, with some roasted aromas, caramel and a note of petrol. On the palate the wine is highly concentrated and very, very acidic. The wine is so powerful, almost over-concentrated; you have to fight the first attack of overwhelming acidity and Terrantez bitterness and then suddenly the pace becomes slower and aromas of caramel, toffee, cloves and coffee shine though. The finish is long and quite bitter, but with a short glimpse of acidity at the end. It is a very good and powerful wine, almost over the top, but still hanging in there. What a wonderful wine to end the truly Transcendental Terrantez Tasting; with 18 votes from the group. 95 points in 3-2012.

There are at least six, probably seven known Terrantez wines from 1795. There is the 1795 Terrantez of Barbeito, the 1795 Terrantez of Companhia Vinicola da Madeira, the Terrantez of F. F. Ferraz (probably the same wine like the “Messias” wine in Alex Liddell’s book “Madeira”), a 1795 Terrantez probably from D’Oliveiras, the 1795 Terrantez by Blandys, probably the same wine like the 1795 Terrantez by Lomelino and the 1795 Terrantez by Abudarham and finally there is the 1795 Terrantez from a company called South Side Madeira Association.

I find it fascinating, that there are so many wines from the same year, more then 200 years old and with the same grape variety, but from different companies, that have no business connections with each other. For a long time I wondered if these wines are from the same source. Even if they were, they are different for sure, because of the different period of time spent in cask and bottle. (As you can see in the chapter about types of wine under “vintages”, the time spent in cask is very important when it comes to concentration and taste of a vintage.) When I asked Alex Liddell, author of “Madeira”, published by Faber & Faber and being the number one publication on the subject of Madeira wine, about the “same source theory” he gave a very quick and tremendously helpful answer. He pointed out that even after 200 years it would not be unlikely for a few different wines from the same year of vintage to have survived. In fact he quoted the late Richard Blandy stating “that the range of what had been produced on the island in the past was no less, and perhaps much greater, then what is produced today”. So, what I once thought to be a mystery seems to be solved. However for those of you who own one or more of the 1795 Terrantez vintages I would like to share the information gathered on these wines. I am greatly indebted for Mr. Liddell for the wealth of information he supplied, not only through his excellent book but also especially on the subject of the 1795 Terrantez vintages.

1795 Terrantez by Barbeito
The 1795 Terrantez by Barbeito is one of the most famous Madeira wines, if not the most famous one. Not only was it available at auctions or from specialized dealers over decades, it is also still in rather good shape for a wine that is more then 200 years old. As Alex Liddell explains in his book “Madeira”, this wine originally belonged to the Hinton family. Oscar Acciaioly bought the wine from the Hintons. Later the wine was divided between his descendants. Mario Barbeito bought part of the remaining wine and returned it from demijohns to wood. Unfortunately Barbeito themselves do no longer sell this wine. They had only been releasing a very small number of bottles per year anyway, but now the reserves are all empty. The remaining wine was botteled in july 2006 and yielded 23 bottles that were given a backlabel with an individual number on it. Of course this last edition bottling was sold out in no time. You must be very lucky to still get the 1795. The wine used to be available on the internet. When I looked for the number of bottles remaining in the beginning of 2002 I found about 50 bottles that were still for sale. In the beginning of 2003 this number went down to 18 bottles still available. In the beginning of 2004 there were only 7 bottles left. And in the beginning of 2007 I found a total of 5 bottles, coming to zero at the end of 2007. There is reason to believe that at least some of the shops that offered this wine did in fact “share” the same single bottle, so the number of bottles that used to be available might have been over-estimated. Part of the reason that this Terrantez was still available over such a long period of time may have been the rather high price that exceeded USD 3000,- or Euros 2500,- in 2007. I guess that from 2008 on, your only chance to get this wine is at auction. There is also a considerable amount of the 1795 T hidden in private collections. I know collectors who own a two-digit number of the Barbeito's 1795 Terrantez. Also a lot of people collecting Madeira wines have at least one or two bottles of this reference wine. The overall amount of bottles in existence is obviously shrinking (like all old Madeira wines), since it is one of the reference wines and is opened at tastings from time to time.

