For The Love Of Port

Hello all,
I have been reading the madeirawineguide.com website for some time now, this is my first post on this forum.

I will be turning 40 in a few weeks and I figured the perfect gift will be a 1968 bottle of Madeira. My family is originally from Madeira and I regularly drink Madeiras of the 3/5/10 and 15 year varieties. This will be my first vintage, and consequently, non-blended Madeira (although I believe the 15yr is a Sercial).

I have been able to locate a D'Oliveira 1968 Bual from a nearby wine shop (so my wife can 'surprise' me with it of course). I have read a lot about the serving of much older Madeiras but what should be done with a 40 year old vintage?

Will it still need to be decanted?
If so, what is the recommended method? (i.e. pour into glass decanter for 48 hours and then pour back into the bottle when ready)
Should the bottle be rinsed out while the wine is in the decanter?
What is the normal tasting procedure (again, first time with a vintage wine)?


Also, what is the appropriate glass? I see flute-like glasses from Madeira for sale sometimes but some of the Madeiran restaurants in my area always serve it in a large snifter (which I have adopted at home).

Thanks in advance

Rich

I am hardly a Madeira expert, but have been lucky to try several old vintages back to 1798. We have always uncorked and drank right from the bottle without decanting... There's plenty of Madeira decanters, so this can be done, but don't know how much of an benefit it will be in your circumstance. Assuming the bottle will be killed in one night, it wouldn't hurt to decant since the bottle is not that old.

I am curious from the Madeira experts as well.

I would definitely decant this. Probably a day before. D'Oliveria often supplies a T-type cork stopper to use after the bottle has been opened. If your bottle has one, I'd decant, pour back into the bottle and use the stopper. Then, if you have any leftovers, it's easy to keep it in the original bottle. As far as glasses, I like port type glasses. IANO glasses also work well.

This day is swiftly approaching. I should have this bottle in my hands by Thursday of this week. That should give me a good 48 hours to decant it.

What about the glasses?
What is the appropriate glass for this? Again, leaning more towards the traditional than the enthusiast.

I usually use a fairly small glass (e.g. ISO or even riesling) - but that's because we rarely serve more than a couple of ounces each. I usually enjoy in sips - it's not a gulping wine - so I serve a similar amount to, say, a sherry. Doesn't make too much sense to put a small amount in a very large glass.
However, if you want to make an 'event' of it a larger glass may be showier!
I've also used a port glass - but again a relatively small one.

Decanting the wine 24 hours before drinking it should be enough, and I like the idea of putting the wine back into the bottle to see at the first glance what vintage and what type of wine it is. Usually D'Oliveiras state the date of bottling on a small cardboard label attached to the bottle, and as long as the time in bottle does not exceed 10 years, 24 hours will be fine. Pour the wine into a decanter and give it a couple of hours before pouring it back into the bottle.
The glass should be a small tulip like glass, a standard glass for port or sherry will do.
The 1968 Boal from D'Oliveiras is the perfect wine to start into Madeira vintage wines: quite complex and interesting and well done too, but not scaring off with to much acidity - a good choice!
Happy birthday and enjoy this wonderful wine that has always been one of my favourites amongst the younger vintage Madeiras.
And after your celebration, why not post a tasting note here in the forum?

Hi Rich,

Nice to see another person whose family is from Madeira around here! My family is from Sao Vicente in the North... where is yours?

As far as decanting, it mostly depends on how long the wine was in bottle. The longer it's been in bottle, the longer it will need decanting (I know, very vauge). In general, I always decant Madeira at least a day in advance. It may or may not help... but it NEVER hurts.

As far as your bottle goes, a day should be fine. It's a VERY nice Madeira for the price.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm really looking forward to this and I think I'm getting a pretty good price as well.

Peter - Are there guidelines for tasting notes? Anything I should familiarize myself beforehand?

Marco - Same here! My family is from Funchal. They emigrated to SE Massachusetts in the early 1900's. I just found out a couple of years ago they actually used to make Madeira wine over here at their grocery store! Of all the traditions to not passed down...

Rich Gomes wrote: Marco - Same here! My family is from Funchal. They emigrated to SE Massachusetts in the early 1900's. I just found out a couple of years ago they actually used to make Madeira wine over here at their grocery store! Of all the traditions to not passed down...

I normally associate Gomes with Cape Verde decent. Did you go to the Madeira festival this summer? We have Madeira and Port tasting in Boston all the time. Just give me a PM and we can figure out theme if you would like to participate.

Me and my family go to the Madeira feast every year. I would love to go to local tasting, where do you normally have them?

Rich Gomes wrote:Me and my family go to the Madeira feast every year. I would love to go to local tasting, where do you normally have them?

We have them in either Copley or Brighton. Send me a PM with what you have you'd like to base a tasting on and we can see what we have to complement it. We have more port than Madeira, but should be able to accomodate either.

Rich Gomes wrote:Peter - Are there guidelines for tasting notes? Anything I should familiarize myself beforehand?

IMHO i think the most fun in reading somebody elses TNs is the personal perspectice, so no guidelines as far as I am concerned :) And even though I like to read an elaborated TN from a pro, a "raw" TN from a beginner can be even more fun!
What helps me a lot is to to write down my first impressions and come back to the same wine a day later for a second taste and see if I still agree with what I wrote. Unfortunately the time at tastings is somethimes limited, even though three hours passed before a second taste can make a huge difference - and of course some wines change a lot in the glass, so it makes sense to go for a second taste.

In my opinion, (expressed here many times) the 1968 D'Oliveiras Bual is the finest young bottling of vintage Madeira on the market. At $125 it still represents excellent value. For those that were fortunate to "buy in" when prices were $69 or even $99 this was a steal.