A Modern-day Madeira Party: with wines back to the 1860s.
Throughout the nineteenth century, Madeira was one of the most prestigious wines in North America. From Boston to New Orleans, Madeira parties were regularly held by collectors to share their knowledge and show off their wines. These parties mostly took place in the late afternoon with eight to a dozen people (and it seems they were all men) sharing a number of wines over a period of three or four hours.
We hosted this party with eight of us, close friends (mixed company including a senior Master of Wine), sampling the wines over a long lunch. All the wines were served in pairs, accompanied by food appropriate to the grape variety and style, with an eye on tradition. We had a break from fortified wine with the fish course, complemented by two of the new generation of unfortified wines being produced on the island by Ricardo Diogo Freitas of Barbeito.
All the Madeira wines came from my own cellar and I had tasted a number before but some (in one case just a single bottle) were entirely new to me. Where I have tased a wine previously, this is referred to in my notes.
You can read more about the tradition of the Madeira Party in my book, Madeira, The Islands and their Wines, or in a fascinating pamphlet called A Century Past by American Madeira expert, Emanuel Berk. There is a short story called A Madeira Party by physician and author S. Weir Mitchell, written in 1895, which describes a gathering of gentlemen in Philadelphia indulging in Madeira wine.
The wines below are listed in the order they were sampled along with accompanying dishes, served over a long lunch. With the exception of the Sercial Solera 1860, all the wines were decanted 48 hours before serving. Madeira is notorious for using poor, short corks but all were in good order apart from the 40-Year-Old Malvasia from Borges.
1. Sercial: accompanied by mixed sushi and sashimi from Roku, Kelham Island, Sheffield
Cossart Gordon 1905 Sercial *****
A single bottle, probably from the 1950s or 1960s judging by the back label, acquired I think from the late Patrick Grubb MW, who specialised in these old wines: lovely pale orange-amber with a feint green tinge to the rim; wonderful aromas, this sings from the glass with lifted lime and lemon marmalade and just a hint of cask and camphor which dissipated on decanting; lithe and rapier sharp with a well-defined citrus tang, a hint or candied peel leading to a long finish seems dry and austere at first but ends gently. This is classic Sercial of the highest order and a pleasure to drink. 19.5
Cossart Gordon, 1860 Solera Sercial ****/*****
Last tasted back in 1997 with the late James Symington and my notes are pretty consistent: mid-amber with a fine, pale green tinged rim; high toned and slightly funky (it was decanted shortly before lunch) with a gently scented character, leafy green aromas with an autumnal backdrop and a hint of wood smoke; delicate, dry yet spicy with piercing acidity, linear with a long, fine, astringent finish, still lithe if just a little lean, especially in comparison with the previous wine. 18.
2. Verdelho and Terrantez: accompanied by chicken consommé flavoured with Madeira.
Blandy 1982 Verdelho ****/*****
This wine really impressed me when it was first bottled and released in 2023 and continues to do so. As a relative youngster, it was perhaps a bit over-shadowed in such distinguished and venerable company but it is reassuring that wines of this calibre are still being bottled on Madeira: mid-deep amber to mahogany (quite deep for a Verdelho) with a green tinge to the rim; rich, dried fig and spice on the nose, a little sullen initially but it opened up beautifully to reveal a fine lifted character; lovely rich, dried fruit (apricot and fig) with butterscotch and a hint of malt, the inherent richness offset by fine acidity, all coming together on the long finish that seems just off-dry. 18.5
Terrantrez (sic). 1886/7 *****
A wine with an impeccable pedigree, bottled in 1900, recorked in 1953, rebottled and recorked in 1960, again in 1980 and ‘recorked by FMA’ (Francisco Albuquerque of the Madeira Wine Company) in November 2021. It is worth noting that this wine has spent the majority of its life in glass rather than in cask. From the label, this wine almost certainly came from the Grabham Collection (see my book for more information): beautifully iridescent pale orange amber with a pale olive-green rim; lifted in the most ethereal way on the nose, exotic fruit with oriental spice and a hint of camphor and a slight polished, boxy character, delicate and lithe with a linear profile, off dry and bitter-sweet (but more bitter than sweet) with pithy, slightly candied orange peel and a long slightly exotic yet dry spicy finish that goes on and on yet fills the palate. In perfect condition: Wow! Wow! Wow! 20
3. DOC Madeirense (unfortified wines): accompanied by Halibut steaks, grilled with butter and capers.
Verdelho Branco 2020 (Barbeito) **
Grapes from Raposeira on the southside of the island and São Vicente and Seixal the north: gently honeyed with a touch of gun flint character on the nose but already showing its age on the palate despite the wine’s inherent steely acidity and salinity. 11.5% abv. 14
Sercial da Laje, 2019 (Barbeito) ****
Just one 350 litre barrel of this wine from a vineyard 20 metres above the sea at São Vicente, with 4 days maceration on the skins lending this wine a pale orange hue with the leafy herbaceous character of Sercial still evident on the nose and the palate, lithe and linear, just 11.5% abv with a touch of salinity and retaining a grassy finish. 17
4. Bual/Boal: accompanied by chicken curry, a tradition from the officer’s mess in colonial India.
Barbeito, Boal Colheita, Cask 81a 1995 ****
Pale gold with a vaguely reddish glint; lovely savoury-mealy aromas, a hob-nob biscuit with raisins and a hint of milk chocolate; quite soft and delicate in style with mellow sultana sweetness mid-palate, gentle acidity and that slight mealy character coming back on the finish. A lovely young wine that acted as chutney to the chicken curry! 17.5
Blandy, Bual 1920 (magnum) *****
Bottled in 2006 for the 2011 bicentenary of Blandy’s, magnum no. 51 out of a total of 300. These must have been quite a quantity of this wine as I have tasted it from a number of different bottlings over the years and the last of the wine was bottled from cask in 2020 (though there is more still in demijohns): mid-deep amber with a lovely straw-yellow to pale green rim; intense and profound on the nose, lightly caramelised dried fruit compote and tawny marmalade, gently lifted with more than a hint of spice and chutney; similarly rich on the palate with wonderful spicy, figgy intensity mid-palate offset by a streak of acidity and a lovely, long but slightly astringent finish. 19
5. Malvasia / Malmsey: accompanied by Tarte de Amêndoa (Portuguese Almond Tart) and Basque Cheese cake
Borges Malvasia Over 40 Years Old (bottled to celebrate 500 Years of the City of Funchal in 2008) ****
A poor cork which crumbled on opening and a wine with a substantial amount of sludgy sediment so a slightly cloudy amber-mahogany; gently rich and raisiny on the nose and on the palate initially, with lovely, almost apricot-like freshness mid-palate, toffee apple character leading to a long, fresh finish. 17.5
Malmsey 1915 *****
I can’t recall where this wine came from but the name and bottle suggests an English shipper: not that deep for a Malmsey, mid-deep amber with a pale olive-green rim; open and gently lifted on the nose with a subtle floral character, honeysuckle; soft and beautifully mellifluous in texture with a gently honeyed richness offset by fresh acidity and a hint of spice, leading on to a long, delicate and wonderfully fresh finish with a touch of astringency. Very good indeed. 19
