Mini Madeira Marathon

[Roy Hersh]

After a couple of Ports, three of us shared the following Madeiras to explore some basic QPR Ports and entry level Frasqueiras which included:

1. Broadbent Reserve 5 years old - nice and approachable, but I'd prefer to step up to their 10 year old range.

2. Broadbent 1996 Colheita - a worthy young entrant with solid bones and a great QPR first effort @ Colheita. But I doth protest and say, "leave it in wood".

3. D'Oliveiras 1969 Sercial - one of the best showings of this wine that I've ever had. Maybe due to ONLY decanting it for 10 hours? Maybe because this one has sat in bottle for 7 years? Either way, just loved it (considering its age)!

4. D'Oliveiras 1988 Terrantez - had a tough act to follow and I think that the acidity and dryness of the previous bottle, did not help the Terrantez' cause in this case. Typically I really like this one a LOT.

5. D'Oliveiras 1968 Bual - a perennial favorite contender for best of young Madeiras, imo. Still great QPR and a strong recomendation for those looking to explore vintage Madeira for the first time. Additionally, it delivers far more aged character than its date of birth would imply.

6. Blandy's "aged 10 years" Malmsey - I was not a fan of this bottle. Vegetal notes of asparagus and brussels sprouts. I assume that is atypical for this wine, albeit, this had been opened a week ago by my friend.

[Miguel Simoes]

4. D'Oliveiras 1988 Terrantez - had a tough act to follow and I think that the acidity and dryness of the previous bottle, did not help the Terrantez' cause in this case. Typically I really like this one a LOT.

Need to open my lonely bottle of this! Hope to be more excited afterwards :)

[Roy Hersh]

Usually I really like this Terrantez a lot, my rating is normally 93 points for this Madeira.