For The Love Of Port

The first Madeira I've ever taste 5 years ago and my "go to" Madeira as there is not much of a choice at the SAQ.

The color is amber, close to a 30 years old tawny but ligther tone. First nose is somewhat vegetal with aspargus smell, then when you start to agitate the glass, nice spicy(all spice) marmelade smell begins to show, orange zest and raisin too. The mouth is sweet, again the all spice flavor shows up, reminds me of a pumpkin pie. Then they acidity shows up, zipping up the dryer finish with maramelade, orange and fresh almonds taste. The alcool shows a bit at the end but a very balance and pleasant wine! 16.5/20

It sells for 25$ can right now, it is still a good price even though I was 18$ 5 years ago.

I had many a 5 year old Madeira while on the Island last month. The quality increase by going to a 10 or 15 year old is huge and worth every penny. Having read your very legitimate complaints about the SAQ since this site was formed, I feel your pain with Port and Madeira and hopefully in time, there will be changes in the structure of the SAQ the way there was with the Province control of wine in Alberta years ago (2 decades). By the way, it is hard to get an idea what a 30 year old tawny color is as they are all over the board as you know and vary dramatically.