Madeira? Madeira, Madeira...? Isn't that an island in the Atlantic? And isn't that where Portuguese football hero Cristiano Ronaldo comes from? All of that is true. But Madeira is also the protected name of a liqueur wine that comes from the Portuguese Atlantic island of Madeira. And that, of course, is what interests us gourmets the most!
Madeira wines are fortified with brandy (a process called "spritzing"), which interrupts fermentation. This prevents the sugar content from fermenting completely, and the wine retains a corresponding sweetness. The alcohol content ranges between 17 and 22%.
In the classic production method, the so-called Canteiro method, the barrels containing the fortified wine are stored under the roof, where the heat builds up. This causes the wine to caramelize naturally. However, this method is now very rare, as it is very time-consuming and costly – this process results in approximately 3% of the wine being lost each year, and hardly anyone wants to afford that these days. There are, of course, a few exceptions. Among them is the company Barbeito, from whom we source our Madeira.
Instead, the so-called "Estufagem" method is predominantly used today, in which the wine is stored in stainless steel tanks that are mechanically heated to up to 50°C. The Madeira is then given a three-month rest period, known as "Estágio."
The finished Madeira then ages for at least another two years before it goes on sale. So you'll need a fair amount of patience...
This is demonstrated, among other things, by a certain Ricardo Diogo Vasconcelos de Freitas. Yes, the Portuguese always have their long names... He now leads the Madeira company Barbeito in the third generation. We met him through our favorite Portuguese winemaker, Rita Marques Ferreira, who collaborated with Barbeito on her white and ruby ports , as they both share the same philosophy and passion for high-quality wines and original experiments with them.
The Barbeito company was founded in 1946 by Mario Barbeito on the island of Madeira. While he focused on vintage wines (as a financial cushion), he also produced simple Madeira wines.
Ricardo Diogo Freitas has been at the helm since the 1990s and has developed the company into one of the industry's leading players. Today, Barbeito stands out from the competition, among other things, by almost completely eliminating the use of caramel as a color and flavor enhancer.
We met the incredibly likeable Ricardo personally two years ago at ProWein in Düsseldorf. That's when he said something half-joking, half-serious, that succinctly describes one of Madeira's special features:
"Last week I drank a glass of very good Madeira from a bottle my grandfather opened 25 years ago."
Unlike port wine (with the exception of tawny), an opened bottle of Madeira can be stored for a long time without spoiling. This is because the wine is already partially oxidized during bottling.
Madeira wine is primarily made from five white grape varieties: Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, Terrantez, and Malvasia. The red grape variety Tinta Negra Mole is also used in the red range.
Most Madeiras are blends – however, we primarily carry single-varietal wines. For wines with an age designation, it's important to note that the wine determining the age is the youngest in the cuvée. This means that for a five-year-old Madeira, the youngest wine in the blend is at least five years old, and all others are older. The same applies to 10-year-olds, 20-year-olds, etc.
Red Madeira wines become increasingly lighter in color over years of ageing, with robes ranging from dark amber gold to light caramel. White wines, on the other hand, darken with age.
Madeira is particularly suitable as an aperitif or digestif or as an ingredient in long drinks and cocktails, and goes well with many different dishes depending on the degree of sweetness and grape variety: dry, light Sercial harmonizes with fish , semi-dry Verdelho goes well with ham and pâté , semi-sweet Boal with soft cheeses such as Reblochon , Camembert or Coeur de Naufchâtel , with chocolate and pastries , sweet Malvasia with fruit, fruity desserts and strong cheeses, especially blue cheese such as Roquefort or Stilton.
Partly because the classic pairings mentioned above (e.g. with blue cheese) are so reminiscent of port wine, the two drinks are often pigeonholed. But there is one very characteristic difference: unlike port wine or sherry, Madeira is characterized by a very pleasant acidity that balances the sweetness and ensures that it doesn't remain quite as heavy and sticky in the mouth as its distant relatives. This acidity is generally due to the base wines used, which grow on volcanic soils with a low pH value. In the case of Barbeito's Madeiras, it is also due to the fact that the grapes are purchased and processed just before they are usually ripe, i.e. with a higher acidity.
On the island, there is a clear separation between cultivation and processing: The producers (mostly traditional family businesses) buy the grapes from the island's hundreds of small farmers, whose plots are rarely larger than a typical home garden. In any case, the island offers little suitable land for cultivation, which is then planted with either grapes, bananas, or sugar cane. The very small portion of 400 hectares of wine-growing area stretches mainly along the coast. The vineyards, some of which are built as pergolas, are located on very steep terrain, making mechanical cultivation almost impossible. Accordingly, almost everything in Madeira production is done by traditional handcraft: from viticulture to harvesting.
To this day, Madeira remains a very special product that we would like to recommend to you so that you can fall in love with it just as much as we did!
And who do you think we have to thank for Madeira wine? Supposedly, it's chance and the English: For example, British sailors in the 17th century, at the end of a long voyage, tasted one of the last casks of wine and discovered that the wine tasted much better than when they set sail. It had become sweeter and had a higher alcohol content. They attributed both to the heat the casks had been exposed to on the long journey from England to the East Indies. Since then, it has become increasingly common to store the wine in casks at elevated temperatures for extended periods before bottling it. Is this true? We don't know for sure. But the story is a nice one nonetheless...
We had a small selection of Madeiras in our range for a while now, and our enthusiasm has already captivated several customers. We've since refined the selection and now carry one 3-year-old, four 5-year-old, and four 10-year-old Madeiras , all distinguished by their distinctive flavors. Enjoy browsing and tasting!
Our Madeira Collection
Last year, we tasted 5-year-old raw milk Gouda with white port, a tawny port, and a semi-dry Madeira. All three paired wonderfully!
