For The Love Of Port

Seriously - forgive me
I know so very little about Madeira, having tried only three different bottles of it. I have yet to try one with any REAL age, but to me defense, it is nearly impossible to get here in Edmonton. Ah well, with the Virtual Tasting on the subject of Madeira, I decided to give this one a go...

Broadbent Madeira – 10 Year Malmsey

A rather dark caramel brown with a yellow rim. When tilted at an angle, the glass reveals a deep orange (not tawny, but bright orange) center and a light green tint in the predominantly yellow meniscus.

Upon opening, I found the nose rather dull and uninteresting. I did sense that as the hours went along, the nose started to reveal a little more complexity but I still find myself unable to pinpoint anything in particular.

Tasting immediately after opening resulted in a drier, acidity-dominated wine than I was expecting. Knowing that Malmsey is supposed to be the sweetest (and I assumed, richest) of the varieties of Madeira, I was surprised by how dry this was. The sweetness came late to the party, but did not deliver the intensity of residual sugar that I expected. Later on in the evening I picked out what I believed to be leather and what I imagine gasoline would taste like if one were silly enough to try sipping a glass of it.

This Madeira didn’t do wonders for me. We’ll see if there is any evolution over the next day or so, but I doubt it, I thought Madeira was not supposed to really evolve all that much (which is why it is so hearty.) It is, however, the perfect sipper for me this weekend as I am on call and can only indulge in a small glass or two a night, so I am not worried about this bottle remaining open and unfinished for a few nights.

As a side note, I shared a couple of glasses with my wife, who definitely prefers Tawny style Port over the ruby style. She enjoyed it a lot. I was kind of shocked as I expected her to turn up her nose at the high acidity. May be that I have found something that she will enjoy with me more often than the small glass she will share if I open a ruby Port! 

For $56Cdn, this was not a good deal. It is really hard to find Madeira in Edmonton though. The 10 year Henriques (Bual and Verdelho?) was $51 and I may have even enjoyed one of those better. I find this wine simplistic and uninteresting. I have way less experience with Madeira than Port however, so this could just be a very naïve and untrained palate…

Day 2
While the general impression I get on day 2 is a bit sweeter, and the nose perhaps a tad more expressive, there is little change. I do, however, realize that my palate may have been muted a tone or two over the past couple of days – I woke up this morning with the sniffles and that can affect my palate a great deal.

Day 3
Finishing up the last couple of glasses (who said Madeira could last for weeks after being opened??? Not in THIS house baby?!) Nothing new is noted on Day 3. A decent, but not great Madeira. One which I would certainly hesitate to spend the same amount of money on, but one, that several dollars cheaper, I could see becoming a staple at our house – the wife was very pleased with this new discovery. $56Cdn was ridiculous for it though. I’m betting this doesn’t go for over $35 in the US.


Todd

Todd,

I have some very good news for you. I've been working behind the scenes to get more Madeira into Edmonton and Alberta overall. I am serious about that. I have put a great producer (H.M. Borges) in touch with an importer and local retailers in your city to get the ball rolling. I've helped the importer choose which would fit the marketplace and hopefully before winter, the Madeira will be on the shelves. I am excited for this new development and have done so for the W. Coast of the USA as well. There are never enough sources of supply when it comes to Madeira in N. America. As much as I love RWC, they need a little competition. What I discovered during this exercise in "hurry up and wait" style patience, is how little Madeira came into ALL Provinces in Canada.


As to the Broadbent 10 year old Malmsey, it is not supersweet like some older Malmsey, because it is produced through Canteiro and there is no cheating by the producer to "sweeten" things with caramel or other additives. I am surprised you were not taken by the weight and richness of the Malmsey. Lots of acidity and the finish is very solid, imo. In the USA, this Madeira can be found for $35 and more typically closer to $40. It will never replace a great Vintage Madeira, the way an LBV is not meant to do so for VP, but keeping with that analogy ... you can get a sense of what the 10 y o Malmsey does try to achieve. It is an everyday simply tasty quaffing Madeira that can remain open for months with no issue. Perfect for restaurants. Your wife at least, has good taste ... as I'll chalk it up to you having a cold.

The good news is, you've found a dessert wine style that your wife enjoys and won't balk when you go to blow some money on the good stuff. I hope the Borges arrives there soon!

Roy,

That IS very good news. You are correct - there is VERY little supply here.

