I have had a good year of tasting some brilliant young and mostly old Madeiras from a wide variety of categories. I will finish the newsletter and then go through my 2025 top picks of the year.
Please don't wait! You can start to consider your tasting notes and top Madeiras now. Although it is Christmas Eve, I hope you will all enjoy something special tonight. Merry Christmas to everyone here!
I look forward to read your single bottle or list of best Madeiras you've tasted at some point this year!
In my upcoming newsletter there are 9 top Terrantez and 6 old Malvasia bottlings tasting notes that appear in the subscribers PDF. Some incredible bottles to say the least. Definitely my best day of Madeira drinking this year.
My number one in 2025 must be the 1760 Borges family Terrantez. Followed by the 1800 Borges Verdelho. I owe huge thanks to a London-based madeira aficionada who was kind enough to let me taste them.
The best madeira I bought and tasted is the 1987 Blandy Terrantez which I’m a big fan of and made sure to by some bottles for a rainy day.
Mine is likely to be the same for the next 20-25 years, as I opened the first of two bottles of the 1875 D'Oliveiras Malvasia Family Reserve to drink on my birthdays. I get 1.5 oz each year (one shot, essentially) to make the bottles last as long as possible.
I did also finish up a bottle of the Barbeito O Japones which is very nice.
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