TN: Blandy's 5 Year Old Malmsey Madeira

[Glenn E.]

From a tasting at Pete's Fine Wines in Bellevue, WA, on December 14, 2008.

Blandy's 5 Year Old Malmsey Madeira
tasted with (but not against) Campbells Rutherglen Muscat

Light tan with noticeable green overtone. Christmas spice, gingerbread, and shortbread on the nose. I could sit and smell this all night. After that nose, though, the taste is almost shocking because it is so different. It's quite tangy and dry, especially compared to the (now almost sickly) sweet Muscat. Given some time for my palate to rest and re-center, there's some lime, orange, and ... shoe polish?

I'll just go back to smelling this one, thanks.

[Roy Hersh]

Yes, I can understand the tasting dilemma having these two side-by-side. Kinda like palate torture. But if anyone wanted to understand why acidity is so very important with fortified wines, this certainly would have been a great example. One is fat, flabby and cloying while the other would seem extremely tart and succulent.

[Glenn E.]

It wasn't a good pairing, that much is certain.

I really liked the Muscat... rich and luscious. It was a bit one-dimensional in flavor and it was certainly very sweet, but I didn't find it cloying. Close, though, and comparing it to this Malmsey did not do either of them justice. And my preferences do tend toward the sweeter side of things, so I can certainly see how others would find it far too sweet and/or cloying.

What disturbed me about the Malmsey was the disconnect between the scent and the flavor. None of the wonderful spices and lushness of the nose carried through into the mouth... they were instead replaced by something completely different. Once my palate settled from the shock of transitioning from the Muscat I could find and identify flavors, but I found them disappointing. There's nothing wrong with lime, orange, and shoe polish, but I guess I just really wanted it to taste at least something like the Christmas spices, gingerbread, and shortbread evident in the nose.

[Roy Hersh]

Madeira, more so than Port can provide a more distinct disconnect between the nose and palate impressions. Whether that has to do with the typically more time spent in wood or not, is questionable.

As to the Muscat ... can you see going back for a 2nd glass of it, or a 3rd. I know one and I'm done ... unless sipping very slowly over many hours. Just too over the top in terms of pure RS, at least for my liking.

[Glenn E.]

2nd glass, yes. 3rd glass... probably not. But then again, I almost never drink more than 2 glasses of Port, either.

I can't see drinking as much of it as I would a good Trockenbeerenauslese, but for me that's more because it wasn't as well-rounded as you'd expect a TBA to be. It was also distinctly lacking in acidity compared to good German dessert wines, though at least to me it wasn't to the point of being bland.

That was another part of the palate shock - less than optimal acidity in the Muscat followed by more than desired (at least for me) acidity in the Malmsey.