Madeira
Madeira wine, from illw da madeim, island of the woods, comes from the small, rugged, volcanic island of the same name. Though the island may geographically be considered part of Africa (about 375 miles west of the Moroccan coast), it is nonetheless a province of Portugal, some 530 miles to the north-east. Madeira is geologically located on the African Tectonic Plate, although it is culturally, politically and ethnically associated with Europe, with its population predominantly descended from the original Portuguese settlers. The island’s subtropical climate is atypical for grape growing, but then almost everything about Madeira is unique, including the intricate and painstaking manner by which the wine is made.
According to legend, the wine drunk by the United States’ founding fathers to toast the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Indeed, during the eighteenth century the American colonies imported a fourth of all the Madeira made, and no wine was considered more prestigious. In the 19th century, Russia was its greatest market and one Grand Duke alone purchased the equivalent of 76,000 cases a year. Buckingham palace is said to contain one of the world’s largest collections of Madeiras.
Fine Madeira sometimes needs to be decanted before serving. Madeira is best served in a good-size white wine glass so that there’s enough room to swirl. Sercials and Verdelhos are usually served cool and the sweeter styles of buals/boals and malmseys at room temperature. All styles of Madeira have a gripping backbone of natural acidity, making them refreshing to drink on their own but also exquisite counterpoints to food. Sercial and verdelho are dramatic aperitifs and delicious with first-course salads or soups. Bual and luscious malmsey can be desserts in themselves, but their acidity also means they are among the world’s best juxtapositions to the richness of desserts made with cream or chocolate.
Much like Port, Madeira is a fortified wine that started out in history unfortified. The archipelago is considered to be the first territorial discovery of the exploratory period of the Age of Discovery. There are references to the archipelago of Madeira in the manuscript “Libro del conoscimiento de todos los Reynos” and the island is marked on Italian and Catalan maps dating from the mid fourteenth century. Despite the documentary evidence, it is difficult to verify the exact date of discovery and the nationality of the discoverer. The island appears on the 1399 Dulcert Map, and in the 1351 Medici Atlas, as well as in other nautical documents dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. After the island’s seemingly accidental rediscovery in 1418, by Captain João Gonçalves (nicknamed Zarco, or “squinter” because he had been wounded in one eye while fighting the Moors) sent there by the Portuguese Prince Henry The Navigator, the uninhabited islands soon became a regular port of call for ships traveling to Africa, India, and later, South America, as a source of fresh water and food. In the late 1500s unfortified Madeira was part of the provisions picked up. Jostled and baked in a sweltering hold, the unfortified wine spoiled quickly. By the late seventeenth century, brandy was being added to the wine to stabilize and preserve it. Fortified Madeira turned out to be a wholly different story. Aged over long months on a rolling ship in the equatorial heat, this Madeira became deliciously rich wine. The winemakers of Madeira were totally unaware of this until one unsold shipment returned to the island. In time, the most prized Madeiras of all were the so-called vinhos da mda, Madeiras that had made a round-trip. Since then, special ovens, called estufas, have evolved in order that this heating and cooling can be replicated in the estufagem process. Better valued wines do this in large concrete or stainless steal vats surrounded by either heat coils or piping that allow hot water to circulate around the container. The wine is heated to temperatures as high as 55 °C (130 °F) for a minimum of 90 days as regulated by the Madeira Wine Institute. However Madeira is most commonly heated to approximately 46 °C (115 °F). This method is most common and called Cuba de Calor. For the very finest Madeiras the heating process is carried out naturally are aged without the use of any artificial heat. Casks of the best wines are placed in the attics of the producers’ lodges (warehouses), which, sitting under the hot Madeiran sun, build up tremendous heat. The casks remain undisturbed usually for about twenty years, although sometimes for longer. After the heating process is complete the wine is carefully cooled and allowed to rest for a year or more to recover from the shock. When the wine is deemed ready it is further aged. This is called Canteiro. The term Canteiro comes from canteiros – the wooden staves that keep the barrels in their places. Canteiro process is used by all of the top Madeira brands, including Justino’s, amongst others. All modern Madeiras undergo a normal fermentation prior to the estufagem process. Much of the characteristic flavour of Madeira is due to this practice, which hastens the mellowing of the wine and also tends to check secondary fermentation in as much as it is, in effect, a mild kind of pasteurization. Furthermore, the wine is deliberately exposed to air, causing it to oxidize. The resulting wine has a colour similar to a tawny port wine.
