I know so very little about Madeira, having tried only three different bottles of it. I have yet to try one with any REAL age, but to me defense, it is nearly impossible to get here in Edmonton. Ah well, with the Virtual Tasting on the subject of Madeira, I decided to give this one a go...
Broadbent Madeira – 10 Year Malmsey
A rather dark caramel brown with a yellow rim. When tilted at an angle, the glass reveals a deep orange (not tawny, but bright orange) center and a light green tint in the predominantly yellow meniscus.
Upon opening, I found the nose rather dull and uninteresting. I did sense that as the hours went along, the nose started to reveal a little more complexity but I still find myself unable to pinpoint anything in particular.
Tasting immediately after opening resulted in a drier, acidity-dominated wine than I was expecting. Knowing that Malmsey is supposed to be the sweetest (and I assumed, richest) of the varieties of Madeira, I was surprised by how dry this was. The sweetness came late to the party, but did not deliver the intensity of residual sugar that I expected. Later on in the evening I picked out what I believed to be leather and what I imagine gasoline would taste like if one were silly enough to try sipping a glass of it.
This Madeira didn’t do wonders for me. We’ll see if there is any evolution over the next day or so, but I doubt it, I thought Madeira was not supposed to really evolve all that much (which is why it is so hearty.) It is, however, the perfect sipper for me this weekend as I am on call and can only indulge in a small glass or two a night, so I am not worried about this bottle remaining open and unfinished for a few nights.
As a side note, I shared a couple of glasses with my wife, who definitely prefers Tawny style Port over the ruby style. She enjoyed it a lot. I was kind of shocked as I expected her to turn up her nose at the high acidity. May be that I have found something that she will enjoy with me more often than the small glass she will share if I open a ruby Port!
For $56Cdn, this was not a good deal. It is really hard to find Madeira in Edmonton though. The 10 year Henriques (Bual and Verdelho?) was $51 and I may have even enjoyed one of those better. I find this wine simplistic and uninteresting. I have way less experience with Madeira than Port however, so this could just be a very naïve and untrained palate…
Day 2
While the general impression I get on day 2 is a bit sweeter, and the nose perhaps a tad more expressive, there is little change. I do, however, realize that my palate may have been muted a tone or two over the past couple of days – I woke up this morning with the sniffles and that can affect my palate a great deal.
Day 3
Finishing up the last couple of glasses (who said Madeira could last for weeks after being opened??? Not in THIS house baby?!) Nothing new is noted on Day 3. A decent, but not great Madeira. One which I would certainly hesitate to spend the same amount of money on, but one, that several dollars cheaper, I could see becoming a staple at our house – the wife was very pleased with this new discovery. $56Cdn was ridiculous for it though. I’m betting this doesn’t go for over $35 in the US.
Todd
What I discovered during this exercise in "hurry up and wait" style patience, is how little Madeira came into ALL Provinces in Canada.