1795 Terrantez by Barbeito

1795 Terrantez by Companhia Vinicola da Madeira
This wine seems to be much more rare then the 1795 Terrantez by Barbeito. In 2002/2003 I did some extensive research in the internet, auction catalogues and lists of retailers and I could only come up with 5 bottles in existence altogether, including the one I own. In the beginning of 2007 there was just one bottle left, being auctioned by Christie’s. I bought my bottle on an auction in May 2002. The original owner had bought a case of six bottles in Lissabon in the 1970ies and had auctioned off two bottles already years ago, drunken one, one was leaking, and another one was also auctioned in May 2002. The layout and design of the paper label suggests that the wine has been bottled in the 1960ies or 1970ies. Most of the producers also stopped using the straw caps on the bottles not later than in the 1970ies. The Companhia Vinicola da Madeira by then was an independent company that sold few vintage wines. The remaining stock of vintages of the Companhia was sold by Justino Henriques after Sigfredo da Costa Campos bought Justino in 1981. Before that, Justino had belonged to the previous owners of the Companhia. Anyway there seems to be no business connection to the Barbeito company that would suggest the same source for the two 1795 Terrantez wines. Thanks to the help of Reidar Andersen and the people at the Rare Wine Co. I could also find out, that the Barbeito family thinks, that the 1795 CVM wine comes from a different source than the Barbeito wine. I also asked Justino Henriques about this wine, but they have no records about a 1795 Terrantez by the CVM. A bottle of CVM Terrantez 1795 was auctioned by Christie’s in February 2003. It reached a price of 550 British pounds.

According to Patrick Grubb there are variations between the bottlings of the CVM wine, presumably because the bottlings were spaced out over some time and some wine had longer time in wood. There are versions with stencils and versions with labels, Patrick Grubb thinks the former wine superior.

When I wrote to Alex Liddell about the 1795 Terrantez vintages he was very helpful, replying “that the CVM 1795 Terrantez was at one time (the late 70s or early 80s) sold in England by Corney & Barrow, the reputable city wine merchants in London. I was told (verbally) by a member of the company that it was believed that the wine had been ordered by the Russian imperial family, but remained unshipped before the 1917 Revolution! (I take this conveniently romantic story with a pinch of salt, and know of no independent substantiation of it.) The bottles sold by Corney & Barrow had labels and foil capsules. The labelled bottles with wicker tops appear to be a much earlier bottling. The stencilled bottles were specially bottled by the firm (in the 70s, I think) for a Madeira enthusiast who asked for stencils rather than labels. As far as I know there were only ever 2 dozen of these. I have also encountered slightly differing versions of the label, suggesting bottlings at different times.” Carlos sent me a picture showing a CVM 1795 Terrantez bottle just like the one shown here, but the bottle bears the letters of company name as a relief, just above the label. This fact also supports the theory that this wine was bottled at different times.

1795 Terrantez by CVM

1795 Terrantez (=“Messias”) by F. F. Ferraz
It is only because of Alex Liddell’s bible on Madeira wine that we knew of a 1795 wine from F. F. Ferraz called “Messias”. I had spent lots of time to find another bottle of this wine, but without success. Liddell had purchased his wine in 1970 at Christie’s and tasted it in 1996/1997. The wine had been bottled before F. F. Ferraz joined the Madeira Wine Association in 1937. Liddell describes a “bone-dry entry, intensely flavoursome, with hints of prunes, concentrated vinosity; extremely dry, lingering, rather smoky finish.” He also adds, that one of the former clerks with the company recalled the wine to be “as dry as a Terrantez”. So, even if one can certainly not be sure about this, this wine could very well be a Terrantez. Tinta Negra Mole did play a significant role in 1795, and one has to admit, that the wines back then were often rather mixtures then 100 percent one grape variety. But when I asked Mr. Liddell about his opinion he answered:” From a tasting point of view the wine could well be Terrantez.” Another bottle of F. F. Ferraz 1795 Madeira wine was sold at Christie’s in 1979 for 175 pounds, this time described as Terrantez. According to Anders G. Åkesson, this wine was also bottled in a "Vinho Madeira Especial Terrantez 1795" version with a black label and a shape similar to the CVM 1795 Terrantez depictured above. In late 2008 20 bottles of F. F. Ferraz 1795 Terrantez were auctioned by Christies. The bottles came from the collection of William Leacock, the last family head of the Leacock company before it was amalgamated into the MWC in 1981.

