For The Love Of Port

I recently tripped over a couple of partially identified Madeira in my cellar. These are
Malvazia 1907 JB Madeira
Malvazia 1892 JB Madeira

Both were 'Imported by Vieux Vins Inc,' but all other markings are generic (including the standard US Government Warning).

My recollection is that these might have been a Rare Wine Co offering - certainly there's no reference in my auction files.

Googling has been thwarted as the two letter "JB" is less than the minimum 3 letters.

My Rare Wine Company Files only go back to 2001 (older ones were discarded when I moved a couple of years back).

I'm guessing they were acquired 'round about 1999' as I have an old inventory listing that shows these as 'added in 1999' - but they might have sat in my cellar for a couple of years before being formally recorded.

Can anyone help me identify what "JB" indicates? (one of the tasting notes on this site speculates it's J. Barros - but I can't find any validation of this on any other bottles or the standard books)? And searching isn't helped by having a line of lower-end madeiras utilizing JB for John Blandy. Or for that matter, Justerini & Brooks; JB Spinola.

Will the real JB please stand up?

Hi Alan.

I do not have a direct answer, but can provide a possibly useful clue.

I own a couple of Barbeito bottles that have JB initials stenciled on them (1875 Sercial & 1950 Malvazia). Both bottles have Mannie's white import labels, one of them has an IVM paper strip and I would estimate the bottling time as 1990s. Perhaps they come from the same stock as yours.

Thanks Michael,
Neither of mine have the strip covering the cork, but both are consistent with a 90's bottling date.

The stencilling is also consistent with other Barbeito bottlings (without the JB identifier).

So the trail has shown more clues - but without definitive proof.

Alan

PS I re searched using Barbeito and found this review on Cellar Tracker for the 1907

"Very unusual. Purchased from Rare Wine Company several years ago, and if I remember correctly it was bottled by Barbeito from wine purchased from another family. Can't remember what the JB stands for though. Medium gold color. Lots of VA on opening, but throttling back a bit after 3 weeks. I would not have guessed Malvasia at all. This is extraordinarily dry. Somewhere between Boal and Verdelho level dry. Lemon peel, walnut skin, and a quinine-bitter finish that goes on and on to end in faintly smoky elderflower. Fortunately I like bitter, but if you don't this could be off putting."

I have two bottles of 1950 Barbeito JB moscatel. I won one bottle in the Spectrum wine auction in May 2016. I bought the second bottle from The Chicago Wine Company in December 2012. Both bottles have the old large-letter stencil, but no paper label and no bottling date.

I understand that the "JB" stands for Julio Barros. I have seen two or three other 1950's vintages mentioned online. I have seen the following Wine Spectator review of the 1950 JB moscatel. I assume that it's the same wine.

JULIO BARROS Moscatel Madeira 1950 96 $135
A powerful wine, brimming with personality. A burnt character dominates the aroma, with accents of mineral and treacle. Assertive on the palate, with burnt treacle and molasses notes that evolve into walnut and tea flavors and a tanginess that resonates for close to 60 seconds. Drink now. –BS
Issue Date: Apr 30, 1999

The 1950 Julio Barros moscatel is also mentioned on MadeiraWineGuide. Perhaps Peter Reutter has more information

Hi Gary,
The Julio Barros Moscatel (1950) is well known (at least documented) - but, to date I haven't found anything else from 'Julio' (except possibly these under discussion - except it would be a huge time (from 1892 or 1907) between these wines - is it possible that 'JB' would not have 'saved' any wines for 40+ years)?

Thanks for adding the 'Julio' but it seems a stretch (to me) to link the older ones with this Julio.

Digging through my notes from 2007 (I also had the 1907 in 2007) I apparently found a JB Malvasia (note the different spelling of the grape) tasted (among others) by Roy Hersh - his tasting note is in the files - but bizarrely didn't show up on my earlier search of the tasting notes.
Mysteriously, his photos of the bottles at that event are 'missing the JB' - so it's possible that it's just a mis-spelling.

Does anyone have any other examples of Barros wines being part of the Rare Wine Company discoveries? Apparently in 2007 I similarly couldn't determine from where I had acquired these.

All of my other Barros madeiras were from Barros & Sousa - and none are prior to the 1930's.