For The Love Of Port

1882 Vintage Verdelho – AO-SM (Bottled Madeira Wine Company, December 1984)
NOTE: The designation “AO-SM” denotes the original source of the Madeira. Some landowners in Madeira used to bottle wine under their initials, sometimes adding the village or the vineyard. AO-SM denotes that the wine was owned by Aníbal Oliveira, who was a vineyard owner in São Martinho. Originally this was part of the d’Oliveiras stocks.

Coffee colour with gold-green rim (the colour of Green Chartreuse).
On the nose dates and prunes with a surprising peanut-skin background.
Taste summarized by ‘Pink Lemonade’! Sweet, less persistent than the other Madeiras yet at the same time more complex, with some mushroom hints and preserved oranges in the finish. But big issue was relatively low alcohol which made the wine seem lighter on the palate. Drink now!

Served with
Butter Poached Nova Scotia Lobster & Applewood Smoked Pork Belly
Shaved Black Truffles
Diced Celeriac, Frisée and Chervil.

When you mentioned low alcohol Alan, did you mean the acidity? I am not sure that I understand.

Surprisingly the alcohol level in the wine seemed low - not what I would expect for a Madeira. Not sure it was even 18%! Certainly didn't seem so.
With that course we also had a table wine (Ridge, Santa Cruz Mountains, Chardonnay 2005) and the 'weight' of each wine was similar in the mouth.
Could it be that the Ridge affected our perceptions (it's certainly a great wine). But my notes were made before I tasted the Ridge!
Other possible explanation - if it was a long time in barrel (rather than carboy) could the alcohol have evapourated over time? Don't recall ever asking this question to anybody on my trips to madeira.

Alan

Dear Alan,
surprisingly the concentration of alcohol *rises* with time in cask. At VJH they explained to me that it had something to do with the hydrophil properties of the wood. I then read it up in Alex Liddell's "Madeira" and he tells the same.
May be the alscohol was just so well integrated...?
Best
Peter