Wooden cases

As most wines of higher quality do, Madeira wines used to be traded and shipped in wooden cases of 12 bottles. First this was for practical reasons since the long oversea transport raised the need for extra protection of the bottles. Second this also added to the high quality image of the wine. Initially those cases were made of wicker since durable wood was needed for building. Later the wood was imported and the production of wooden cases started.

 

Due to the somewhat shorter and more compact shape of the Madeira bottles, these boxes also were more compact in size then today's standard wooden wine case like used for Californian or French reds. The case usually featured the name of the producer, the name of the importing company and sometimes even some information about the wine inside the case. The cases were either branded or stenciled or both. The two following pictures show two cases of Power's and Barbeito, each to contain 12 bottles, additionally protected by a straw filling (The Power case even contained some original straw when I got it). The cases also show the name of the importer and the Power's case gives you the name of the wine (Sercial 1900).

 

Interestingly both cases feature some sort of sealing to prevent tampering with the cases contents. Whether this was really because of a realistic risk or more for image reasons I can not tell. The Power's case top bears the remains of a wax seal that covered a wire going around the case to secure it from being opened. Note the vertical impression of the case front just above the letter "R" made from the wire. Any attempt to open the case would have resulted in destruction of the seal or the wire. To protect the seal from damage during transport, the seal itself was covered with a round metal cover that had been hammered into the case top. The impression of this cover is still visible on the case top.

 

The Barbeito case features a different sealing. Every edge of the case had been secured with small driven metal seals. Any attempt to open the case would have destroyed some of these seals.

 

 

Cardboard Boxes

Unfortunately today most of the Madeira wine comes in cheap cardboard boxes. In my opinion this reduces the good image of Madeira wine. One might think, that if you buy a complete case of vintage Madeira, the extra cost for a wooden case would not really matter. But to my knowledge none of the existing producers uses wooden cases anymore. Due to stability reasons cardboard boxes contain 3 by 4 bottles of wine standing upright instead of lying like in the wooden cases. This also makes them more compact and easier to arrange for transport on a pallet.

 

Bottle containers

Today the only wood you will get is a wooden bottle container. Image being the main reason for this container, it also serves quite well as a protective cover during the flight home. Make sure that the wax cover of the bottle is wrapped in some extra paper or bubble wrap since the bottle tends to move a little inside the wooden container thereby damaging the wax cover. I always take my socks to cover the bottle top and stuff out the extra space in the bottle container. Also this means more extra space in the suitcase to pack in that extra bottle.

 

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Madeira Wine Labels

So why a chapter about Madeira wine labels?

Well, it has been a long time project of my to-do list. But be aware: we are not talking about paper labels or slip labels on bottles. This chapter is about wine labels made of a solid material like silver, china or mother of pearl, designed to label a decanter or a bottle filled with Madeira wine. The serving and displaying of this wine is part of the complete wine picture. And since Madeira wine decanters were very often labeled with such wine labels, I felt that this website dedicated to every aspect of Madeira wine would not be complete without a chapter on wine labels.
How little did I know when I started out on this subject. In the beginning I thought there was not much to write about wine labels in general and even less about Madeira wine labels. I had no idea how wrong I was. In the beginning of 2006 I had a conversation about this topic with George Gillham, Hon. Secretary of the Wine Label Circle of Great-Britain. I made a small hint at the subject of wine labels and I was answered back with the modern bible of wine label collecting, "Wine labels", edited by John Salter and published by the Antique Collectors Club in 2004. I had to learn that the subject of wine labels was very well able to fill hundreds of pages and so on this website I will only try to give the most basic information about this aspect of Madeira wine.
Everyone who wants to get into detail about wine labels and especially the collecting of wine labels is strongly advised to contact the Wine Label Circle at www.winelabelcircle.org. I have made extensive use of the above mentioned book "Wine labels" by John Salter, which is the modern reference book. Some of the following words are quoted directly from this book, but to keep legibility I decided against extensive use of quotation marks. Also I used an old copy of "The book of the wine label" by Norman Penzer which has been published by Home & Van Thal, London, in 1947. Finally I found much information about silver in general in "Silver" written by Joel Langford and published by Quintet Publishing, London, in 1991. I am very much indebted to George Gillham, Hon. Secretary of the Wine Label Circle and the Wine Label Circle in general. Many of the words are from George Gillham and this whole chapter of the website would not have come to life without his generous help.

Origin
Wine labels started in the United Kingdom just after 1730. The reason why this happened at this specific time is not known. There seems to be no change in drinking habits, glass production, wine making or any other part of the wine business. For some reason within a few years it became a fashion to mark the anonymous bottles and decanters with a wine label or bottle ticket. For various reasons the United Kingdom was the prime producer and market for wine labels. The aristocratic and upper class was well established, the drinking habits for rather heavy wines that needed to be decanted, the high quality of silver manufacturing and last but not least the naval connection to overseas served the growing need for wine labels. These labels were made from all kinds of materials and they were made in every period, especially from 1735 to 1860 (when it became legal to sell wine in single bottles in the UK) but also thereafter, thus demonstrating the enduring popularity of wines like Madeira in the UK.

