PORTUGUESE FEAST: Where does the wine come from?
By TYRA PACHECO
Standard-Times correspondent [Massachusetts, USA]
July 30, 2007 6:00 AM
The Feast of the Blessed Sacrament was founded in 1915 by four immigrants from the island of Madeira, so it is no wonder that Madeira wine is such an integral part of the annual celebration.
By the end of the four-day festival, feast visitors will have consumed the equivalent of 6,720 bottles of the sweet — and potent — red wine. Like the feast itself, Madeira wine is steeped in tradition.
Dating back some 400 years, Madeira wine is produced on the island of the same name using native-grown grapes. Hundreds of grape producers sell their crops to the largest Madeira wine producer on the island, Vinhos Justino Henriques, Filhos, Lda., in Santa Cruz, the same company that supplies wine for the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament in New Bedford.
Understanding what makes Madeira wine special starts with understanding the process of making wine. Fred and Jose Saraiva own Saraiva Enterprises, Inc. in New Bedford, the largest importer of Madeira wine in the United States, according to Vinhos Justino Henriques, Filhos, and the two brothers served up the basics.
Simply put, grapes are crushed and allowed to ferment under a controlled environment. The natural breakdown of the grape juice and sugar turns to alcohol.
"With regular wine, when it reaches about nine percent alcohol, it loses its sweetness," said Fred, adding that the longer the wine ferments, the higher the alcohol content will be. "Regular wine is allowed to get to about 12 percent alcohol. Once it's fermented, they remove the wine juice from the crushings, the temperature is dropped and the fermentation stops."
To create a sweet, rich wine like Madeira, producers stop the fermentation at about six percent.
"At that point, you still have a very sweet product," said Fred. "Then they add a special brandy they have developed. The brandy stops the fermentation cold, and the alcohol content goes way up."
Most wines have an alcohol content of nine to 14 percent, unlike Madeira wine, which is usually 19 or 20 percent alcohol.
Originally, Madeira wine was fortified with brandy to make it last longer as it was transported across the ocean on voyages spanning five to six months. The added alcohol prevented the wine from spoiling.
"When they traveled in sailing ships, they went by the equator and it was very hot," said Jose. "They actually found that the wine got better with the heat."
Today, Madeira wine is heated during production to mimic this process.
In years past, the wine was exported in barrels, but when it arrived at its final destination it was often blended with other wine and bottled, compromising the quality. In an attempt to preserve the prestige of Madeira wine, legislation was passed in 2001 prohibiting its exportation by the barrel.
"The President of Madeira Wine Institute came here to see where the wine was being used and how the wine was being used and he saw that it maintained the tradition and it was very important to the feast," said Fred.
Because the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament is recognized by Madeiran officials as a special event, special permission is granted to the Feast. Considering that 20 barrels of wine are consumed at the feast, this is good news.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAIVA ENTERPRISES. Because of the rough terrain on the island of Madeira, the grapes are still harvested by hand today.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAIVA ENTERPRISES. The grapes are sorted into small vats, which keeps the grapes from crushing under their own weight and makes transporting the fruit easier.
PHOTOs COURTESY OF SARAIVA ENTERPRISES. Once the grapes are separated from the stems, they will begin the crushing process.
