TN: NV Manuela Barbeito Demijohns Malvasia Special Reserve

[Glenn E.]

I opened one (#9/192) of my Manuela Barbeito Demijohns Malvasia Special Reserve to see what it was like. It was a small group so I have a little over half of the bottle left and can enjoy it for months.

2 of the 4 demijohns used to make this wine are thought to be from 1905. The other two are thought to be from the 1870s, and Ricardo believes that at least one of them (and probably both) is the famed 1875 Barbeito Malvasia. There's no further wine in this blend - it all comes from the 4 demijohns.

This is a wildly different style of 120-ish year old (average age) Malvasia Madeira than what D'Oliveiras puts out. I doubt most people would ever guess that they were the same grape if tasted side-by-side. Just to get a comparison of similar ages, the 1900 D'Oliveiras (let alone the 1875) is a much bigger, much more powerful wine. I suspect it has significantly more sugar and significantly more acidity. It also tastes older, showing more leather, old wood, and torrefacted notes.

The Demijohns is a lighter, almost ethereal style. Others have said that they get grapefruit in Barbeito Malvasias, but I've never noted that before this one. And boy is it strong in this one! Grapefruit, pomelo, something in that line of fruits... both on the nose and in the palate. Others said that served blind and told this was a Verdelho, they might have been fooled. I don't think it's quite that dry, but I'd certainly believe Boal. It doesn't present as particularly sweet, though it's also not dry. "Medium" - neither sweet nor dry - is probably about right. There's a lot of cedar and cigar box in the nose along with key lime, soft lemon, faint tart mandarin orange, and an underlying grain-like note similar to Cream of Wheat. That's all echoed on the palate, plus some brown sugar. The grapefruit or pomelo carries all the way through the finish, which is longer than I expected for something as ethereal as this.

I can understand why someone who likes this lighter style might give this a score as high as it was given early on (100!), but it's not that for me. I do still think it's fantastic, but even in my limited experience with Madeira I could probably name 8-10 that I'd take over this any day of the week. (Granted, my limited experience with Madeira has been with some truly spectacular wines... I've been spoiled by the people who've taught me!)

It's hard for me to say whether or not it's worth the price, considering that I got my 1875 D'ollys for about this price 5 years ago. Of course the 1875 is probably 1.5x or 2x that now... assuming you can find it... but in my head it's hard to get past the fact that I paid the same for them. At the same price there's no comparison... 1875 every time. But at 2x for the 1875? Hmm... now it's a tough call. I'd say it's probably worth it due to the extremely limited bottling (192 bottles) and the fact that they believe 2 of the demijohns were the Barbeito 1875, but had I tasted it before buying I can't say for certain that I'd have made the same purchase. 1, perhaps, but likely not 3.

I'm very new to scoring Madeira, but it's probably 96-97 points. It's a fantastic wine. Not exactly my style, but close enough that I like it a lot.

[Eric Ifune]

I guess I'll have to open mine soon!
Glenn, have you had either the 1882 RR or 1880 RR Malvasias from Barbeito?
I'm going to assume that these were in demi since Ricardo's mom's time and so these wines were in glass a long time. They'll get more ethereal and delicate over time as opposed to D'Oliveiras who keeps their wine in wood.

[Glenn E.]

I don't recall having ever had either of those RR Malvasias, but I'd love to try them some day. And yes, my understanding is that the wines used in this bottling have been in demijohn since Ricardo's mother's time. IIRC Roy was even familiar with one of them - demijohn #90 maybe?

(According to the bottle, demijohns number 22, 32, 33, and 90.)

[Eric Ifune]

The 1880 was the base (maybe up to 10%) of the 40 year old Mae Manuela. The leftovers were bottled on their own at Mannie's request. I've a bottle of each of the 1880 and 1882 left. We'll have to try them!