I guess the TN is based on a comparison to Blandy's 10 Year old Malmsey, which I tried while in Boston with Moses and LOVED. I found that one far more complex, sweet as well as well-rounded overall.

You are right, there was a bunch of acidity in this one, which I did not place as much emphasis on in the TN as I may have. In the end, the price being the main consideration, it is not one I would pick up if the Blandy's 10 year was available beside it! :)

Todd,

Thanks for your extended tasting notes. I really enjoyed them. I have been told of a recent sighting here in Edmonton of a couple of bottles of Broadbent 10 Year Old Malmsey for C$34.99. It's probably on sale.

I'm going to give it a try but haven't decided wether I should pick up one or two.

Cheers.....Mahmoud.

Mahmound

Grab two for sure. Thats a good price on a very nice Madeira. You'll be sorry if you only get one

P.S. Did I fail to mention the peer pressure here is a good thing for the consumption, but bad on the wallet

Mahmoud Ali wrote:Todd,

Thanks for your extended tasting notes. I really enjoyed them. I have been told of a recent sighting here in Edmonton of a couple of bottles of Broadbent 10 Year Old Malmsey for C$34.99. It's probably on sale.

I'm going to give it a try but haven't decided wether I should pick up one or two.

Cheers.....Mahmoud.

Mahmoud - good seeing you on here after meeting you last weekend! :)

If you can PM me the name of that store, and they have any left, I will go grab another one and give it some serious air before consuming ( a few days!) :)

Todd Pettinger said: "If you can PM me the name of that store, and they have any left, I will go grab another one and give it some serious air before consuming ( a few days!)"


Todd, I was at the store and picked up the last two bottles. Sorry, I took Andy's "peer pressure" advice.

But get this, they had a couple of bottles of Broadbent 1978 Terrantez reduced to C$220 and Broadbent 1964 Bual also reduced to C$270. Both are apparently at "cost price".

Cheers.......Mahmoud

Those are insane prices for fairly young Madeiras. I would ask the storekeeper to purchase another case and you guys split them (10 year old Broadbent Malmsey) as that is a better price than most see here in the USA, plus a very fine QPR sipper that I buy a case of each winter. It is one of my standard bearers while writing the newsletter. The other two are also good but seem to be very expensive compared to other bottlings of similar age from what I have heard my friend Richard mention (in Edmonton).

BTW, I met again with the folks in Edmonton who I helped set up as importers of H.M. Borges Madeira. They were trying to get a Calgary wine shop to split a palate with them so they could get the best freight rate and so far have not been able to make that happen. I really hope they continue to look for other partner's (wine shops) to buy in a few cases so they can bring in the Borges to your Province. Great stuff and a fabulous place to visit too.

Based on my comments and those posted before me on the 1978 Broadbent Terrantez, I opened a bottle with my brother (putting a hurting on the cellar) to check what it is up to. We had a glass each and the last sip it was finally getting to a more suitable temperature and beginning to gain some life. Tomorrow it will be in a much better place. My brother who has significant Madeira experience too, annointed it 95 points right out of the gate. He's typically stingy. It was a bit too austere to make that determination yet, at least that is what I felt. More to follow.

Blandy's may win on the 10 year, but Broadbent is my favorite over Blandy's in the 20 year. I think you'll see the complexity you're after in the 20 year Madeira.

Roy,

The '64 Bual and '78 Terrantez are on "sale" if you can believe it, apparently at cost price! What would you say is a good price for each of the Madeiras? I'm not sure it will do any good but it won't hurt to make an offer. The worst that can happen is that they'll say no.

Cheers......Mahmoud.

It's possible to buy 1976 Blandy's terrantez in the US for $150 (C$185) or less. The 1964 bual should be under $200 (C$246) I'm sure that people on FTLOP can do better.

Personally, I feel the Alberta government should provide madeira free of charge to its stalwart citizens during the winter months - October to May.

Mahmoud,

Doing a search last night on Google ... going in 5 or 6 pages yielded some surprises with the pricing. What part of the USA are you in? I believe I saw $220 as the low price.

Roy,

I'm in Edmonton. The '64 Broadbent Bual was "on sale" for C$270 and the '78 Broadbent Terrantez for C$220. (The Broadbent 10 Y.O. Malmsey was C$35 and I bought both bottles).

Which one did you see at the low price of US$220?

Cheers......Mahmoud