Roy Hersh wrote:Glenn is threatening to bring over two bottles of Madeira tonight. Yes, I did say Glenn. The other night he mentioned he had bought some bottles v. recently and they were Madeira. I nearly fell off my chair.
This coming Tuesday, I'm responsible my wine group's tasting. They've agreed to have a Verdelho tasting. They'll have a list of the bottles included, but the Madeira will be tasted blind.
My apartment has smelled amazing since decanting them. I will post the rankings.
Nov. 21, 2017 has come and gone. Here (finally) are the rankings:
There were 12 members in the group tasting and ranking the wines. I correctly identified all of the Madeiras, so I did know what I was tasting when I ranked them (although I couldn't be certain at the time). The bottles were revealed after everyone had scored the wines.
The two 1966 bottles had qualitative differences, and on a different night, in a different setting, I might have reversed the ranking. The more recent bottling was richer-- a more lush mouthfeel. The older bottling might have been more elegant, but it was thinner, lighter bodied.
Interesting that although my preference was for the bolder 1966, my #1 was perhaps the lightest Madeira in the bunch; it was the most ethereal, magical, impossible to pin down, but perfectly balanced.
A few things seemed to be factors as to how the Madeiras came across:
1. the ratio of time in the barrel to time in the bottle
2. the qualities of the grapes that went into making the wine
3. characteristics introduced by the producer's barrel and process
4. the interplay of the above factors
Last edited by Jim S. on Sun Dec 10, 2017 1:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'm curious to see how the two bottles of 1966V turn out. I think that D'Oliveira's wines, especially the dryish wines, gain significantly from bottle time.
The very first bottling of RWC Historic Series, "New Orleans". I bought 6 in total, (2 from RWC and 4 from a friend in NYC) but after the one opened on Friday night, just one bottle is left in my cellar.
This was exceptional and loved that it was on the dry side of the scale and the finish was spectacular too. The next bottling is going to be released next April. Be prepared! I have a feeling it is going to be far more expensive then what we paid for this inaugural release, which part of the money went to Katrina efforts.
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