D'Oliveiras 1988 Terrantez

[Reidar Andersen]

I just got the info today that for the first time Norwegian State Monopoly for liquor will from the first time have D'Oliveiras and one is 1988 T..

I plan to buy that but wonder if anyone can give me tasting notes ? Price is about $ 100 including 25 % VAT...

[Roy Hersh]

I heard this was going to be bottled, now that it was at least 20 years old, but have not seen the bottle (even at D'Oliveiras) or come close to tasting it yet.

Should be fairly reasonably priced. I hope that anyone here who gets a chance to taste this Terrantez will place their TN here, as I am sure lots of readers are pretty curious.

[Reidar Andersen]

I guess this is the same wine as they before have sold as 1988 Colheita Terrantez ( since 2003 ) and now bottled as vintage ??

[Gary Banker]

I dug up a note from May 2007.

1988 D’Oliveira Harvest Terrantez: Green apple and lime flavors. Slightly sweet. Pleasant acidity. Balanced. Medium finish. Nice fragrance when opened. Bottled 2003

It was relatively drier than Blandy's 1976T tasted at the same time and I found it easier to distinguish components of the flavor. The 1988T is the driest terrantez that I have had other than the D'Oliveira 1977T. After several days, I got a slight note of quinine.

When the Harvest bottling and the non-harvest bottling are both available, they are the same price, so they appear to be the same wine. I would buy more.

[Reidar Andersen]

Thanks Gary, will stock up..

[Alan Gardner]

When the Harvest bottling and the non-harvest bottling are both available, they are the same price, so they appear to be the same wine. I would buy more.

Does this mean that 'effectively' the 21 year rule before bottling now means absolutely nothing? And if so was this deliberate or a 'fortunate' loophole?

[Roy Hersh]

Alan,

The regulation was always 20 years for a Madeira to be kept in wood before bottling, in order to be considered a Vintage Madeira. Not 21.

But to answer your question, "no." A new category has emerged in the past decade ... called Colheita Madeira. It was not meant to fool anybody, but was a less expensive version of Madeira that was to take the place between categories of 3/5/10/15 year old Madeira and Vintage Madeira. Colheita Madeira only began about 8 years ago, if I am not mistaken.

[Gary Banker]

D'Oliveira's harvest/colheita madeiras seem to be a little different from the others. I bought all three that were offered by RWC. The 1987M was bottled in 2003 (16 years) and the 1983B was bottled in 2004 (21 years!). Does anyone have any idea why they bottled these three wines at that time instead of waiting a few years? Why did D'Oliveira not bottle the 1983B as a vintage madeira?

I have tried only the 1988T. Has anyone tasted the other two?

[Reidar Andersen]

I know that D'Oliveiras often bottle just a bit at each time and let the rest be in cask.. Maybe the same
here ?

[Roy Hersh]

Reidar is correct that D'Oliveiras has a penchant for ONLY bottling enough Madeira to cover their domestic needs and for those of their specific export market's agents/importers. But that still does not explain why a 21 year old Madeira was bottled as Colheita instead of a Vintage Madeira, which is a great question that probably it would take emailing Mr. D'Oliveiras to find out this answer.

[Reidar Andersen]

If I remember right Luis D'Oliveira or Anibal told me that they still have the 1850 V in cask..

[Reidar Andersen]

Correction, they said/advertised it was 1988 vintage, but today I found out it is the colheita 1988 they will sell here..