Madeira Club: Terrantez back to 1832

At the latest meeting of the Madeira Club in Bristol we tasted Terrantez; a line-up that ranged from a 15-Year-Old bottled for a special occasion in 2002 to a wine dating back to 1832. There were some extraordinary wines, all showing well, with my scores ranging from a fairly modest 15 up to rather spectacular 19.5. The scores awarded by club members were averaged and, where relevant, I have mentioned this in my notes on the wines. The wines were tasted in the order set out below and I have indicated the top-scoring wines among the tasters present. I am grateful to John Barrett and Mimi Avery for organising the tasting and for donating two top-scoring wines.

1. Blandy’s 15 Year Old Terrantez (Bottled for the wedding of Richard & Katrina Mayson on 20th July 2002). ***/****

Deep mahogany with a green tinged rim; rich, honeyed and quite aromatic but a bit soupy and ill-defined on the nose and a touch rustic too, similarly rich and mellifluous on the palate, soft and ill-defined, a bit simple in this company but still rather good with a balanced finish. 16.5

2. Blandy 1978 Terrantez (bottled 2022) ****

Mid-deep amber/mahogany with a tinge of green; a rather strange, high toned, sweet and sour, toffee apple nose; fine and focused with a bitter-sweet citrus tang on the palate and a lovely thread of acidity to offset the richness mid-palate and a long, expressive linear finish. 18

3. D’Oliveira 1977 Terrantez (bottled 2006) ***

I have tasted this wine on a number of occasions (from different bottlings) and my notes are and scores are all fairly similar: deep mahogany with a thin green rim; distinctly rustic on the nose, high-toned, casky and a bit wild and leathery, though not without charm; rich and a bit soupy in style but characteristically bittersweet with honey cake (bolo de mel) richness mid-palate and a long but distinctly rustic finish. 15.5

4. Henriques & Henriques 1954 Terrantez ****/*****

Deep red-tinged mahogany and a green tinged rim; subdued on the nose (despite it being decanted 48 hours before the tasting) with singed autumnal fruit; lovely rich, tawny marmalade fruit with textural richness and depth offset by spicy/racy acidity and a long, tangy, bittersweet finish. I have tasted this wine on a number of occasions and it always shows well. This wine came in 5th place among the members the club. 18.5

5. Leacock 1954 Terrantez ***/****

Mid-deep amber-mahogany with a green tinged rim; an odd, rather soily nose (when was this decanted?), rather burnt too and not very attractive, could just be reductive; much better on the palate, quite soft and rich with toffeed fruit and a good spicy character, but surprisingly soft on the finish with that rather earthy-soily trait that I picked up on the nose. 16.5.

6. Cossart 1898 Terrantez *****

Mid-deep amber with a beautifully evocative, perfumed, floral aromas with honey cake (bolo de mel) and parkin-like richness both on the nose and palate, lovely textural depth offset by citrusy acidity, seamless, all the way though to a long, classic bittersweet finish. Fabulously complete. I gave this wine my top mark but it came 3rd among the members of the club. 19.5‍ ‍

7. Borges 1877 Terrantez ****/*****

Paler than most of the wines here, mid-amber with a reddish tinge; expressive, autumnal wood smoke on the nose with butterscotch richness, complex with candied peel combining with bitter spices, quite austere and angular in style but a really lovely old wine nonetheless. Placed 4th overall by the members of the Madeira club. 18.5

8. Blandy 1870 Terrantez *****

Beautiful deep amber to mahogany colour, a strangely burnt, almost hot nose that reminded me of electrical arcing but this wine tastes oh so fresh for its age, produced in between the two plagues of oidium and phylloxera, peachy fruit on the palate, seamless and finely poised, with dried apricots, orange peel and a touch of malt on the finish. Lovely wine despite the rather odd nose. Voted in first place by the tasters. 19

9. Oscar’s 1832 Terrantez ****

I had tasted this wine on a number of occasions after it was bottled to be sold at auction in London in 1989 (243 bottles in six lots), my notes are fairly consistent but somehow this bottle had less high-toned volatility and more richness and than I recall with its nearly opaque mahogany colour and its super-concentrated and rather soupy style, hinting at molasses with black olive bitterness and Chinese spices, intensely rich but not cloying and altogether a rather fascinating wine if atypical of Terrantez. This wine was voted 2nd by the tasters present. 18