For The Love Of Port

I want to give 2 wine loving friends a unique gift.

I was thinking of giving each of them the Rare Wine Company 4 pack of Historic Maderia that comes with 4 375 ml bottles and a book for $95.

However, I was wondering if I could find a single bottle of something special for around that price.

Any ideas?

If you are willing to spend a bit more, I (and probably many others) would highly recommend the 1968 D'Oliveira Bual for $135.

Steve,

I'm generally clueless about Maderia, besides knowing that I enjoy it so thanks for the tip. Will probably order tomorrow, so any other suggestions are appreciated. Is The Rare Wine Company generally the best place for price and selection?

Cheers,

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

We hope you'll stick around and learn with us about Madeira, one of the world's greatest wines, no less dessert wines!

If I was to give a gift, or get one ... I think the "Historic Series" gift set is perfect. Rare Wine Company is virtually the best option for buying ex-cellars bottles of Madeira in the USA. No question there.

Roy,

Thanks for the thoughts. I ended up ordering the gift set as I thought it might be something fun for them.

I need to learn more about Maderia. My first experience was about 10 years ago at Le Cirque at the Bellagio. My wife and I were there for dinner and I asked for a 77 Grahams Vintage Port. They were out so the sommelier asked if I wanted to try something else fun. I said sure and he said he had to run to another restaurant to get a bottle. He brought back a dusty bottle from the 1800's (I can't recall what it was) and asked if I wanted to try it. I of course said yes and what I tried was incredible and I wish I would have wrote it down (was only about 22 or 23 and just getting into wine, so never thought about it). After that, I think the next taste of Maderia I had was a month or so ago when I bought 1 of the 3 bottles of Maderia available locally, Leacock Rainwater Medium Dry Madeira. I really enjoyed the Leacock as well and now I'm on the hunt to learn and try more. Unfortunately not much is available locally and the shipping season is just about closed up here. So if I'm going to try anything new over the next few months, it will have to be when I travel.

Cheers,

Jeff

Jeff Allison wrote: I really enjoyed the Leacock as well and now I'm on the hunt to learn and try more. Unfortunately not much is available locally and the shipping season is just about closed up here.

Jeff:

Broadbent 10 is the benchmark for under $50 Madeira in my opinion. Blandy's Alvada is great too, but comes in 500 ML bottles. Outside of the blazing summer, I would not worry about shipping Madeira except for the most fancy bottles.

Moses Botbol wrote:

Jeff Allison wrote: I really enjoyed the Leacock as well and now I'm on the hunt to learn and try more. Unfortunately not much is available locally and the shipping season is just about closed up here.

Jeff:

Broadbent 10 is the benchmark for under $50 Madeira in my opinion. Blandy's Alvada is great too, but comes in 500 ML bottles. Outside of the blazing summer, I would not worry about shipping Madeira except for the most fancy bottles.

High's are now in the low 40's and lows in the low 20's and it's only going to get colder. Next week, high's in the high 20's-low 30's, with low's in the teens. I'm more worried about it freezing than anything else.

I know they don't have Broadbent up here, so I'll be on the lookout for the the next time we travel. Might be in Minneapolis or Vegas next weekend, so we'll have much better selection.