A line up of Blandy's Madeira's, lead by Chris Blandy (lots of TN's)
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 1:26 pm
I was very fortunate yesterday to attend a small tasting of Blandy Madeira’s, being lead by the current Director of the company Chris Blandy. Chris was quite funny and was very up front regarding the change of image Madeira needs. As he mentioned, when people talk about Madeira it generally conjures up images as being something your grandmother drank. So it was refreshing to hear a very young Chris talk about how he recognizes that and how he’s trying to change that image. Part of that effort centers around teaching people to pair Madeira with foods, such as cheese, cold meats, and even foie gras. So along with the wines we were served a selections of the afore mentioned, sans the foie gras as it is now been banned in California.
It was interesting to note that Blandy’s buys grapes from over 700 different farmers on the island. Blandy’s harvested only 500 kilos of Terrantez in 2012. While they have never owned their own vines in the past, they just started clearing several hectares of land to start a new planting. Vintage Madeira should generally not be opened for at least a year after being bottled to let it recover and show its best. And a new Madeira producer just popped up this past year, bringing the total on the island to a whooping nine.
While my tasting notes follow, I will sum up my overall experience. The main thing which stood out to me was the solid acidity in the wines, even in the younger ones. It really helped keep them fresh tasting and not come off as being too syrupy. When speaking to Chris afterwards he mentioned this is something Blandy’s works hard to achieve so the wines don’t taste cloying. While I am generally not a fan of younger aged Madeira’s, my view was changed after this tasting. I should add my notes are snap shot views as I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with them.
Blandy’s 5 Year Old Sercial Madeira
Notes of sweet honeysuckle and just a touch of V.A. on the nose. Light bodied with no heat, smooth, with toffee, and a dry medium length finish.
85 Points
Blandy’s 5 Year Old Bual Madeira
A darker brown color than the Sercial. With a deeper nose with a little more V.A. as well. Carmel, nice acidity, a hint of V.A., nuts, herbs, and a medium long finish. I had a slight preference for this over the Sercial.
86 Points
Blandy’s 5 Year Old Malmsey Madeira
A richer nose with dark caramel. Nice acidity, sweet but not cloying, salted caramel, wildflowers, and V.A. There was a touch of spirit poking through on the medium-long semi-sweet finish.
86 Points
Blandy’s 10 Year Old Malmsey Madeira
More orange color than the 5 year. Sweet up front with solid acidity keeping it from being sugary. Plenty of toffee, herbs, V.A., nice complexity and balance. A sweet but fresh citrus and grassy finish was long. Much more fresh than previous Malmsey’s I’ve had in this class.
91 Points
1994 Blandy’s Malmsey Colheita Madeira
The V.A. was more prominent on the nose with lots of orange citrus zest. Lots of acidity and citrus, plenty of herbs, V.A., well complexed. Roasted coffee bean, toffee, and a long acidic finish. I expected this to be sweeter than it was but the acidity really keeps this one so fresh. Lovely and I look forward to trying this again with further barrel age. Bottled in 2010.
92 Points
1985 Blandy’s Malmsey Madeira
Far more green hints to this compared to the 10 year old. Lots of V.A. and citrus on the nose. No shortage of acidity here, citrus, honeysuckle, semi-sweet, and deceptively subtly. This sneaked up on my then unleashed a smack down on the long finish. Wonderful right now, this should continue to mature into a fine old Madeira one day.
93 Points
It was interesting to note that Blandy’s buys grapes from over 700 different farmers on the island. Blandy’s harvested only 500 kilos of Terrantez in 2012. While they have never owned their own vines in the past, they just started clearing several hectares of land to start a new planting. Vintage Madeira should generally not be opened for at least a year after being bottled to let it recover and show its best. And a new Madeira producer just popped up this past year, bringing the total on the island to a whooping nine.
While my tasting notes follow, I will sum up my overall experience. The main thing which stood out to me was the solid acidity in the wines, even in the younger ones. It really helped keep them fresh tasting and not come off as being too syrupy. When speaking to Chris afterwards he mentioned this is something Blandy’s works hard to achieve so the wines don’t taste cloying. While I am generally not a fan of younger aged Madeira’s, my view was changed after this tasting. I should add my notes are snap shot views as I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with them.
Blandy’s 5 Year Old Sercial Madeira
Notes of sweet honeysuckle and just a touch of V.A. on the nose. Light bodied with no heat, smooth, with toffee, and a dry medium length finish.
85 Points
Blandy’s 5 Year Old Bual Madeira
A darker brown color than the Sercial. With a deeper nose with a little more V.A. as well. Carmel, nice acidity, a hint of V.A., nuts, herbs, and a medium long finish. I had a slight preference for this over the Sercial.
86 Points
Blandy’s 5 Year Old Malmsey Madeira
A richer nose with dark caramel. Nice acidity, sweet but not cloying, salted caramel, wildflowers, and V.A. There was a touch of spirit poking through on the medium-long semi-sweet finish.
86 Points
Blandy’s 10 Year Old Malmsey Madeira
More orange color than the 5 year. Sweet up front with solid acidity keeping it from being sugary. Plenty of toffee, herbs, V.A., nice complexity and balance. A sweet but fresh citrus and grassy finish was long. Much more fresh than previous Malmsey’s I’ve had in this class.
91 Points
1994 Blandy’s Malmsey Colheita Madeira
The V.A. was more prominent on the nose with lots of orange citrus zest. Lots of acidity and citrus, plenty of herbs, V.A., well complexed. Roasted coffee bean, toffee, and a long acidic finish. I expected this to be sweeter than it was but the acidity really keeps this one so fresh. Lovely and I look forward to trying this again with further barrel age. Bottled in 2010.
92 Points
1985 Blandy’s Malmsey Madeira
Far more green hints to this compared to the 10 year old. Lots of V.A. and citrus on the nose. No shortage of acidity here, citrus, honeysuckle, semi-sweet, and deceptively subtly. This sneaked up on my then unleashed a smack down on the long finish. Wonderful right now, this should continue to mature into a fine old Madeira one day.
93 Points