MATERIALS

Silver

The United Kingdom had (and still has) very strict standards of silver manufacturing that were rigorously enforced. This has led to a continuing high quality not only in design but also in the production of silver in the U.K. Also and in contrast to other guilds, the "Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and Silversmiths" accepted women and refugees like the Huguenots into their ranks. This led to a continuing high quality of craftsmanship. Since the 13th century Sterling silver was the standard silver mixture, developed by German goldsmiths and consisting of 925 parts of silver and 75 parts of copper. From 1697 to 1720 the Britannia silver standard was declared by law. This standard had 95,8 percent silver which made it rather soft but easier to process than Sterling silver. Both standard are usually hallmarked. This so called "Hallmarking" has its origin in the London hall of the "Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and Silversmiths". Many English towns had an authority which examined the silver-ware and marked it with a combination of hallmarks that gave the silver standard, the year of examination, the city and other information. However this is not the place to explain the complete code of hallmarking. Most silver wine labels will be made from Sterling silver and will therefore bear the Sterling hallmark which is the lion passant guardant. Only very few silver wine labels are made from silver of the Britannia standard. This rather soft silver did not take hallmarking very well. The mark for this silver is the Britannia figure. Many but not all silver labels will also feature a makers mark of the producer. Labels from other silver materials like Old Sheffield Plate or electroplate are not hallmarked.

 

 

Old Sheffield Plate (OSP)

OSP or fused plate was invented by Thomas Boulsover in 1742 or 1743 but it took years until others, especially Josiah Hancock took the method to perfection. The basic principle of OSP is a copper base plate, enveloped in silver. There is OSP with just the front being silver. These are nicknamed copperbacks, due to the visible copper on the backside. OSP also comes fully enveloped with silver and can sometimes be hard to distinguish from solid silver or electroplate. Sometimes with deep engravings you can see the shine of the reddish copper in the cut of the engraving. Labels made of OSP were mainly produced in the die-stamping process.

 

Electroplate

Electroplated silver was patented by George Richards Elkington and Henry Elkington in 1840 and soon took the place of OSP. In the beginning electroplate was quite expensive, because prices for the nickel alloy used as a base were high and the process of galvanizing was not fully perfected. But in the next ten to twenty years that followed, the method was further developed and dropping prices for nickel contributed to the commercial success as well. Because of the then low production costs electroplate became very popular and broadened the market for silver goods considerably.

Other materials

Other materials for Madeira wine labels include metals like pewter, gold, brass, tin and nickel. Other non-metal materials used were enamels, china, pottery and mother of pearl. Even exotic materials like leather and coconut have been used to make Madeira wine labels.

Shapes

Madeira wine labels come in wide variety of shapes. The basic shapes are escutcheons, rectangles, scrolls, crescents and ovals. Other more exotic shapes include barrels, grapes, leafs, bugles, stars, single letters (usually M), anchors, crowns and armorials.

INSCRIPTIONS ON MADEIRA WINE LABELS

Madeira and spelling varieties

The majority of wine labels feature the name "Madeira". Of course there are different spellings in the countries that used to import Madeira wine. Quite logical the number of wine labels known from each country corresponds with the importance that Madeira wine had in the different European and oversea countries. Since the United States and Great-Britain were the most important markets for Madeira wine, most of the wine labels feature the English spelling of Madeira. But it is amazing how many different English spellings, even plain misspellings exist. In the wine label library in the book "Wine labels" there are labels with "MADAIRA", "MADEIRA", "MADEIRY", "MADERA", "MEADERA", "MEDEARY", "MEDEIRA", and misspellings like "MADERIA", "MADIERA" and "MEDERIA". After all silver-smiths seem to be only human too, or -more likely- the customer did not know better. In the other European countries some rare labels existed with "MADERAWIJN", "MADERE", "MADÈRE", "MÁDERE", "MADERE VIEUX", "MEDIRA", "VIN DE MADERE SEC", "

Grape varieties

Wine labels with a grape's name on it seem to be rarer. Not only was Madeira wine just known as a fortified and rather heavy drink to many of its consumers, who did not care much about a grape variety. Also the habit of using a grape's name started late in the history of Madeira wine. Quite often the wines were named after all sorts of things but the grape variety (please see "About bottle names" in the chapter "About old bottles"). According to the wine label library in the book "Wine labels" the following grape varieties are spelled on wine labels: "BOAL", "BOÁL", "BUAL", "CERCIAL", "CERCIAL MA", "CERCIAL MADEIRA", "MADEIRA SERCIAL"; "MAL. MADEIRA", "MALMSEY", "MALMSEY", MALMSEY DRY", "MALMSEY MADEIRA", "MALMSEY RICH", "MALMSLEY", "MALMSLY", "MALMSY", "MALMSY MADEIRA", "MALMSY RICH", "MALSMEY" (another misspelling), "MALVASIA", "MALVAGIA DE MADERE", "MALVASIA DI MADERA", "MALVEZIE", "MALVOISE MADEIRA", MALVOISEE", "MALVOISIE", "MALVOISIE de MADERE", "SERCHALL", "SERCHIALL", "SERCIAL", SERCIAL MADEIRA", "TERRANTEZ", "VERDEILHA", "VERDELHO" and "VIN DE MALVOISIE DE MADERE". Interestingly enough Malmsey (or Malvasia/Malvazia) gets the most labels, Bastardo gets none. Again this only reflects differences in importance of the different grape varieties as well as in the volume of production. Malmsey has always been the prime example for a Madeira wine, whereas a label for Bastardo has -according to George Gillham- never been reported of.

