For The Love Of Port

I had my first bottle of a bunch I purchased recently and thought that it was a heck of a bargain.

nv ~ Vinhos Barbeito ~ VB ~ Meio Seco ~ Madeira – The Rare Wine Co. sourced this juice which is a blend of Verdelho and Boal. It is considered a Meio Seco Madeira or medium dry in style. Initially upon opening this bottle, there was a thin almost watery impression, akin to Rainwater Madeira. But that did not last too long. In my opinion, this is much closer to the drier Verdelho style than that of Boal even though the cuvee is a blend of 50% of each grape. An intriguing orange-amber color with a pale golden rim, the VB clearly improves with extended aeration, which I highly recommend. It put on weight the second day, as it was left opened and provided a richer medium-body. Yet it remains light on its feet and the nose is a mélange of almond, salty sea spray, mahogany and dried apricot. The mouthfeel is smooth and slightly hot from the alcohol (far less so the second day), with flavors of praline, citrus peel and over ripe nectarine. For a $25 entry level Madeira, I recommend this as a generous, dry sipper that shows its best on the rewarding aftertaste and with extended air time. Only 2,490 bottles of 500 ml were produced for this release! ~ 89 points

Has anybody else tried these yet, or purchased them?

Yes I picked up some :twisted:

Tried this over the past weekend. My note,
Pale bronze tinged green-gold.
Aromas very Boal. On the palate, much more Verdelho. Mouthwatering acidity. Reading the box and bottle notes, this looks to be a 5 year old blend, but I think it has the depth and length of many 15 year olds. I agree, a fine bargin.

So I finally got around to trying this tonight...and I must say its hard to stop drinking this little gem.

The color reminds me of watered down apple juice it is so golden pale. But the palate is very mouth watering and pleasing. By no means the super complex Madeira, this offers a very good QPR that is not overly dry or sweet. For me, it hits that perfect sweet spot in between and just slides down the throat leaving a nice long finish. 88 points.

Glad I got 3 more of these

so this bottle is disappearing very fast.

I need to order more of this :twisted:

Andy, I have consumed 7 or 8 of these so far and given 4-5 away as a gift, including 2 to Stewart. I still have another case on hand and will enjoy these until they are all gone. I put my TN for this in the newsletter months ago and started a thread about it in this Forum too last year, when it was first released. A fine quaffer for $25.

I am also working my way through a bottle of the VB. I posted the note on the Virtual Tasting Room. I think that this is an excellent introduction to dry styles of madeira.

I look forward to whatever other experiments they have in the future.

Gary