For The Love Of Port

Be it the great or the humble, please share what Madeira that you have opened this week!

Rare Wine Historic Series Verdelho

H&H 20 year terrantez
Barbeito 20 year malvazia

Having never come across your site before, I was fascinated by the question what Madeira have you opened this week? I am the former Director General of the Madeira Wine Company (13 years in Funchal). I opened my last but one bottle of the Torre Bella Verdelho 1877. Still fresh and crisp with a background of ‘coffee grounds' and honey but with the characteristic ‘apple bite’ and a long lingering finish.
The Torre Bella estate, meaning beautiful tower in Portuguese, was owned by the family of the Visconde de Torre Bella, featured many of the largest and most famous vineyards of the island. Since the 1970ies the estate has been divided into many small parts, and, sadly, there is no significant winegrowing done here anymore. Captain David Fairlie of Myres is a descendent of the original family.
The wine was rebottled from the original squat flagons and re-corked in the spring of 1987 into deep, dimple punted very heavy dark green ‘’champagne’’ type bottles having a distinct ‘’wire ridge’’ just below the lip. The bottles have no mould number or other reference and were originally imported from France. A quantity of front labels carrying the Torre Bella coat of arms and a back label giving details of the wine, rebottling and re-corking with the Christies cameo logo were printed in Funchal.

The re-bottling and corking was carried out by hand and supervised by my Production Director, Engo Eduardo Luis Rodrigues, (now deceased), by decanting into a large almude, (a large open jug used to top up casks), Also present were, David Fairlie, who embossed the top wax seal with his crest, Myself and our technician.

Thanks for great info.. I have one also.. Will try to dig it out and have a look at it ........

Eric Ifune wrote:Rare Wine Historic Series Verdelho

Same here!

David Pamment wrote:Having never come across your site before, I was fascinated by the question what Madeira have you opened this week? I am the former Director General of the Madeira Wine Company (13 years in Funchal). I opened my last but one bottle of the Torre Bella Verdelho 1877. Still fresh and crisp with a background of ‘coffee grounds' and honey but with the characteristic ‘apple bite’ and a long lingering finish.
The Torre Bella estate, meaning beautiful tower in Portuguese, was owned by the family of the Visconde de Torre Bella, featured many of the largest and most famous vineyards of the island. Since the 1970ies the estate has been divided into many small parts, and, sadly, there is no significant winegrowing done here anymore. Captain David Fairlie of Myres is a descendent of the original family.
The wine was rebottled from the original squat flagons and re-corked in the spring of 1987 into deep, dimple punted very heavy dark green ‘’champagne’’ type bottles having a distinct ‘’wire ridge’’ just below the lip. The bottles have no mould number or other reference and were originally imported from France. A quantity of front labels carrying the Torre Bella coat of arms and a back label giving details of the wine, rebottling and re-corking with the Christies cameo logo were printed in Funchal.

The re-bottling and corking was carried out by hand and supervised by my Production Director, Engo Eduardo Luis Rodrigues, (now deceased), by decanting into a large almude, (a large open jug used to top up casks), Also present were, David Fairlie, who embossed the top wax seal with his crest, Myself and our technician.

Welcome, David.

Having never come across your site before, I was fascinated by the question what Madeira have you opened this week? I am the former Director General of the Madeira Wine Company (13 years in Funchal). I opened my last but one bottle of the Torre Bella Verdelho 1877. Still fresh and crisp with a background of ‘coffee grounds' and honey but with the characteristic ‘apple bite’ and a long lingering finish.
The Torre Bella estate, meaning beautiful tower in Portuguese, was owned by the family of the Visconde de Torre Bella, featured many of the largest and most famous vineyards of the island. Since the 1970ies the estate has been divided into many small parts, and, sadly, there is no significant winegrowing done here anymore. Captain David Fairlie of Myres is a descendent of the original family.
The wine was rebottled from the original squat flagons and re-corked in the spring of 1987 into deep, dimple punted very heavy dark green ‘’champagne’’ type bottles having a distinct ‘’wire ridge’’ just below the lip. The bottles have no mould number or other reference and were originally imported from France. A quantity of front labels carrying the Torre Bella coat of arms and a back label giving details of the wine, rebottling and re-corking with the Christies cameo logo were printed in Funchal.

The re-bottling and corking was carried out by hand and supervised by my Production Director, Engo Eduardo Luis Rodrigues, (now deceased), by decanting into a large almude, (a large open jug used to top up casks), Also present were, David Fairlie, who embossed the top wax seal with his crest, Myself and our technician.

Yes, Welcome to the website!

1973 D'Oliveira's boal. This somewhat atypically light for D'Oliveira's boal, at least compared to the 1968, 1977, and 1983.

Miguel Jardim Reserva Boal Velho

Barbeito Malvasia 20 years.
Barbeito Malvasia 1948.

Opened the Broadbent 10yr Malmsey.
Seems to taste quite a lot like the Ferreira 20yr Duque de Braganca.
Would you say the same?
Yummy, but the more things I try, the more I realize that my palate might just prefer fruity ruby ports.

Miguel Simoes wrote:Opened the Broadbent 10yr Malmsey.
Seems to taste quite a lot like the Ferreira 20yr Duque de Braganca.

So, in disbelief about my own statement, tasted the two side by side. The 20yr tawny is way more complex, more flavorful, sweeter.

The 10yr Malmsey has hints of this green-ish flavor that I've found in other Madeiras and that I find v distracting. It def has a squirt of acidity that the port does not. It is def tasty though, a pleasure to drink.

Guess what led me to initially compare the two was the relative absence of fruit in both and both being dominated by more nutty flavors, both more acidic than my typical choices.

After tasting them side by side though, even at roughly 1.25 X the price, i would still go for the 20yr tawny over the 10 yr Malmsey.

The upside is that I found a Madeira that I actually enjoyed :)

Miguel,

I think I've gone the opposite direction from you - I tend to find 10 and 20yr tawnys too stodgy (I only have access to Taylors), and enjoy the acid cut that Madeira provides. But good to hear that you enjoy the Malmsey nonetheless!

I've recently opened bottles from 3 different Madeira shippers over the past week - Blandy, Henriques & Henriques, Barbeito. All are different in their house style, with Blandy probably the most "port-like" in terms of richness and sweetness. The Barbeito wine (20 year Malvasia) is very structured, long and drinks almost like a white wine - intense, yet not cloying at all, with great length, acidity and balance.

1978 Barbeito boal

Didnt open one, but had a glass of 1968 D'Oliveiras Bual at Bar Boulud in NYC.
The first sips were incredibly acidic and that acid kick faded tremendously over the 90 mins that i took to drink my glass.
It was my first Bual and I was shocked how acidic it showed
Either way, I def enjoyed it. It was v flavorful, lots of caramel/toffee, smooth... v tasty.
Dont think I'd pay ~$150/bottle for it retail though...

Another Blandy's 10 year Terrantez... Wonderful wine, look up Alex Liddells book on page 201.. I came over this in Sweden 2001, state owned liquor store. I asked how many they have.. Computer said 11 all around Sweden. I asked for all and after a couple of weeks I picked all in this shop close to the border, about 60 miles from my house...

After this one, only two left...

1954 Justino's verdelho
1978 Barbeito sercial

This is the last of my 1978 sercial. I'll have to get more. Unfortunately, RWC no longer has it in stock.

RWC Savannah Verdehlo...a good 'go to' Madeira. A good citric squirt/bitterness.

Broadbent 10 yo Malmsey. I need to get more soon.