TN: Manuel Eugenio Fernandes More Than 40 Years Old Verdelho Madeira
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:51 am
I tasted this at Roy's house. I believe it is only my second Madiera, but it's certainly my first old Madiera. This bottle was 22% alcohol by volume, which Roy told me is unusual.
The color can be described no other way than brown. Fairly dark in the center fading to tan or khaki and then finally reaching yellow around the rim. Roy and I looked for a green tinge, but couldn't see one. There's a very slight red tint to the whole thing, but it's almost not there. Were it not for the smell, you could have served it in a tall glass and called it Iced Tea and I would have believed you. The liquid was also cloudy, and stayed that way even when I warmed the glass in my palm.
The nose is dominated by what Roy tells me is VA. I tried describing it as nail polish, but that wasn't quite right. Toward the end of the glass I settled on pipe tobacco and that seemed to fit. There's also butterscotch and a very faint, very fleeting hit of vanilla.
The flavor is big, powerful, and extremely complex. My first reaction was "meaty" which we then refined to beef bouillon. It's also spicy in a hot pepper kind of way, with maybe a faint whiff of black pepper as well. I suspect that the spiciness comes from the alcohol, but it wasn't identifiable as such. There's a lot of heat and a lingering warmth in the throat. I also picked up some lime, some salt, and something else citrusy like a sour tangerine. Every taste seemed to bring some new flavor to the fore, but many were so fleeting that I couldn't actually identify them.
The finish was equally complex and kept making me think of dinner in Portugal. I noted a distinct green pepper flavor at one point, and then a little bit later picked out another pepper flavor that reminded me of an Anaheim. There were even more flavors in the finish, which made each sip different because they were constantly changing.
Roy tells me that this Madiera is near the middle but definitely on the dry side of the spectrum, so it's probably not one that I would buy myself as I generally prefer sweeter wines. A very complex drink, though!
The color can be described no other way than brown. Fairly dark in the center fading to tan or khaki and then finally reaching yellow around the rim. Roy and I looked for a green tinge, but couldn't see one. There's a very slight red tint to the whole thing, but it's almost not there. Were it not for the smell, you could have served it in a tall glass and called it Iced Tea and I would have believed you. The liquid was also cloudy, and stayed that way even when I warmed the glass in my palm.
The nose is dominated by what Roy tells me is VA. I tried describing it as nail polish, but that wasn't quite right. Toward the end of the glass I settled on pipe tobacco and that seemed to fit. There's also butterscotch and a very faint, very fleeting hit of vanilla.
The flavor is big, powerful, and extremely complex. My first reaction was "meaty" which we then refined to beef bouillon. It's also spicy in a hot pepper kind of way, with maybe a faint whiff of black pepper as well. I suspect that the spiciness comes from the alcohol, but it wasn't identifiable as such. There's a lot of heat and a lingering warmth in the throat. I also picked up some lime, some salt, and something else citrusy like a sour tangerine. Every taste seemed to bring some new flavor to the fore, but many were so fleeting that I couldn't actually identify them.
The finish was equally complex and kept making me think of dinner in Portugal. I noted a distinct green pepper flavor at one point, and then a little bit later picked out another pepper flavor that reminded me of an Anaheim. There were even more flavors in the finish, which made each sip different because they were constantly changing.
Roy tells me that this Madiera is near the middle but definitely on the dry side of the spectrum, so it's probably not one that I would buy myself as I generally prefer sweeter wines. A very complex drink, though!
