Any idea what this madeira is?

[Andy Dremeaux]

http://i.imgur.com/uMiCX.jpg

A Swedish guy on a site I'm on came into this bottle along with a bunch of other pretty mediocre stuff (http://imgur.com/a/XBaa5) and I'm trying to help him figure out what it is. I assume its junk, judging from the lack of age statement or grape label, but you never know. Any info about this place? The other bottles in the haul date from around 1970.

[Eric Ifune]

Looks like import brands to me. Probably estufaed wines. The cordials are not worth much but old Chartreuse can sometimes be valuable.

[Andy Dremeaux]

Does the Chartreuese gain anything in aging or it just collectors value because its old? I assume the latter.

[Reidar Andersen]

That bottle is bottled by AB Vin og Spritcentralen in Sweden which is like Vinmonopolet in Norway, the goverment outlet for wine and liquor. Only place to buy the stuff. Until some years ago they brought much wine and liquor in bulk and bottled it in their own facility. Always all these bottling was cheaper stuff..

[Eric Ifune]

Does the Chartreuese gain anything in aging or it just collectors value because its old? I assume the latter.

Yes. They did change the formula a couple of times, so if old enough, it may be the older formulations. Don't know exactly when the changes occured however.

[Niklas J]

Reidar has already explained but just for fun I can tell you that V&S had a their own house in Funchal in the first decades of the 20th century. Back then, Sweden was the biggest buyer of Madeira wine and a glass of wine in Sweden then was equivalent of...Madeira. Those glory days are long gone now and V&S don't have much more than a few boring entry wines of 3 YO Madeiras to offer.