For The Love Of Port

[Madeira @ Triomphe (NYC)]: The second flight came out with both guns blazing! The wine sported a rich mahogany core with slightly tan rim. A firework of scents assaults the taster: brown sugar, cloves, anise, figs, honey. Lusciously mouth-coating, with the wine invading all those hard to reach places on the palate. A seemingly endless and ever-changing finish that lingers with a soothing warmth. Forget about a great mouth-feel… I experienced a great esophagus-feel as the wine slowly entered my digestive system. ( 96 points )
1/20/2007

[Madeira @ Citizen Cake (San Francisco)]: Dark caramel color, with a bit of murky cloudiness. A bit of garnet/green on the rim. Big nose; wafting aromas of molasses, butterscotch, chocolate and citrus. I almost coughed as I took my first sip, not expecting the elevated intensity level. Great explosion on the palate, with just the tiniest sip totally enveloping and coating the palate. Off dry, but fantastic lemon/lime squirt acidity on the finish leaves the palate totally refreshed and asking for more. A very very slight bitterness detected, but I am nit-picking. This is great wine. ( 94 points)
3/13/2001

Wow, this mirrors my impression from a bottle we had very recently. Same score too.

Roy Hersh wrote:Wow, this mirrors my impression from a bottle we had very recently. Same score too.

Superb wine, isn't it...

I still remember when we tasted the D'Oliveira Boal from 1903 and 1908 side-by-side at one of your Madeira Road Shows... tough to choose between those two beauties.

By coincidence, also had these two wines side-by-side on Dec 9, 2009.
The 1903 was superb. Tasting notes similar, but perhaps a little more complexity for me in the 1903.
Absolutely spot-on what a Madeira should be - certainly the best 20th century madeira I had in 2009.
Less impressed with the 1908 - but I'll attach my comments to that note.