TN: RWC Imperial Malmsey NV

[Daniel Fraley]

Ok gang, taking a stab at my first TN, go easy on me! Really enjoyed this one, if only the bottles were bigger...

T-cork style mostly disintegrated, removed balance with a waiters corkscrew without incident. Likely stored on its side? Deeply rich, soy, beef bouillon, salted caramel, furniture varnish on the nose. Left in the bottle uncorked for a week, stopping regularly to sniff alone like a crazy person...

First tasting at 7 days; lots of VA, very very closed, amazingly dry for a malvasia with an acid kick, couldn’t pull much of anything out on the palate. An angry old heated man in the glass… corked it again in case he escaped, and wreaked havoc on the rest of the dinner party

Second tasting 10 days later; chameleon transformation, a little VA but not distracting, densely rich, smooth, with hints of eucalyptus, lime, orange marmalade with a minute+ finish.

[Glenn E.]

This might be my favorite Madeira overall. Sure, there are others that are certainly better, but those are all $1,000 or more these days. This can compete with wines that are decades older, but at a fraction of the price.

This was only bottled once in 2008. RWC tried to arrange another bottling but the blend didn't match and wasn't as good, so Mannie cancelled it. So those few bottles that you can find are the only ones left.

I found 3 bottles on a Chicago-based website years ago and ordered them as fast as I could click. I had them shipped to my parents' house because we were going to go visit and I thought opening a bottle with them would be fun. The price had to have been a typo it was so low. Then after ordering, I saw all of the terrible reviews about the company not responding to emails or calls, not delivering, etc. I tried contacting them over many weeks but never heard back. The trip to visit my parents came and went. Eventually I gave up and just wrote it off.

Literally months later I got a call from my Dad... some box had arrived and it had wine in it and he couldn't figure out what it was. After a few minutes of discussion I realized that it was this order! IIRC this was a good 6 months after I'd ordered the wine.

So... I have 3 bottles remaining in my cellar for which I paid... <drum roll>... $40 each.

[Eric Ifune]

This is why long decants are never a bad idea for Madeira!