1795 Terrantez by Abudarham/Blandy/Lomelino
You can find a picture of old vintages of the Madeira Wine Company in Noel Cossarts book “Madeira – the island vineyard”. There are clearly two bottles, probably four, maybe even more, stencilled Terrantez 1795. No initials give any clue to the shipper. As I explained above, the F. F. Ferraz wine had been bottled before the company joined the Madeira Wine Association in 1937. So there has to be another 1795 Terrantez wine owned by the Madeira Wine Company. In Michael Broadbents tasting notes you can find a Lomelino Terrantez 1795 that he tasted in 1993. Alex Liddell wrote to me: “A 1795 Terrantez was once produced by Blandy's. I have never seen or heard of a bottle, but I have seen specimens of the label. It is clear that members of the MWA (such as Blandy, and it would seem Lomelino) had this wine, because the photograph in Cossart's book that you refer to was taken in the part of the cellar where the private reserves of member firms were stored.” Reidar Andersen found out, that David V. Pamment, Director of the Madeira Wine Company held a Terrantez Madeira Tasting in 1987. The oldest wine opened at this tasting was, guess what, a 1795 Terrantez, island bottled. No shipper or producer is mentioned. Maybe this wine was just “common stock” of the amalgamated companies of the MWA/MWC and it might have been sold under the Blandy label and the Lomelino label as well.
To complicate things even more, in december 2007 bottles of a 1795 Abudarham Terrantez surfaced at a NYC auction. The wines had been decanted from demijohn to bottle in june 1942 and had been recorked in 1975. The bottles had two labels, one from 1942, one from 1975, stating the wine's name as "Frasqueira Soares Franco". Since the company of Abudarham, Vinhos Viúva & Filhos Lda. joined the MWA (later to become the MWC) in 1934 and the wine had been bottled in 1942, it can not be known wether this particular wine was original stock of Abudarham. Also the name Soares Franco remains a mystery to me. The only other Madeira wine with this name I ever heard of was a 1840 Bual from Fernando Porto Soares Franco in a hand blown 19th century bottle, recorked and relabeled in 1949 and recorked again in 1979. So it seems most likely that the common stock of the MWA/MWC included a 1795 Terrantez wine that has been bottled under a variety of names to suit different markets at different times.

1795 Terrantez by the SSMA

1795 Terrantez by Madeira South Side Association
Just like every other collector of Madeira wine I too have been watching the auction market over the last years. Besides the usual suspects sometimes you stumble across a unique bottle that provokes your attention. In 2005 a bottle of a 1795 Terrantez bottled by a South Side Madeira Association surfaced at auction in Germany. Another bottle of the same type was auctioned just a few months later in the beginning of 2006. Some other wines from the SSMA company selling at these auctions bore a JNV paper seal, however the two 1795 bottles did not. The two 1795 bottles looked authentic, the straw cover of the cork and the label suggesting a bottling before the end of the 1970ies. And suddenly in 2010 and 2011 there were about 12-15 bottles of this wine at various auctions in Germany. According to a wine retailer with a vast knowledge about Madeira wine the story behind these bottles was, that an old lady in northern Germany (probably the widow of one of the former importers of the SSMA) was left behind with about two cases of this wine. After her death the bottles fell to a local wine merchant in northern Germany who knew little about Madeira wine and he turned the wines into money by selling them off at various auction houses. Prices ranged between 750 and 1.560 Euros plus buyers premium and lot money.

Since I own three different old bottles from the SSMA I thought that maybe I could start from there. And indeed, one bottle showed a German importer on the label. After some research I was able to contact him and asked him about the SSMA wines in general and especially about the 1795 T. The former importer does not wish to be mentioned in the whole discussion about the 1795 SSMA T being genuine or not. But he was kind enough to tell me that the former exporter on Madeira Island claimed all the vintage Madeira wines from the SSMA to be labeled just with “commercial dates”. Whatever “commercial date” is supposed to mean exactly, the former importer had the impression that these wines were very old blends indeed, probably from well before 1900, or at least early 20^th century, but no vintage single grape Madeira wines. Other wines that he mentioned from the SSMA were a 1935 Boal, 1935 Quinado, 1930 Sercial, 1860 Verdelho and 1890 Malmsey. After I wrote him a letter he even mailed back, confirming the story about the “commercial dates” in writing. He sounded somewhat disappointed with Madeira wines in general and since he seems to be in his mid-80ies now, I can understand why he wanted to be left out of this. By the way: He still owned some bottles of the various SSMA wines, the 1795 T among them. However he would not want to sell any of these, even when I made some very high offers.

In Mannie Berks’s revised second edition of Cossart’s “Madeira – the island vineyard” you can find two bottles of 1795 SSMA T being sold at auction in 1996 at Christie’s in London on page 222. The price range was 847-864, very roughly the same range like the other 1795 T wines being sold in that time period. So, if this wine is a fake, it sure has been around for some time and some buyers must have thought that it was genuine. On the other hand, we know that some people at auction just go for the date on the bottle, not for the wine that’s inside…

