Madeira is another important Portuguese dessert wine. It is produced on the island of Madeira which lies 1000 K southwest of Lisbon. Colonized by the Portuguese in 1425, the island exported its first wines to the U.S. in 1658. It was remarked at the time that the wine that had spent a long sea voyage enduring the sweltering heat of the ships hold was superior in quality.
Madeira grapes
The best wines are produced from several noble varieties:
- Sercial (the driest wines produced from high-altitude vineyards)
- Verdelho (off-dry or medium dry)
- Bual or Boal (fairly sweet)
- Malvasia or Malmsey (the sweetest, grown on the lowest-altitude slopes
These are the names of the best grapes and also the names of the wine style. Two grapes important up to the end of the 19th century were Terrantez and Bastardo, but these are very rare today. There is also wine produced from Tinta Negra Mole. This is a cross between Pinot Noir and Grenache, and is usually used today where no other noble variety is listed on the label. A large proportion of Madeira’s vineyards are planted to hybrids, planted after phylloxera. These grapes are not allowed for quality wine production and are not used in Madeira.
Production of MadeiraThe wine is pressed and fermented in tanks. The fermentation is stopped by the addition of distilled neutral spirit. This is done about halfway through fermentation for Malmsey, but toward the end of fermentation for the other styles. To mimic the effect of the sea voyage, most Madeira is heated today. This can be done either by three methods: steam heat run directly through the wine, wine in cask stored in heated rooms, or casks of wine stored on racks in the upper stories of the wineries, or cantiero. It is this last method that is used to produce the best wines.
Styles of MadeiraIn previous centuries, Madeira was labeled with the market for which it was destined: London Market, Indian Market, and American Market, later called Rainwater. Today it is labeled with an age designation such as reserve or old (5 years), old reserve or very old (10 years), and extra reserve (15 years). Wines labeled finest, choice, selected or superior must use a description of style or a brand name and be aged a minimum of three years. Vintage Madeira must be labeled with the name of the grape and be aged a minimum of 20 years in cask and two in bottle.
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