styles of madeira

[mwaters]

I a few bottles of Madeira in my modest cellar but have not opened one yet (I must bought off the tns listed).

Can someone please list the different styles of Madeira? ie sweet/dry, grapes used etc.

I know I have a few 375s of Leacocks Rainwater, a 500ml of H&Hs 95 Maderia and few others I do not recall.

Thanks.

[Jason Brandt Lewis]

There are two "styles" of Madeira: "standard" and "noble."

In that methodology, the "standard" blends are generally produced from Tinta Negra Mole grapes, and fall under generalized names such as Dry, Rich, Medium Dry, etc. This group includes Rainwater.

The "noble" wines are those produced from the so-called "noble grapes." The major four are (in order from dry to sweet): Sercial, Verdelho, Bual (aka Boal) and Malmsey (aka Malvasia). There are two other noble varieties one rarely sees, but they do exist: Terrantez and Bastardo. And one can also find Moscatel (aka Muscat).

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Jason

[mwaters]

JBL, this is great. I prefer sweeter styled fortified/dessert wines. So now I can focus on Bual and Malmsey.

I assume Rich in the standard class is a sweeter style?

Cheers,

[Jason Brandt Lewis]

Yes, but in the grand scheme of things, it's rather boring.

Keep in mind that Muscat is also very sweet, Terrantez and Bastardo less so.

Also, you can have Madeiras with no age statement; Madieras labeled as "5 Year Old," "10 Year Old," "15 Year Old"; and Madeiras labeled with a Vintage date.

Cheers,
Jason