Even after two years of searching, there are still only two tasting notes about the 1795 T SSMA. The first tasting note I was able to find came after some zigzag research. A shop called Grashoff had sold some bottles of the 1795 T SSMA wine about 30 years ago. The owner recalled his “father going to Madeira island and buying wines from the Southside company, but the company soon went out of business, whether it just closed down or was bought up by some other company” he did not know. Some of the bottles later ended up at the MunichWineCompany, a Bavarian auction house and were auctioned off in 2010 and 2011. Much earlier, one of the Grashoff bottles had allready been tasted by Markus Del Monego in 1993. Mr. Del Monego is “Master of Wine” since 2003 and has been sommelier world champion in 1998, so I would very much think that he is a reliable source of information when it comes to wine. I contacted him and he wrote back: “I tasted the wine in 1993 at a dinner and it was perfect. The color was mahogany, the nose was dried fruits and chocolate, singed sugar and mild spices with some balsamic components. In the mouth this remarkable wine was very opulent, with fine sweetness, elegant acidity and a very good finale. The wine still showed surprisingly much potential for development. Next morning I tasted a little rest of 2 cl from the decanter and it was even better than last night, complex and with fine maturity.” The tasting note of Mr. Del Monego sure sounds like a high quality old Madeira wine. Also the development over night seems to be typical to me. Again, like mentioned above, the fact that the wine had been tasted in 1993 indicates that it has been around for some time.

The second tasting note comes from Michael Broadbent himself, “Master of Wine” and legendary wine auctioneer at Christie’s and fortunately Alan Gardner was able to find the TN - thanks Alan! Broadbent refers to this wine in his “New Great Vintage Wine Book” (1991 Christies; Knopf, New York) - although it is a summary entry: 1795 ****, generally very good. Several notes. One bottle, labelled "South Side Madeira Association Ltd Funchal", turned out to be rather a curiosity; a bit too deep in colour, a peculiar nose, a cross between lightly malted calf's-foot jelly and a rather drab raya sherry; fairly sweet, rich, quite a nice old drink. On six other occasions I have tasted...... (other different wines - not relevant). Again, the tasting note is rather old.

So I finally asked the IVM/IVBAM if there ever was a company or export brand called the SSMA. They wrote back, stating: “Regarding your request, our department responsible for the seals have been looking at our data and here is what we know: in what regards “SOUTH SIDE MADEIRA ASSOCIATION, LDA.”, the only documents we have are 2 letters, from 11th December 1985, informing the Institute that they were finishing their activity, as well as one from Companhia Vinícola da Madeira, Lda. stating that their associate “SOUTH SIDE MADEIRA ASSOCIATION, LDA.” had ceased its activity of exporter. Therefore, we believe, since we only found export data from Companhia Vinícola da Madeira, Lda., that this company owned the brand “SOUTH SIDE MADEIRA ASSOCIATION, LDA.” What we also know is that, in 1985, the wines from Companhia Vinícola da Madeira, Lda. were transferred to Vinhos Justino Henriques & Filhos, Lda., now known as Justino’s, Madeira Wines, S.A.”

So it seems that the SSMA was an exporting brand of the CVM. My theory is that it was an export brand for the German or European market, since this is where the majority of bottles have surfaced. As you can see from the pictures, the style of bottling sure is similar. Both bottlings have the same type of wicker tops. And if the SSMA T 1795 indeed comes from the CVM, it might very well be the same wine. Why should the CVM fake a special 1795 wine for one of its brands, when they already have one 1795 T in their portfolio? Of course there are other possibilities that I do not even want to think about. What, if the CVM and the SSMA 1795 T are the same wine and they are both fakes? However given the constant and numerous appearance of the CVM T at auction, one might think, that if it was an obvious fake, someone buying and tasting the wine would have rung a bell. Also when I tasted the CVM 1795 T at the NYC Transcendental Terrantez Tasting it sure tasted like a genuine old Terrantez wine, even when it was the stenciled version which is supposed to be superior to the wine from labeled bottles of the CVM 1795 T.

Bottom line: There is no way to proof whether the wine is genuine or not. I tried to find more information, but this is all I could come up with and the facts still remain somewhat inconclusive. However especially the last bit of information from the IVM/IVBAM makes a strong case for the SSMA 1795 Terrantez wine being genuine. And if it’s for real, then there is a high probability that the SSMA wine is the same as the 1795 T bottled under the CVM label. A big thank you goes to all the people who helped me, shining a little more light on this 1795 mystery (in no particular order): Roy Hersh, Alan Gardner, Markus Del Monego, Batholomew Broadbent, Barbara Sofia da Silva Spinola and the IVBAM staff, Theo Morgenschweis, Oliver Schmidt and everyone else that I forgot to mention.

1795 Terrantez by D’Oliveiras
One bottle of a 1795 Terrantez bearing a D’Oliveira tag surfaced at auction in late 2008 and was sold for 1005,- Euros. The stencils sure looked authentic to me, however the typical JPO seal on top of the wax cover was missing, as were the stencils “D’Oliveira”. The bottle had a JNV paper seal, indicating it had been bottled before 1980. Having found only one tasting note about a D’Oliveira 1795 Terrantez, I asked the company about this bottle. Luis D’Oliveira answered, stating that “We have no knowledge that our firm has the mentioned year of Madeira Wine.” So there remains a high possibility that this bottle had been a fake, may be a "1880 Terrantez" that had its stencils changed to "1795 Terrantez".

