Broadbents review of madeira

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simon Lisle
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Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 11:05 am
Location: Newcastle, United Kingdom - UK

Broadbents review of madeira

Post by simon Lisle »

As I'm fairly new to madeira do you mostly agree with broadbents tasting notes of madeira.With port I mostly agree with him and find him pretty accurate also with his wine tasting.I'm fishing here to gauge my pricing also if you have any ideas on reasonably priced good vintage madeiras.
Philip Harvey
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Post by Philip Harvey »

Simon

I haven't really read enough of Broadbent's notes that correspond with wines I have tasted to have an opinion on his notes in general. Madeira tasting notes are so few and far between (except on this sie of course).

Re pricing, I'd say you need to be thinking about a minimum of £50 a (75cl) bottle of recent vintage Madeira in the UK market. By recent I would say back to 1978. After that, things start to ratchet up to around the £100 mark for a decent wine post say the 1950s.

After that, it's anyone's guess - it's basically down to who turns up at the auction on the day. Case in point was six bottles of Blandy's 1862 Terrantez at Christies on 12.12.06 (lot 362) which carried an estimate of £300 to £360 (way too low) which sold I think for £4,500 (phew!). So go figure - there's so little Madeira produced and so little of it comes onto the market that it's worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.

Personally, I think the following are pretty sound buys at the moment and while they are drinking well now, should go the distance:

Barbeito Verdelho 1981 - approx £35 per 50cl

Cossart Gordon or D'Oliveira Terrantez 1977 - £75 - £100

Barbeito 1978 Bual £55 per bottle.

Take a look at the back notes on these wines on this forum. There are three certainties in life: Death, taxes and that the price of these wines can only go up in the future.

Hope this helps.

Philip
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Roy Hersh
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Post by Roy Hersh »

I have been most fortunate to drink wine with Michael Broadbent on a number of occasions and Madeira on more than one of them. His palate is very precise and he is not into the gradation of the wines when he is sipping or evaluating them. I find that with Madeira he is very attuned to the structure in terms of how well these components have held up as well as the sensorial impressions on his nose and palate. I very much have enjoyed tasting side-by-side with him and have learned a great deal from Mr. Broadbent.

Although I've read his book, honestly I can't remember many specifics of his Madeira notes except his use of "rapier like" acidity or something very close. He is truly one of the most influential gentleman in the world of wine that I have had the pleasure to get to know AND is one of the living legends in the wine writing business, that no longer has a great many of them left.
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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