To make Madeira, clear brandy (neutral grape spirits) is added to the wine before it has completely finished fermenting. This neutralizes the yeasts, halts fermentation, and leaves a fortified wine that can have just a touch of sweetness or more depending on when the fermentation is stopped, which in turn, is based on the style of Madeira being made. Drier wines are fortified prior to estufagem, the sweeter styles afterward. The grape varieties destined for sweeter wines – Bual and Malvasia – are often fermented on their skins to leach more phenols from the grapes to balance the sweetness of the wine. Drier wines – made from Sercial, Verdelho, and Negra Mole – are separated from their skins prior to fermentation. Depending on the level of sweetness desired, fermentation of the wine is halted at some point by the addition of neutral grape spirits.
The steep slopes of Madeira have required the construction of a tiered series of narrow terraces up the slopes of the volcano. The volcanic ash that forms most of the soil is clay-like and rich in potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. Although much of the island is cultivated, vineyards are largely restricted to the lower and mid altitudes. Of traditional varieties, ‘Malmsey’ (‘Malvasia’) is concentrated closest to the shore, generally at altitudes up to 300 m; ‘Verdelho’ is usually cultivated between 300 and 600 m; ‘Bual’ is planted between 400 and 1000 m, but down to the coast on the north side; ‘Tinta Negra’ is generally grown between 300 and 1000 m; and ‘Sercial’ cultivation is limited mostly to between 800 and 1100 m.
Styles and varieties
Slightly confusing this one. However, here it is.
After the phylloxera epidemic, many wines were “mislabelled” as containing one of these noble grape varieties, which were reinterpreted as “wine styles” rather than true varietal names, as in : “like that variety”, or maybe containing “a bit of that variety”. There have traditionally been four basic styles of Madeira, named after from one of the four white grapes designated as noble by the Madeira Wine Institute.: Sercial, Verdelho, Bual (Boal), and Malmsey (known elsewhere as Malvasia). This lasted for some 100 years. During the 20th century, the majority of Madeira produced was blended with a high proportion of Tinta Negra Mole (or its variant Complexa) or of American hybrids. Since 1990, however, no hybrids have been allowed and since 1993, those wines made from Tinta Negra Mole have only be allowed to use generic terms of sweetness, although this is changing as Tinta Negra Mole is starting to be considered a noble varietal, in particular since regulations changed in 2015. Regulations by the European Union have applied the rule that 85% of the grapes in the wine must be of the variety on the label. Thus, wines from before the late 19th century (pre-phylloxera) and after the late 20th century conform to this rule. Many “varietally labelled” Madeiras, from most of the 20th century, do not. Nonetheless the interpretation of “style” has remained.
For the avoidance of doubt, however :
Sercial is always a dry Madeira. This is strictly regulated.
Verdelho is always a medium dry Madeira.
Boal / Bual is always a medium sweet Madeira.
Malvasia / Malmsey is always sweet.
There are two other grape varieties on the island, however, because of their ridiculously low yields, Madeira wine growers have no interest in growing either of these varieties and they have practically become extinct.
Terrantez also known as Cascal and Folgasão – a white grape accounting for 3 hectares in surface area but only approximately 500 kilos of grapes. Justino’s has a 50 year old Terrantez, but we do not currently stock this.
Bastardo also known as graciosa, and as Trousseau in France – A red grape. But not even one bottle of 100% bastardo is made on Madeira.
Moscatel and Listrão are also allowed in some quantities.
Bastardo, Moscatel, Listrão and Terrantez, are held in high esteem thanks to the excellent, and now increasingly rare, wine they produced.
In addition to the styles of Madeira, there are quality levels in ascending order. They are bulk, three-year-old, rain-water, five year old, ten year old, fifteen year old, solera, Colheita and vintage Madeiras.
Finest Or 3 Year Old Madeira
This, the lowest level of quality Madeira that is sold in bottle (hence not bulk) and will be the style of any Madeira whose age or grape variety is not prominently displayed. It consists primarily of Tinta Negra Mole, and some Moscatel.
Rain Water
A special type of light Madeira known as Rainwater falls into the 3 or 5 Year old tier. These gentle Madeiras were first made for the southern Colonial American market in the mid-eighteenth century and is is effectively a paler, softer version of a medium-dry Verdelho but, because varietal names are never used, rainwater is more likely to be a paler, softer version of Tinta Negra Mole. There are two theories about the origin of this curiously named Madeira style. One is that it came from the vines, which were grown on hillsides where it was impossible to irrigate, thus growers had to rely on rainwater. The other theory concerns a shipment that was bound for Boston in the US: even though the wine was accidentally diluted by rain en-route, the Madeira house in question had hoped to get away with it, and were shocked when the Americans loved it so much they wanted more!
Reserve or 5 Year Old Madeira
These are blended Madeiras in which the youngest component in the blend is aged at least five years in casks. This is the youngest age at which the noble varieties (Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, Malmsey, Bastardo, and Terrantez) may be used. The wine must be made from 85 percent of that variety. If no single variety is claimed, you can be quite positive that it is mostly, if not entirely, other grape varieties, usually Tinta Negra Mole. Five years was once far too young for a classic Madeira from noble grapes, but they are now much better. The place to find some bargains! Great as an entry level for beginners. To deal with European laws the styles are now named in a fashion of “fine rich”, “fine dry” and similar.