Conclusion
In the beginning I believed that the above mentioned wines could have a connection. Alex Liddell though strongly opposed this theory. Given this and given my growing experience with more wines from different producers but same years and grape variety I have changed my mind. Just think of the at least four different 1827 Boals or the four different 1830 Malmseys. Or what about the seven different 1863 Boals? Nevertheless I am still puzzled that so many wines from the same distant year and from the same grape variety have survived more than 200 years. It is one of the fascinating details that make Madeira wine so interesting.

PS: Any reader who might be able to supply additional information or a picture of a bottle to add to the knowledge of the 1795 vintages is very welcome. Also any offers of 1795 bottles, be it Terrantez or not, are of course highly appreciated…

Just like every other collector of Madeira wine I too have been watching the auction market over the last years. Besides the usual suspects sometimes you stumble across a unique bottle that provokes your attention. In 2005 a bottle of a 1795 Terrantez bottled by a South Side Madeira Association surfaced at auction in Germany. Another bottle of the same type was auctioned just a few months later in the beginning of 2006. Some other wines from the SSMA company selling at these auctions bore a JNV paper seal, however the two 1795 bottles did not. The two 1795 bottles looked authentic, the straw cover of the cork and the label suggesting a bottling before the end of the 1970ies.

And suddenly in 2010 and 2011 there were about 12-15 bottles of this wine at various auctions in Germany. According to a wine retailer with a vast knowledge about Madeira wine the story behind these bottles was, that an old lady in northern Germany (probably the widow of one of the former importers of the SSMA) was left behind with about two cases of this wine. After her death the bottles fell to a local wine merchant in northern Germany who knew little about Madeira wine and he turned the wines into money by selling them off at various auction houses. Prices ranged between 750 and 1.560 Euros plus buyers premium and lot money.

Since I own three different old bottles from the SSMA I thought that maybe I could start from there. And indeed, one bottle showed a German importer on the label. After some research I was able to contact him and asked him about the SSMA wines in general and especially about the 1795 T. The former importer does not wish to be mentioned in the whole discussion about the 1795 SSMA T being genuine or not. But he was kind enough to tell me that the former exporter on Madeira Island claimed all the vintage Madeira wines from the SSMA to be labeled just with “commercial dates”. Whatever “commercial date” is supposed to mean exactly, the former importer had the impression that these wines were very old blends indeed, probably from well before 1900, or at least early 20^th century, but no vintage single grape Madeira wines. Other wines that he mentioned from the SSMA were a 1935 Boal, 1935 Quinado, 1930 Sercial, 1860 Verdelho and 1890 Malmsey. After I wrote him a letter he even mailed back, confirming the story about the “commercial dates” in writing. He sounded somewhat disappointed with Madeira wines in general and since he seems to be in his mid-80ies now, I can understand why he wanted to be left out of this. By the way: He still owned some bottles of the various SSMA wines, the 1795 T among them. However he would not want to sell any of these, even when I made some very high offers.

1795 Terrantez by the SSMA

In Mannie Berks’s revised second edition of Cossart’s “Madeira – the island vineyard” you can find two bottles of 1795 SSMA T being sold at auction in 1996 at Christie’s in London on page 222. The price range was 847-864, very roughly the same range like the other 1795 T wines being sold in that time period. So, if this wine is a fake, it sure has been around for some time and some buyers must have thought that it was genuine. On the other hand, we know that some people at auction just go for the date on the bottle, not for the wine that’s inside…

Even after two years of searching, there are still only two tasting notes about the 1795 T SSMA. The first tasting note I was able to find came after some zigzag research. A shop called Grashoff had sold some bottles of the 1795 T SSMA wine about 30 years ago. The owner recalled his “father going to Madeira island and buying wines from the Southside company, but the company soon went out of business, whether it just closed down or was bought up by some other company” he did not know. Some of the bottles later ended up at the MunichWineCompany, a Bavarian auction house and were auctioned off in 2010 and 2011. Much earlier, one of the Grashoff bottles had allready been tasted by Markus Del Monego in 1993. Mr. Del Monego is “Master of Wine” since 2003 and has been sommelier world champion in 1998, so I would very much think that he is a reliable source of information when it comes to wine. I contacted him and he wrote back: “I tasted the wine in 1993 at a dinner and it was perfect. The color was mahogany, the nose was dried fruits and chocolate, singed sugar and mild spices with some balsamic components. In the mouth this remarkable wine was very opulent, with fine sweetness, elegant acidity and a very good finale. The wine still showed surprisingly much potential for development. Next morning I tasted a little rest of 2 cl from the decanter and it was even better than last night, complex and with fine maturity.” The tasting note of Mr. Del Monego sure sounds like a high quality old Madeira wine. Also the development over night seems to be typical to me. Again, like mentioned above, the fact that the wine had been tasted in 1993 indicates that it has been around for some time.

