1963 article by Roy Brady - Old Madeira

[John Danza]

In the thread where I posted my tasting notes about a mysterious bottle of Cossart Gordon No. 26 Light Madeira, found here, Gary Banker made reference to a paragraph in the Noel Cossart book Madeira, The Island Vineyard. That paragraph further referenced an article written by Roy Brady about old Madeira in the Journal of the Wine & Food Society. Being a retired Director of that organization (now International Wine & Food Society) and the historian for the Board of Directors, I have a complete run of the journal from the beginning in 1934 through 1959, and then most of the issues in the early-1960s. I was able to find the article mentioned and have scanned it for all to read. I found it interesting.

Here's a link to article. It's on Dropbox, and they might ask you to sign in or set up an account. You can bypass that and just read the article.

[Alan Gardner]

That article is VERY thought-provoking. I need to check the calculations that essentially imply that after 100 years in cask with 3% evaporation, less than 5% of the original volume would remain, thus implying that almost every barrel would have to be topped up.

Incidentally, I have been fortunate enough to taste the Williams & Humbert sherries back to 1921 (two of the vintages were missing as totally consumed) and my strongest memories are of the Dos Cortados and Tres Cortados styles - both of which are extremely rare but those vintage barrels took on these characteristics that the literature doesn't really describe comprehensibly. But they do seem reminiscent of an old sercial!

[John Danza]

Incidentally, I have been fortunate enough to taste the Williams & Humbert sherries back to 1921 (two of the vintages were missing as totally consumed) and my strongest memories are of the Dos Cortados and Tres Cortados styles - both of which are extremely rare but those vintage barrels took on these characteristics that the literature doesn't really describe comprehensibly. But they do seem reminiscent of an old sercial!

That would be a great tasting to do. I need to seek out old sherries more.

BTW, my wife and I were in your area this past weekend. We have a number of friends in St. Catharines, and she's a member of the Niagara branch of the IWFS (the Chicago branch here being all male). Their Christmas party was this past weekend. I stocked up on icewine from the 2013 vintage. Great quality!

[Alan Gardner]

I've checked the numbers - the calculation is accurate (whether or not the proposition holds).
At 3% after 100 years 4.76% remains
At 2% after 100 years 13.26% remains
At 1% after 100 years 36.6% remains (after 200 years 13.4% so the Pater would still exist!).