Beginner needs advice on 1868 Blandy's Madeira

[Neal Pinson]

I've always favored bordeauxs and champagne, don't have any experience with madeira. Went to a 91 year-old artist's estate sale in April, and bought this bottle of madeira for $10.00. My experience has been that people who run estate sales only know about furniture and ceramics, everything else they price either too high or too low.



My first impulse was to sell it on the internet, like everything else I buy, but selling alcohol seems too problematic. I'll stick to my forte of selling books.

I know? enough to store the bottle upright, in a cool, dark place.

I keep thinking that the 91 year-old artist was probably saving it for that "special occasion" that never came. So I am inclined to drink it, rather than store it indefinitely.

So what should I do? Buy less rare madeira's and and work my way up to opening this 1868? And once opened, how long can it be kept? :help:

Any thoughtful, or even rash, comments appreciated. :hello:

Neal Pinson

[Eric Ifune]

Neal,
Welcome to the site. I have a few of of Blandy's 1870 Malmsey. I brought a bottle to a great San Francisco tasting a few months ago sponsered by Roy. Mannie Berk of the Rare Wine Co. was there. He knows more about Madeira than anyone in the US. The labels of mine are similar to yours. Mannie said that Blandy bottled quite a bit of wine in the 50's and 60's with these type of labels. Given that, I expect your Madeira to be superlative. It was an excellent period for Blandy. It does require quite a bit of decant time, at least 48 hours since it does have quite a bit of bottle age. You might try a taste every so often to see how it develops in the decanter. Your bottle should be medium-sweet. I envy you on your purchase. You could hold the wine in decanter for a few days. I think longer and it starts to lose some aroma, which for me is one of the glories of old, fine Maderia. Alternatively you could rebottle and keep corked. The aroma seems to last longer that way. I know some aficianados and even some shippers keep Madiera this way for months.

[Gary Banker]

I have a bottle of 1884 Sercial from Blandy's with a very similar label. The signature on the back label appears to be the same on both bottles. The sercial was bought by Blandy's from Baltazar Gonsalves. The back label says that the "late" Mr. Gonsalves was the mayor of Funchal in 1952. That seems consistent with Eric's comment about bottling in the 1950s and 60s.

Both of these wines were bought from independent producers. I wonder how typical they would be compared with Blandy's other madeiras. These small batch madeira seem similar in concept to Lustau's "almacenista" sherries.

I plan to hold onto the 1884 Sercial for one of the FTLOP madeira dinners. A setting like that would expose your bottle to some experienced and knowledgeable madeira drinkers.

[Roy Hersh]

Madeira is nearly "bullet proof" and once opened, can be stored for a long time and still drink beautifully. You were very fortunate in your purchase.