Vintage Madeira

[neil scott]

Hi all,

this is my first post after just discovering your forum.

I am toying with the idea of splashing out and treating myself to a bottle of vintage Madeira to celebrate my 50th birthday this year.

The idea of a 1958 bottle has obviously occurred but I also see that the 1968 d'oliveira bual seems to be highly-regarded and recommended here as an intro to vintage Madeira.

Any suggestions and/or advice would be gratefully received. The 1968 seems a good bet but I am keen on the idea of a 1958 bottle if you have recommendations.

cheers,

Neil

[Eric Ifune]

Hi Neil,
There are bottles of 1958 out there, but I've not had the opportunity to try them. The 1968 is excellent. You might try the '68 first to see how you like it, and if so, splurge on the 58 on your birthday.

[Roy Hersh]

Neil,

Nice to have you join us and welcome to and Madeira Wine Guide's Madeira Forum!

According to the MWG, there are 4 Madeiras from your birth year. Checking with winesearcher.com will probably yield solid results in locating bottles:

1958 Barbeito Bual
1958 Cossart Gordon Boal
1958 Barbeito Malvasia
1958 Blandy's Bual

I think you have sound advice from Eric though. Go with a bottle of the very solid 1968 and whet your whistle and see if you are then willing to take the next step up in price.

Do you just like Madeira or do you enjoy Port too? 1958 might be easier to find with a Colheita Port but there are the odd bottles from that year that show up on occasion. There was talk of a big score of them recently.

Within the next two weeks, I will be providing details on a very good QPR Madeira for those that live here in the USA. Glad to have you join us!

[neil scott]

Thanks chaps for that advice and info.

The notion of trying the 1968 first seems sensible, though I am still keen on having a mad extravagant 'splurge' on a 1958 one (you're not 50 every year), and who knows, I may sample the 1968 at some point.

But I am still thinking it over, and will use your advice.

I have seen a UK wine merchant offering a 1958 d'Oliveira Boal Reserva at £87.95, which seems like a good deal does it not, if it's the genuine article? Presumably this is the wine reviewed here: -

http://www.cellartracker.com/showwikire ... dex=476856

On the 'net I have found mostly Madeira, Port and Barolo for 1958 wines. I suppose any of these would be wonderful, but my preference is for Madeira.

Thanks again, and keep up the good work with this site,

Neil

[Roy Hersh]

Neil,

My suggestion is that you check out the UK's finest purveyor of Madeira. His name is Patrick Grubb and I am sure you can find his contact information on Google.

Best regards and if you do find a wine from 1958 ... please come back and let us know if you enjoyed it and what it was like. Thanks!

[Richard Beeken]

Big vote here for the 1958 Cossart Gordon Bual - tasted recently and it was everything you could hope for in a "moderately" priced vintage madeira - 24 hrs decanting seemed about right - not an especially sweet Bual (a good thing, in my books). Good luck, happy birthday!

[neil scott]

Hi,

just to let you know that I eventually bought a bottle of 1958 d'oliveiras boal reserva and am looking forward to seeing what it is like over Xmas (though I can hardly bear to open it now!)!

Neil

[Glenn E.]

Others with more Madeira experience than I should chime in, but what I've read says that you should go ahead and open the bottle NOW and just not drink any of it until Christmas.

Apparently vintage Madeira is often best when decanted DAYS before drinking, not hours.

All you Madeira experts, is that correct? Or is it something that's only true on a case-by-case basis?

[Eric Ifune]

In an open decanter, I would decant 24-48 hours ahead of time. If decanted and placed back into the bottle and sealed, several days. D'Oliveira will sometimes provide an extra T-top cork for the bottle after removing the long original cork.

[neil scott]

The wine was bottled in 2007. Bought from Adegas de Torreao (in 2002 I think). I understand they haven't bottled all their stock of this yet as they bottle just before releasing their wine? So if it has only been in bottle a year-ish, presumably it won't need to 'breathe' for too long?? Would you recommend decanting or leaving in bottle? They have supplied an extra cork.

[Eric Ifune]

Neil,
I think that if you plan on drinking the entire bottle within a day or two, you might as well decant 24 hours ahead. The aeration can only help. If you plan on drinking this more slowly, then I'd use the supplied T-top cork and drink a glass at a time. Vigourous swirling will help the wine the first day. Just my humble opinion.

[neil scott]

Opened the bottle Christmas Eve and decanted the wine. Had a small taste right away - after savouring the aroma for quite some time!- and it was wonderful. Ended up sharing some of the wine Christmas afternoon and finishing the rest myself over the next few days, with the last finished last night (30th).

In retrospect I don't think this needed decanting really (probably as it had only been bottled in 2007?) but it didn't seem to do it any harm. Plus the spare cork supplied was too tight to fit the bottle!

As for the wine, I can't claim to be an expert like many of you, but -

I have had 10 and 15-year old madeiras before and this was very reminiscent of those but obviously a class beyond. Very powerful burnt aromas of coffee, chocolate, vanilla, that you could spend all day just sniffing! In the mouth the wine was silky smooth, with no edge whatsoever, unlike the spirity edge you can get with cheaper wines. Lovely flavours of toffee, vanilla, chocolate, all wrapped in a kind of soft bitter orange tang that filled the mouth but was refreshing and soft. I timed this and the length went on for about 10 minutes! After a couple of days the nose seemed to lose a bit of the fruit and become more spirity, but the flavours seemed to develop more subtlety, and the blanket of soft citrus acidity lasted to the end. At 50 years old, this certainly seems to have a lot of life left in it! I would say though that after 6 days in the decanter it had lost some of its initial aromatic power (though as I say the flavours held up).

Great to experience this and I could get used to it (though the bank account couldn't!). Though I suspect that at £88.50 a bottle that was a bargain for this wine?