Sercial Solera 1830 TTC Lomelino Madeira

[William Loftus]

So glad to find this site! I thought I was all alone. I recently bought the above Maderia. I've found a few suggestions for storage, but I can't find anything on how to drink it. How long it should decant, temp to serve at, etc.

I'm also looking to identify good price points for these wines. I'm sure I overpaid, but who could resist a 177 year old wine?

History of this particular one is also of interest. I see that other on this board seem to know how long their Madeira was in a barrel, bottled, etc.

I've been over the great site http://www.madeirawineguide.com. I have a picture of the bottle, but I'm not sure how to put it in my post.

[Roy Hersh]

So glad to find this site! I thought I was all alone. I recently bought the above Maderia. I've found a few suggestions for storage, but I can't find anything on how to drink it. How long it should decant, temp to serve at, etc.

Welcome to the FTLOP Mr. WLoftus. Please when you have a moment, go to your profile and put your real name in the USER NAME area and it will allow us to speak to you on a first name basis. Thanks! Any question, have a look at our REAL NAMES POLICY in the Port or Madeira Forum areas.

Now to respond to your question. I have not had the specific Madeira you mention, so I will leave that to someone here that might have. I am going to move this entire thread to the Madeira Forum, as it is a Madeira topic and you'll find many a Madeira enthusiast over there these days.

If it is a new bottling of an old wine (look on the bottle for the date of bottling that may be on either the front or back label) that means it sat in wood casks for ages and was bottled in recent times to fill a market need. These types of bottles are best with 24 hours of decanting. A few hours either way won't make a difference.

If it is an old bottling of an old Vintage Madeira, then it is possibly not going to be as great as if it sat in wood for a longer period of time. However, that doesn't mean that it won't be great anyway. The bottling of this type, should be decanted for 48-96 hours in my opinion, and again you are not going to harm Madeira by overdecanting a bit, but the bottle stink that will have developed ... plus that many advantages of aeration of a Madeira from a truly ancient bottle, should not be overlooked. As far as temperature, I like them just a bit warmer than celler temperature and find them best from 60 degrees F. and preferrably at 65 degrees where I feel they show best. As far as how to drink them, you can use a Sauternes glass, a Port glass or a Madeira "chimney" stem. Your choice and all 3 work really well. That is truly the only consideration besides not spitting great old Madeiras.

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I'm also looking to identify good price points for these wines. I'm sure I overpaid, but who could resist a 177 year old wine? 

Well that is Madeira for you. I don't know the price for this specific bottle and hopefully Madeira experts like Peter or Reidar will drop by to clarify things for you.

History of this particular one is also of interest. I see that other on this board seem to know how long their Madeira was in a barrel, bottled, etc.

That is one of the fun things about this community, the knowledge base is great and people here are very willing to help folks in need. Hopefully you will continue to visit and share your knowledge and questions and learn along with the rest of us.

I've been over the great site http://www.madeirawineguide.com. I have a picture of the bottle, but I'm not sure how to put it in my post.

Do you have a snapfish.com account? If not or any of the other photo upload areas, try to PM or email Peter and ask him how this works on his site. I hope he will drop by here to assist you. He is brilliant when it comes to Madeira and I am thrilled he is a partner in the Madeira Forum, in terms of bring his people and wisdom here to collaborate on this fine nectar known as Madeira.

Again, welcome to the website and we hope you will enjoy it enough to become addicted like many of us are. It will be great to know your real name and location, so we can provide insight into retailers in your area and let you know if there is a Madeira tasting in close proximity!

Best regards,

Roy Hersh

[William Loftus]

Here is a link to a picture on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wloftus/649884293/

The known vintages at maderiawineguide only have one sercial 1830 listed. The TTC Lomelino is T.T. da Camara Lomelino, and now I've grown a bit concerned that Solera means it was blended with much newer wine.

I found this description:

One feature shared by Madeira firms and their counterparts in Spain's Jerez region is the Solera, an arrangement of elaborately tiered casks through which annual topping up of the 'pool' of stored wine occurs. This system results in a continuous blending of older and younger wines, and it is not uncommon for the 'starter' wines in such a Solera that is, the most ancient to date back centuries.

Now I'm wondering what 1830 means on a Solera? Is that the starter wine?

Thanks for the thoughtful response.

[Peter Reutter]

Dear William,
I am sorry to say that this is the first picture I ever saw of that bottle, so unfortunately there is nothing I can tell you about this particular wine, except that it seems to be quite rare these days.
Please do not be dissapointed about the fact that this is a Solera wine, in fact, with such an age, you might just be better off with a Solera rather then a dried out vintage wine.
The Solera system with Madeira wines works in a different way like in the Sherry production. Please refer to one of the earlier topics in the forum or to http://www.madeirawineguide.com/10madei ... s_of_wine/
to find more information about Madeira Soleras.
Anyway, you have a special bottle there and anything below 400 Euros or 500 US-Dollars would seem like a good deal to me. A price above that would call for a reliable source and a good filling level but still the wine would be interesting for any Madeira collector. Not only because of the age, but also because Lomelino wines are quite rare compared to other producers.

Best
Peter