What Madeira(s) Have You Purchased Recently?

[Jim S.]

I purchased these from a Chistie's auction at the end of December. I received them about 6 weeks ago:
2 bottles- Henrique Goncalves Borges, Malvasia Reserva Especial 1880, bottled from demi-john in 2023 by Francisco Albuquerque.
1 bottle- Araujo Barros, Sercial 1891, bottled in 1949, rebottled in 1973, 1998 & 2024 by the family.
3 bottles- Araujo Barros, Verdelho 1895, bottled in 1949, rebottled in 1973, 1998 & 2024 by the family.

[Al B.]

Taking the tone down a long way from the last few posts, I’ve just bought a six-pack of 50cl bottles of Blandy’s Medium-Sweet 5YO - that’s the 50:50 blend of Bual and Malvasia.

Fabulous cellar defenders. Very easy to drink.

I’m running out of Blandy 2004 Malvasia colheita bottles so I needed something!

[Andreas Platt]

...

[Al B.]

Believe it or not, I’ve just bought a six-pack of Blandy’s 5YO Doce. Very easy to drink but cheap enough not to feel guilty if it gets used in cooking.

[Jim S.]

H & H Malvasia Reserva

[Mark L]

@Jim,

Is this one of the H&H Heavenly Quartet bottles? (I suppose we have realized perhaps there are actually more than 4 of these great bottlings (a quintet or sextet?) but colloquially, I think you know what I mean)

Excited for you! Those are all wonderful treats....

Cheers,
Mark

[Jim S.]

Hi Mark,
It is supposed to be one of the Heavenlies. I paid $825 for it, including tax and shipping. It seemed like a very reasonable price of admission.

[Eric Ifune]

$825 is really cheap! Last time I was at the tasting room/shop it was over 2400 euros.

The heavenly quartet are the Grand Old Bual, WS Bual, Malvasia Reserva, and Sercial Reserva. These were the ones that had the most volume, so commerical recognition. There's also a superb Verdelho Reserva and Terrantez Reserva. There is a BS Malvasia, but I've never tasted it.

[Andreas Platt]

for those interested...

viewtopic.php?t=16863

[Jim S.]

Thanks for the link. I had found that thread, and read through it, when I was looking into purchasing this bottle of Malvasia Reserva. I think I was able to get the bottle so cheaply because it was listed as 1964 Madeira. The label showed it had been bottled in 1964 and recorked in 2000.
The bottle also had a white “Vieux Vins” label on it.

[Eric Ifune]

Vieux Vins is Mannie's importation company.

[Jim S.]

Understood. I only included that tidbit because all the bottles that I have bought directly from RWC have had gold colored Vieux Vins labels. I only started purchasing from RWC in 2012. Since this bottle was recorked in 2000, Mannie must have switched over from white VV labels to gold ones some time between 2000 and 2012. Does anyone have any idea when that changeover occured, or should I ask Mannie?

[Mike J. W.]

for those interested...

viewtopic.php?t=16863

Andreas,

I know very little about Madeira wines (I have 10 bottles total, nothing fancy), but this was a fun, interesting read. Thanks for posting it.

[Glenn E.]

4 x 1875 D'Oliveiras Malvasia Madeira

These were bottled in 2016, so I guess are not technically the "Family Reserve" bottling as that was much earlier (in the 1970s, as I recall). The bottles do not say "Reserva" on them like my others do, but the box does say that they come from the stock of wine that was in the family cellar.

With an extra ~40 years in wood and a similar number of fewer years in glass, these could be quite a bit different than my favorite Madeira of all time. But I figured it was worth a shot!

[Eric Menchen]

4 x 1875 D'Oliveiras Malvasia Madeira

[Glenn E.]

4 x 1875 D'Oliveiras Malvasia Madeira

It's easily my favorite Madeira of all time, and these were significantly below the "going" price for bottles. I couldn't pass them up, though it did eat into next year's budget already!

[Moses Botbol]

Borges Madeira for $10

[Al B.]

H&H 15YO Bual from my local branch of Majestic Wines, a UK national wine store.

[Andy Velebil]

A 4-pack of 4 different 10 year old Blandy’s Madeira. Will be fun to crack them open and try them side by side.

[Jim S.]

2 bottles of Justino’s 50 year old Terrantez at $400 each.