1795 Terrantez twins? Left the SSMA, right the CVM wine.

The second tasting note comes from Michael Broadbent himself, “Master of Wine” and legendary wine auctioneer at Christie’s and fortunately Alan Gardner was able to find the TN - thanks Alan! Broadbent refers to this wine in his “New Great Vintage Wine Book” (1991 Christies; Knopf, New York) - although it is a summary entry: 1795 ****, generally very good. Several notes. One bottle, labelled "South Side Madeira Association Ltd Funchal", turned out to be rather a curiosity; a bit too deep in colour, a peculiar nose, a cross between lightly malted calf's-foot jelly and a rather drab raya sherry; fairly sweet, rich, quite a nice old drink. On six other occasions I have tasted...... (other different wines - not relevant). Again, the tasting note is rather old.

So I finally asked the IVM/IVBAM if there ever was a company or export brand called the SSMA. They wrote back, stating: “Regarding your request, our department responsible for the seals have been looking at our data and here is what we know: in what regards “SOUTH SIDE MADEIRA ASSOCIATION, LDA.”, the only documents we have are 2 letters, from 11th December 1985, informing the Institute that they were finishing their activity, as well as one from Companhia Vinícola da Madeira, Lda. stating that their associate “SOUTH SIDE MADEIRA ASSOCIATION, LDA.” had ceased its activity of exporter. Therefore, we believe, since we only found export data from Companhia Vinícola da Madeira, Lda., that this company owned the brand “SOUTH SIDE MADEIRA ASSOCIATION, LDA.” What we also know is that, in 1985, the wines from Companhia Vinícola da Madeira, Lda. were transferred to Vinhos Justino Henriques & Filhos, Lda., now known as Justino’s, Madeira Wines, S.A.”

So it seems that the SSMA was an exporting brand of the CVM. My theory is that it was an export brand for the German or European market, since this is where the majority of bottles have surfaced. As you can see from the pictures, the style of bottling sure is similar. Both bottlings have the same type of wicker tops. And if the SSMA T 1795 indeed comes from the CVM, it might very well be the same wine. Why should the CVM fake a special 1795 wine for one of its brands, when they already have one 1795 T in their portfolio? Of course there are other possibilities that I do not even want to think about. What, if the CVM and the SSMA 1795 T are the same wine and they are both fakes? However given the constant and numerous appearance of the CVM T at auction, one might think, that if it was an obvious fake, someone buying and tasting the wine would have rung a bell. Also when I tasted the CVM 1795 T at the NYC Transcendental Terrantez Tasting it sure tasted like a genuine old Terrantez wine, even when it was the stenciled version which is supposed to be superior to the wine from labeled bottles of the CVM 1795 T.

Comparison of the wicker tops: SSMA left, CVM right.

Bottom line: There is no way to proof whether the wine is genuine or not. I tried to find more information, but this is all I could come up with and the facts still remain somewhat inconclusive. However especially the last bit of information from the IVM/IVBAM makes a strong case for the SSMA 1795 Terrantez wine being genuine. And if it’s for real, then there is a high probability that the SSMA wine is the same as the 1795 T bottled under the CVM label.

A big thank you goes to all the people who helped me, shining a little more light on this 1795 mystery (in no particular order): Roy Hersh, Alan Gardner, Markus Del Monego, Batholomew Broadbent, Barbara Sofia da Silva Spinola and the IVBAM staff, Theo Morgenschweis, Oliver Schmidt and everyone else that I forgot to mention.

The Münchener Weinkreis (Munich Wine Circle) is a group of wine aficionados who meet regularly for tastings of a certain wine region or a certain producer. Over the last two years Viola von Ciriacy, one of the members, had collected precious old Madeira wines for a special Madeira wine tasting. The other participants bought their way into the tasting, so all costs were split even. Christopher Pfaff, who also hosts the well made Port blog Passion Port had offered me a seat at the tasting. Figuring this would make an excellent early Christmas gift I gladly accepted, making use of a direct ICE connection from my place to Munich. Hosted by Stefan Sedlmeyr and Hans Friedrich from the Munich Wine Company, the tasting took place on December 15^th in Deisenhofen near Munich. Stefan and Hans had prepared a wonderful dinner (roasted cote de boeuf) for us that provided a more than solid foundation for the wines to come.

