An interesting experiment with an old Madeira wine bottle...

[Peter Reutter]

Thought this might be interesting:

8 months ago I openend a leaking bottle of Madeira wine:
1878
Henriques & Henriques Sercial Solera
Bottle:
Bottle of industrial make, leaking from the transport, only half full. The bottle had just a short stopper-cork and the wine was leaking through the foil cover. Little crusting, indicating that the bottle had been stored upright.
Color:
Bright mahogany with orange rim, a little cloudy when tasted first, directly after receiving the leaking bottle in its wet packing.
Nose:
Wonderful and very harmonious bouquet of burnt aromas with a sharp lemon overtone.
Palate:
Powerful acidity comes first, then lemon and after that a rounded richness. The acidity is mouthwatering, balanced by the richness that almost gives the impression of sweetness, but the wine is definitely dry. Long finish with bitter lemon and persisting acidity. A wonderful wine with cleansing acidity.
Footnote:
Tasted 12/2006. To bad half of it had been lost on the transport.

The bottle had some crusting and lots of sediment remained after decanting. Just out of pure curiosity I took a ten year old Sercial blend of Blandy's and filled it into the empty (except for the crusting and the sediment) 1878 bottle, recorked it and let it rest for almost 8 months. Last weekend the bottle was opened again and tasted "against" another bottle of the same 10 YO without the "special treatment".
The result was clear: all of the four people tasting the two wines blindly could identify the wine from the 1878 bottle and judged it as more complex, with longer finish and better overall quality.
As Juan Teixeira, the winemaker of VJH once said: “The secret to making a good Madeira wine is having good grapes to start with and then a good old cask - then you just sit and wait!” I did not know that this could also be true for an old bottle. So far my knowledge was that crusting and sediment do not carry a significant amount of aromas, but obviously the 10 YO extracted something from the residues and benefitted from it. And I thought it would be best to display the old bottles on the shelfs...
I think I will use the next good old Madeira wine bottle that comes along to "enhance" another 10YO blend, hoping that it works the same way.
Best
Peter

[Roy Hersh]

Interesting but no real surprise. I have had a bunch of old but inexpensive bottles from cellar where cheap old Powers Drury bottles were unearthed. The had not been touched since 1941, however they were inexpensive stuff to being with. But they were made better by continuing to sit undisturbed and even these cheapies tasted much better. So I can imagine a fine old Solera bottling being great.

What other wine besides Madeira could live through the experience of your bottle and be so darn good?

Thanks for recounting this story Peter!