Madeira? Madeira, Madeira ...? Isn't that an island in the Atlantic? And isn't the Portuguese football hero Cristiano Ronaldo from there? That's all true. But Madeira is also the protected name of a fortified wine that comes from the Atlantic island of Madeira, which belongs to Portugal. And that, of course, interests us gourmets the most!
Madeira wines are fortified with brandy (this is called "fortification"), which interrupts the fermentation. This way, the residual sugar does not fully ferment, and the wine retains its sweetness. The alcohol content is 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 heat builds up. This naturally caramelizes the wine. However, this method is now very rare, as it is very time-consuming and costly – after all, about 3% of the wine is lost during this process each year, and hardly anyone can afford that today. There are, of course, some exceptions. One of them is the company Barbeito, from which we source our Madeira.
Instead, today the so-called Estufagem method is predominantly used, in which the wine is stored in stainless steel tanks that are mechanically heated to up to 50°C. The Madeira is then allowed a three-month resting period, the so-called Estágio.
After that, the essentially finished Madeira is stored for at least another 2 years before it goes on sale. So you have to bring a good deal of patience with you ...
One Ricardo Diogo Vasconcelos de Freitas, among others, proves this. Yes, the Portuguese, always with their long names ... He now runs the Madeira company Barbeito in the third generation. We met him through our favorite Portuguese winemaker, Rita Marques Ferreira, who worked together with Barbeito on her white and Ruby Port, as both share the same philosophy and passion for high-quality wines and original experiments with them.
The company Barbeito was founded in 1946 by Mario Barbeito on the island of Madeira. On the one hand, he focused on vintage wines (as a financial cushion), but at the same time also produced simple Madeira wines.
Since the 1990s, Ricardo Diogo Freitas has been running the business and has developed the company into one of the top players in the industry. Today, Barbeito stands out from the competition, among other things, through its almost complete avoidance of adding caramel as a coloring and flavoring agent.
We met the extremely charming Ricardo in person 2 years ago at ProWein in Düsseldorf. That was also when he made the comment, half in jest and half in earnest, which briefly and concisely describes one of the special features of Madeira:
"Last week I drank a glass of very good Madeira from a bottle that my grandfather had 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 any problems, and it will not spoil. This is because the wine is already partially oxidized when it is bottled.
Madeira wine is essentially made from five white grape varieties: Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, Terrantez, and Malvasia. The red grape variety Tinta Negra Mole is also added to the red range.
Most Madeiras are blends – however, we mainly offer single-variety wines. With the aged wines, it should be noted that the youngest wine in the blend determines the age. This means that in a five-year-old Madeira, the youngest wine in the blend is at least 5 years old, and all the others are older. The same applies to 10-year-old, 20-year-old, etc.
In red Madeira wines, the color becomes lighter with the years of storage, and the robes shine from dark amber gold to light caramel. The white wines, on the other hand, darken with age.
Madeira is particularly suitable as an aperitif or digestif, or also as an ingredient for long drinks and cocktails, and depending on the sweetness and grape variety, it pairs well with many different foods: Dry light Sercial harmonizes with fish, medium-dry Verdelho pairs with ham and patties, medium-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.
In part because the classic pairings just mentioned (e.g. with blue cheese) are so reminiscent of Port wine, both drinks are often lumped together. But there is a very characteristic difference: unlike Port wine or Sherry, Madeira is distinguished by a very pleasant acidity that balances the sweetness and ensures that it does not leave quite as heavy and sticky a taste 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. 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 fully ripe, so with a higher acidity content.
On the island, there is a clear separation between cultivation and processing: The producers (mostly traditional family businesses) buy the grapes from the hundreds of small farmers on the island, whose plots are rarely larger than a typical backyard. The island offers very little suitable land for cultivation anyway, which is then planted with either grapes, bananas, or sugar cane. The very small 400-hectare wine-growing area is mainly located 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 handwork: from viticulture to harvesting.
This is how Madeira is and remains to this day a very special product that we absolutely want to recommend to you, so that you fall in love with it just as we have!
And who do you think we have the Madeira wine to thank? Allegedly chance and the English: British sailors at the end of a long voyage in the 17th century supposedly tasted the wine from one of the last barrels and discovered that the wine now tasted much better to them than when they set sail. It had become sweeter and had more character. They attributed both to the heat, which the barrels had been exposed to on the long journey from England to the East Indies. Since then, it became increasingly common to store the wine in the barrel at an elevated temperature for a longer period before bottling it. Is it true? We don't know for sure. But the story is still beautiful despite everything ...
We had a small selection of Madeiras in our range some time ago and were already able to inspire some customers with our enthusiasm. We have now refined the selection and currently offer a 3-year-old, four 5-year-old and four 10-year-old Madeiras, all of which are distinguished by an unmistakable taste. Enjoy browsing and tasting!
Our Madeira Collection
Last year we tasted 5-year-old raw milk Gouda with white Port wine, a Tawny Port and a medium-dry Madeira. All three harmonized wonderfully!