We tasted twelve Madeira wines and two pirates, covering a broad range of grape varieties and producers. Two facts are worth mentioning: First, the wines had only been opened a couple of hours before the event and that made tasting of the wines somewhat difficult in the beginning, since the wines never stopped changing and evolving once they were in the glass. However each of us got a generous 4cl of each bottle and that was plenty of wine to come back again and again and pick up additional impressions as the evening went on. This experience simply demonstrates (again) how crucial it is to open and decant old Madeira wines well before drinking and I am speaking of days here, not hours. Second, this tasting included four wines from the South Side Madeira Association. This producer, or better this export brand, is still shrouded in mystery. Only over the last few years a number of different bottles have surface at auctions, mainly in Germany. The most interesting of these SSMA wines certainly is the 1795 SSMA Terrantez and this wine had been included in the line-up of the Munich Madeira tasting. For more info about the SSMA please read the chapter about the 1795 Terrantez Madeiras here in the MWG. As time permits, I will take on a chapter solely about the South Side Madeira Association and its wines in 2013, covering the five vintage (?) wines that I know of.

The wines were tasted blindly in five flights. After the second and the fourth flight, the identity of each wine was revealed. After the tasting we had a great course of very old cheese, with a fantastic rancio-like goat cheese that went extremely well with the sweeter Madeira wines. The tasting notes of all twelve Madeiras follow below, not in the order of the tasting but in order of vintage year. I did not award points to two of the wines, since these very obviously faulty bottles. There were also two “pirates” in the line-up, both easily detected by the experienced group of wine veterans. One was an old dry Malaga, the other one an old Oloroso Sherry.

A big thank you goes to Viola von Ciriacy for her great and rewarding effort in collecting these old beauties and bringing the amazing old cheese, to Stefan Sedlmeyr and Hans Friedrich for hosting and organizing this outstanding event as well as the perfect dinner, to Christopher Pfaff for inviting me to this fantastic tasting and to all the other participants. What a great way to start the Christmas season. Happy holidays to all of you, a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

1969 Miles Sercial

This wine shows sparkling bright iodine with straw-colored rim. The nose is vibrant with lots of citrus fruit, orange peel and just a hint of caramel. The first sip is all acid, the wine is certainly dry, but there is such an abundant and powerful base layer of fruit that you get an almost sweet impression of the wine. Orange peel, a little ginger and just a hint of tamarind tea hover above the acidic fruit, leading to a long and highly acidic finish with a slight bitterness in the end. Wow, what a wine to start the tasting! This is a wonderful example of a powerful young Sercial, reminding me of the Leacock 1963 Sercial and just as vibrant and lively. 94 points in 12-2012

1926 Cossart Cordon Solar do val Formosa Boal

The orange-straw colored wine shows a greenish rim, but this very promising color is immediately ruined by a very funky sulfur smell that absolutely destroys the wine. The palate too is completely overshadowed by sulfur. Some typical Madeira aromas shine through, but nevertheless this is certainly a faulty bottle. Even over the next two hours the sulfur did not blow off. No points awarded.

1900 D’Oliveiras Moscatel

This is a long time favourite of mine and I am always happy to taste this Moscatel Madeira. These Moscatels are rare today, the only other two wines that are still available are the 1875 Moscatel from D'Oliveira and the Moscatel Reserva Velha from Artur de Barros a Sousa - wonderful wines as well. This Moscatel shows warm and dark chestnut brown with orange rim. The nose is all sweet figs, toffee and dates with a hint of yeasty bread. On the palate the wine is very sweet, showing just enough acidity to balance the sweetness, and then there are lots of raisins, caramel and a little molasses. Also in the long caramel finish the wine shows a slightly roasted impression keeping it from being cloying despite the dominant sweetness. There are none of the typical Moscatel aromas that you are used to in other Moscatel wines like Moscatel de Setubal, but it is still a wonderful wine that wins me over every time. 92 points in 12-2012.

1898 Henriques and Henriques Sercial Solera

The wine is somewhat cloudy, with a warm chestnut brown with greenish highlights. The initial nose displays a strong blast of volatile acidity, but it quickly softens to warm and spicy gingerbread with cloves and aniseed. The palate is very dry, highly acidic, with a basic bitterness that reminds of Terrantez (and with an old Solera wine you never know what different grapes went into the mother cask…). Hazelnut and nougat mingle with coffee and roasted malt. The wine has a general roughness that seems to be a little out of place with a Solera, but it features a wonderful oily texture and a bitter, almost smoky finish. I really wonder if they added a little Terrantez to this one. 91 points in 12-2012.

