Madeira Wine Notes March 2017

A Pre-Sale Tasting of Madeira’s at Christie’s

I am very grateful to Edwin Vos, Head of Christie’s Wine Department in Amsterdam for inviting me to this enticing pre-sale tasting of old madeiras shipped from a number of private cellars on the island. This was an extraordinary tasting, followed by a rather extraordinary sale the next day with prices often fetching double or treble the estimates in the catalogue. As always the wines are written up in the order they were tasted and I have included background information where relevant.

Madeira Fest (from the 2000s back to the 1960s)

The following wines were sent to me in 20cl sample bottles by the Madeira Wine Company (MWC), producers of Blandy and Cossart Cordon madeiras (among others). They are all wines that have been bottled over the last two years and recently released for sale. I tasted them together over a weekend and re-tasted some of them two weeks later before writing up these notes, which are presented in the order they were tasted in. Where relevant I have included analytical information and retail prices in the UK.