What Madeira Have You Opened This Week?

[Eric Ifune]

Blandy's 15 year old Malmsey.

[Gary Banker]

1954 Barbeito malvasia (bottled in 1995)
1988 D'Oliveira's terrantez

[Gary Banker]

1944 Barbeito Malvasia (bottled in October 2002)
1946 Barbeito Malvasia (bottled in 1997)

[Reidar Andersen]

Hi Gary... I am born in 1946 and have two bottles of that wine ( and one Barbeito 1946 Boal and two Borges 1946 Verdelho ) and not tasted
any of those yet... What is your comment on the Malvasia ?

[Gary Banker]

Hi Reidar,

I have three of the 1946 boal and two of the malvasia. The malvasia is very good. I agree with the review in Mayson's book.

By the way, the 1944 Barbeito is a very good malvasia. I think that it is richer than the 1946. I think that the 1944 and 1946 are the two best since 1920 and great examples of the difference between the acidic and the not so acidic versions of malvasia.

I originally bought one 1946 boal and two 1946 malvasia from Patrick Grubb.

Gary

[Gary Banker]

1912 D'Oliveira's verdelho (bottled in 2012)
1901 D'Oliveira's malvazia (bottled in 2015)

The 1901M is a very smooth malvazia in the style of the 1946 Barbeito malvasia. Is the 1901M another of the Adegas do Torreao wines (like 1927 bastardo) that Pereira D'Oliveira bought when the owner died?

[Mike K.]

Blandy’s 1975 Terrantez bottled 1997.

Furniture polish, mahogany, marmalade on the nose. Palate is oranges, burnt caramel, light acid which builds through long finish. Rich, but still fruity and lively.

I like this better than the 1976 which was bottled in 2015. The 76 has some pleasantly dark and heavy attributes from the additional barrel age, but I find the finish to be too woody and bitter.

[Roy Hersh]

This past Thursday night and through Saturday, the owner of Faja dos Padres and his wife were here, along with a couple of their friends from Lisboa and a Madeira loving friend of mine. While we had a wide array of table wines, from Champagne, to a magnum of German Riesling, a fantastic old bottle of Amarone, another magnum from my favorite WA producer .. Cadence, 2006 Taptiel vineyard which was showing quite a youthful presence, then came 3 extraordinary bottles of Madeira to cap the evening.

The first was my last bottle of 1950 Faja dos Padres (Barbeito bottled) Terrantez, which I had been holding for a v. special occasion, but as this was their first time ever on the West coast, I thought to have them to dinner was a great reason for opening this. A generous friend of mine brought two great bottles. The first was my wine of the night ... 1920 Cossart Gordon Malmsey which was drop dead gorgeous. The 3rd bottle was very old, somewhere mid-19th century, grape thought to be Verdelho but for me it came off as a Sercial and a dry one at that. Very interesting and with a rich smooth entry and very long acid-infused finish.

The next day was spent guiding them to some of the fine sightseeing attractions here in and around the Seattle area. I had not had even a sip of wine since returning from the Fortification Tour, nearly two weeks earlier. It was wonderful to have three Madeiras to sip on and I stayed up with my friend until 4 a.m. pontificating on Madeira and life in general.

[Steve Pollack]

This past Thursday night and through Saturday, the owner of Faja dos Padres and his wife were here, along with a couple of their friends from Lisboa and a Madeira loving friend of mine. While we had a wide array of table wines, from Champagne, to a magnum of German Riesling, a fantastic old bottle of Amarone, another magnum from my favorite WA producer .. Cadence, 2006 Taptiel vineyard which was showing quite a youthful presence, then came 3 extraordinary bottles of Madeira to cap the evening.

The first was my last bottle of 1950 Faja dos Padres (Barbeito bottled) Terrantez, which I had been holding for a v. special occasion, but as this was their first time ever on the West coast, I thought to have them to dinner was a great reason for opening this. A generous friend of mine brought two great bottles. The first was my wine of the night ... 1920 Cossart Gordon Malmsey which was drop dead gorgeous. The 3rd bottle was very old, somewhere mid-19th century, grape thought to be Verdelho but for me it came off as a Sercial and a dry one at that. Very interesting and with a rich smooth entry and very long acid-infused finish.

The next day was spent guiding them to some of the fine sightseeing attractions here in and around the Seattle area. I had not had even a sip of wine since returning from the Fortification Tour, nearly two weeks earlier. It was wonderful to have three Madeiras to sip on and I stayed up with my friend until 4 a.m. pontificating on Madeira and life in general.

1920 Cossart Gordon Malmsey is certainly one of the best Madeiras of the 20th century.

[Marco D.]

1920 Cossart Gordon Malmsey is certainly one of the best Madeiras of the 20th century.

If I am not mistaken, I believe Noel Cossart mentioned in his book "The Island Vineyard" that it was the last wine made from Malvasia Candida and was from Faja dos Padres... but I think Alex Liddell refuted that claim.

Of course there are now more wines from Malvasia Candida and Faja dos Padres of late...

[Michael R]

Broadbent says it is one of the top 10 wines of the century: http://www.qrw.com/features/top-ten-win ... ntury.html

[Gary Banker]

1950 Royal sercial
1954 Justino Henriques verdelho
1981 Barbeito RR verdelho

[Eric Ifune]

Barbeito Ribeiro Real 20 year old Boal.

[Mike K.]

Justino’s Verdelho 1997. A very nice wine at a good price.

D’Oliveiras Tinta Negra 1997. A new release that I really love.

[Michael R]

1864 TTC Lomelino Boal
1977 Cossart Gordon Terrantez
1977 Blandy's Terrantez
1977 d'Oliveiras Terrantez

[Eric Ifune]

RWC George Washington.

[Eric Ifune]

1979 Borges Sercial.

[Roy Hersh]

MEF 1983 Verdelho

[Mike K.]

MEF 1983 Verdelho

Mmmmmm, love that one.

Coincidentally, this week I opened their '40'yo commemorative Verdelho.

[Eric Ifune]

Barbeito 1914 Bual.