Dated vintages

In some rare cases labels even bear the date of specified vintage, like in "1815 EI MALMSEY" (EI probably being short for East India, meaning that the wine had made the journey to east India and back) , "1818 EI SERCIAL", "1822 MADEIRA", "MADEIRA 1818 FROM THE ISLAND", "MADEIRA 1820", "MADEIRA 1860 FROM THE ISLAND", "MADEIRA 1862 FROM THE ISLAND", "MADEIRA PRESIDENT USA COSSART GORDON BINNED 1896" (A rare label with a producer's name) and "MALMSEY RAYNE BINNED 1895".

Others

Many labels feature some additional information for the owner of the wine, some of which must remain a riddle for everyone but the owner. Also a lot of these names describe forged Madeiras from other places than the island of Madeira. The wine label library in "Wine labels" lists the following labels: "BRONTE MADEIRA", "BRONTI MADIERA" (Bronte or Bronti was a name for the Marsala wine from the Woodhouse firm. So this could be forged Madeira from Sicily.), "CAPE MADEIRA" (Probably forged Madeira from South Africa.), "EAST INDIA MADEIRA", "EI MADEIRA" (EI probably short for East India.), "484 MADEIRA", "GARACHICO" (The only Madeira label known to me, where the name of a village or vineyard is given. Garachico lies at the south cost, close to Estreito de Camara de Lobos. Some of the best grapes are grown here.), "GLORIA MUNDI" (The name of a well-known dry Madeira made by Leacock's.), "INA MADEIRA" (A misspelling of India?), "INDIA MADEIRA", "INDIAN MADEIRA", "MALUS: MADEIRA", "MEDERE, PAGLIARINO", "New: Madaira", "NO 1 MADEIRA", "NO 2 MADEIRA", "No.3 Madeira 159", "RED MADEIRA", "SPANISH MADEIRA" (Does this mean forged Spanish Madeira, or did the owner of the label confuse Portugal with Spain after one glass of Madeira to many?), and "W. I. MADEIRA" (This might be short for West Indies, meaning that the wine made a journey there and back).

 

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Conserving The Labels And Stencils Of Old Bottles

Wine lovers and collectors of old bottles face one big problem: How do you keep your precious bottles in top condition? When it comes to Madeira wine, the bottle should be stored upright in a medium-cool place with enough humidity. Of course the bottle should be recorked every thirty years or so, and the cork should be covered with sealing wax to minimize evaporation.
But often the cellars are to humid for the old labels. They start to rott or they come off. Many Madeira wine bottles have stencils, but these too can come off, especially in a very humid environment. So the need is to protect the stencils or the labels from humidity. In the beginning of 2005 I invested three days to try some different methods of treatment for the bottles and after two years in a humid cellar I checked the bottles again. The winner is: Acrylic resin spray varnish. Not only were the labels protected by a water repellent coating, it also worked very well with the stencils. Other coatings like polyurethane or water soluble acrylic paint attacked the stencils and led to disastrous results. I used the Lukas Spray Film in silk-brilliant and the two years went by without any noticable alteration of the labels and stencils.

Here is how you do it:

You cover the rest of the bottle from the spray. Use painting tape and thick paper for that, do not use plastic foil. Any surplus of acrylic resin will run down from the plastic foil and onto the label, thick paper will resorb it. Then you apply a first very thin spray coating from a distance of about one foot/35 centimeters away. Aim one foot/35 centimeters to the left side of the bottle, then start spraying and move the spray can in an even motion to the right side of the bottle and back again, and so on. It is important not to start spraying directly onto the label, since the first part of the spray has rather thick drops. Apply a first very thin layer for fixing and let it dry completely. The label (or the stencils) must not be soaked! About four or five thin layers of spray with enough drying time of 15 minutes in between should do the job. Apply the different layers in a crosswise fashion: first left-right, then top-bottom, then left-right again, and so on. The layers have to be thin, otherwise visible drops will develop.

 

Of course there remains some risk of colors in the label getting washed out by the acrylic resin, also the stencils can get dissolved. To reduce the risk, it is important to keep the layers thin!

After the acrylic resin has dried completely, the cover can be removed safely. If you keep your bottles in a temperature-controlled cellar, make sure they are not too cold, otherwise the acrylic resin will take too much time to dry. Also condensed water on the bottle will interfere with the spray.