1895 H M Borges Malmsey

Another cloudy wine, but the brilliant reddish iodine brown sure makes up for it. The nose is rather one-dimensional with lots of caramel and just a hint of figs and dates in the background. Taking the first sip the wine is all toffee sweetness, almost too sweet, but the acid fights its way through and then the sweetness shifts to a grapey impression with a spicy background. The long finish is very sweet again, with grapes and raisins. 93 points in 12-2012

1880 South Side Madeira Association Malmsey

A little cloudy at first this wine shows a reddish iodine color with orange rim. It has a warm caramel nose, all sweetness and harmony, with hints of cinnamon and mashed bananas – very pleasant. On the tongue this Malmsey is very sweet but by no means cloying with a good amount of acidity. Lots of malt and toffee are kept interesting by a touch of bitterness in the background; the long sweet finish is all toffee. Very pleasant and easy to drink, a fun wine, and again this could be a very well made blend, lacking in individual character. Nevertheless a beauty! 95 points in 12-2012.

1880 Funchal Wine Company Maciera Verdelho Solera

The color of this wine is a very impressive dark cola brown. A sweet and oily nose shows vanilla and cinnamon, lots of caramel, but also a strange cucumber vegetable smell. The palate is soft and rather sweet with only little acidity, some chocolate is there as well, but the fun is absolutely ruined by that same vegetable taste that the nose already showed. What a pity after the impressive color had promised so much. I kept revisiting this wine again and again, but the disgusting vegetable note was still well detectable. It would be unfair to award any points, since it was definitely a faulty bottle.

1860 South Side Madeira Association Verdelho

Another SSMA Verdelho, this time showing brilliant iodine brown with orange rim. Contrary to its SSMA 1850 V counterpart, the nose of this wine is rather subdued, displaying just a little caramel and a hint of honey. On the palate the wine is definitely sweeter than the 1850; in fact the sweetness seems to be at the upper end of the typical Verdelho range. Soft caramel is dominating, but there are also lovage and toffee, all very mellow and rounded, with a warm and sweet caramel finish. Again this might well be a blend, but again a very good one. 92 points in 12-2012.

1850 South Side Madeira Association Verdelho

The color of this wine is absolutely gorgeous iodine with a brilliant orange core – amazing! The nose is also quite impressive with just a little VA, candied orange peel, honey and an overall impression of warmth. On the tongue this Verdelho shifts to a higher gear, with powerful acidity, a hint of sweetness and a slightly bitter background. There is caramelized sugar, hazelnut, a little coffee, but it is all rather soft and mellow and the overall impression of warmth stays with you till the sweetish end. This might well be a blended wine, but if so, it is well done! 93 points in 12-2012.

1845 Cossart Gordon Centenary Boal Solera

This Solera wine features a dark cola brown with cold, almost purple rim. The nose is rather one-dimensional with toffee and caramel, not very complex. The palate is quite sweet, with enough acidity as a counterweight, lots of caramel and toffee again and that is it. The wine ends rather short, but with a soft and pleasant caramel finish. It is a very mainstream, caramel-type Solera wine. 91 points in 12-2012.

1795 South Side Madeira Association Terrantez

The slightly cloudy appearance is offset by a wonderful chestnut brown with reddish core. In the nose there is a little VA to start, then caramel, cacao and honey, all wrapped in an overall impression of spicy warmth, very pleasant and very promising. The palate too starts with a sweet and spicy base layer, but the sweetness is well balanced with powerful acidity. Caramel shows in abundance, together with notes of coffee and cloves, molasses and just a hint of nutmeg, leading to a long spicy finish. So is this really a Terrantez and if so, is it the same wine like the CVM 1795 Terrantez? Very probably not! Like the other SSMA wines, this one seems to be a little too soft, too easy to drink to be genuine old and concentrated vintage Madeira. You could argue that this softness might be the general style of the SSMA, and I would have to admit that I really don’t know. If it is a blend, then it is certainly a very, very good one. If it is vintage Madeira then it is still very good, but not in the same league as the other 1795 Terrantez wines from Barbeito, Ferraz and the CVM that we had in NYC. This 1795 Terrantez (?) wine still is remarkable though and I would like to taste it side by side with the CVM wine one day. 94 points in 12-2012.

1794 (?) Adegas de Torreao Real Madeira Verdelho

The wine is rather cloudy with medium dark iodine color. The subdued nose shows sweet caramel and a little gingerbread. In the mouth this Verdelho has a smooth silky texture, it is astonishingly soft and light, on the sweet side, rounded and mellow, very mainstream with sweet toffee and Demerara sugar and a short sweet finish. I am pretty sure that this is not a vintage wine from 1794! Much more likely this is a blend and not even a very good one. When you take a close look at the label, it reads “Reserves from 1794” so this might rather attribute to the general portfolio of the Adegas de Torreao. The bottle neck carries the remains of an alternative JNV seal of authenticity. The grape variety is not mentioned on the main label, but on a small neck label. 91 points in 12-2012.