Special Reserve Or 10 Year Old Madeira
This is where serious Madeira begins, and even non-varietals are worthy of consideration because, although some wines in this style may be made with Tinta Negra Mole, producers will risk only their superior quality wines from this grape for such extended ageing. Where the youngest component in the blend is aged at least ten years in casks.
Extra Reserve Or Over-15-Year-Old Madeira
Quite rare and, indeed, once they have arrived to this age, many producers take it even further with ages of 20 and 25 years, or, alternatively moving for a vintage or producing a colheita. The older the product the more it should be more refined and complex. It is richer in style than a Special Reserve Madeira. Gustibus, as always.
Solera
Wines listed with Solera were made in a style similar to sherry, with a fractional blending of wines from different vintages in a solera system. The Solera method of blending is most widely practised in the sherry production of Spain. However, the rules for Madeira soleras are different. When it comes to sherry, as wine is used for bottling, new wine is added to the barrels of older wine and this continuous addition of young wine to old would result in very little wine being from the original vintage. With Madeira, approximately 50% of a bottle would likely be from the stated year because they are only allowed to add up to 10%, not more than 10 times. Another interesting peculiarity of old solera Madeiras is that they were initially developed as a result of trying to extend the stocks of vintages when the vines had stopped being productive due to Phylloxera. Therefore, as there was no younger wine to add to the vintage, it was usually older wines that were added. In recent years, vintage Madeiras have been commanding higher prices than soleras, but for much of the later half of the 20th century, solera Madeiras always fetched a premium, at auction, over the vintage ones.
Colheita or Harvest
This relatively new (more or less 1980s onwards) style includes wines from a single vintage, but aged for a shorter period than true Vintage Madeira. The wine can be labelled with a vintage date but includes the word colheita on it. Colheita must be a minimum of five years of age before being bottled and may be bottled any time after that. Many wineries would drop the word Colheita once bottling a wine at over 19 years of age because it is entitled to be referred to as vintage once it is 20 years of age. At that point, the wine can command a higher price than if it were still to be bottled as Colheita. This differs from Colheita Port which is a minimum of seven years of age before bottling. Much like the 10 year olds, serious producers will risk only their superior quality wines from this grape for Colheita.
We are quite lucky to have a great selection of Colheita “Vintage” Madeiras in our shops and online. When one sees the prices (that should soon go up, as in everything nowadays, unfortunately) these are definitely at bargain levels right now.
Vintage Madeira Frasqueira or Garrafeira
This is the ultimate quality level. Unlike virtually all other Madeiras (which are blended), vintage Madeiras are wines of a single year. Production of this kind of wine is extremely limited.
All Madeira wines at one time bore a vintage, but this practice is unusual today, since most are blends or products of solera systems. Current regulations stipulate that vintage Madeira must spend at least 20 years in cask and another 2 years in bottle. Effectively being at least 22 years’ old. This is a contentious issue. Many believe that this is an outdated approach that must be discarded and a system similar to that used for vintage port must be adopted. Hence the recent predominance of Colheita. This is not to suggest that vintage Madeira should not spend 19 or 20 years in cask, just that this rather lengthy process ought not to be mandatory. Some believe that, if Madeira is to reclaim the world stage and capture international imaginations, producers simply must put the spotlight on vintage Madeira. If Madeira is to survive, it should concentrate on quality by replanting with classic varieties, encouraging a new wave of independent producers, banning bulk wines, and updating the concept of Vintage Madeira. Pushing Madeira upmarket is not merely required to re-establish its reputation, it is simple logic—viticulture on this precipitous island is so labour-intensive that cheap wine makes no economic sense. The word vintage does not appear on bottles of vintage Madeira because, in Portugal, the word “Vintage” is a trademark owned by others, though it is often referred to as Frasqueira or Garrafeira.
All old Madeira’s, namely those labelled as Garrafeira or Frasqueira wines and which have been made from the Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Malvasia, Terrantez, Bastardo and Moscatel varieties, should be served at room temperature. This allows the complexity of aroma and flavour gained during their time in cask to come through.
Lastly, there are some other quirks, like Single Cask, Many-year-blends, etc.. that one could be interested in. For multi year blends there is a special process. Before bottling, a producer submits a sample of the blend to an independent tasting committee. The committee then asks themselves: “Is this what we expect of a ten year blend?” And this of a 20 year blend?” The answer is a straightforward “yes” or “no“. “Yes” means the proposed multi-vintage blend can be bottled. “No” means back to the drawing board. Because this is a little too complicated to explain to the average drinker, wineries tend to play up the “aged for” card, although this is not strictly correct.
