Madeira - a fortified wine

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Madeira have been suggested for use as a desert wine, although some may be prefered as apperatifs, or with fruit and cheese. They are also often used in cooking to give a firmer flavour to the food.

There are four main types of Madeira, traditionally named after the grapes they are made from.

Sercial

The Sercial grape has a number of strains, which share the characteristics of late ripening and high acidity. They grow at the highest altitudes and are harvested late, in September. Its highly acid taste apparently earned the grapes the nickname ""The dog choker"

Sercial is the dryest variety of Madeira and takes the longest to mature. Older sercials are richer and much prefered to recent vintages.

Verdelho

Verdelho Grapes are small, hard skinned and golden. As well as beuing used for Madeira, some acres have been planted in Australia which produce a dry table wine. It is vulnerable to frost and if harvested late may produce too much alcohol.

Verdelho is a medium dry madeira. Many tasters describe it as "smoky", a tendency which apparently increases with age.

Bual

Bual has a number of sub-variaties of grape that use the name. The grapes have a high acidity which whe turned into Madeira, produces a rich sweet drink.

Sometimes spelled Boal, Bual is a sweet or medium sweet madeira. Buals from the 1800's have been drunk, still in good condition.

Malmsey

Malmsey was the first of the noble varieties, planted in the 16th century. It is grown in lower-lying vinyards, harvested between August and October.

Also called Malvoisia, Malmsey is the sweetest of the madeiras and also the most popular.

More about Madeira
A useful introductory page about madeira can be found online at the Symington Family Estates

Tinta Negra Mole

Not strictly a madeira grape, this needs to be mentioned in context, as it is used in madeira production. Considered a good grape, not a great one, it is a pale coloured red grape. This variety was used by a number of producers to allow them to produce more madeira than they otherwise could.

For example, a Verdelho madeira may not be made entirely of that grape. Lesser grapes, like Tinta Negra Mole may be used to supplement the Verdelho in it. EU-regulations mean that any wine labelled by a grape's name has to contain at least 85% of that grape, the remaining 15% may be the lesser variety. Those labelled -style however, which may contain a majority of the lesser grape. This change in the law resulted in a few complications in naming, as some producers had created blends of different types of grape to give unique flavours.

Wine Bottle, Grapes and Walnuts
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As an example of a Madeira hit by the change in EU law, Blandy's "Duke of Clarence" is another madeira that uses a blend with Tinta Negra Mole. Originally sold as a malmsey, the drink was so popular that rather than change the drink, the producers changed the name and kept the grape blend.

This decision has lead to a range of Blandy madeiras called "Duke of...", ranging from the Duke of Sussex Dry Madeira, Duke of Cumberland Medium Rich and Duke of Clarence Full Rich.

These can be mapped roughly against the existing types, with Duke of Clarence corresponding to Malmsey, Sussex to Sercial and Cumberland to Bual.

Ironically, giving how tricky vintages can be to find in the US, in the UK and Europe Madeira is comparatively easy to get hold of. Even one of the main supermarkets stocks a range of the lesser vintages (through to some quite expensive ones). For a range of budget madeira in Europe you can even buy from Amazon.co.uk:

View Madeira on Amazon.co.uk

There are also specialist dealers who can locate distinct vintages for customers. One such is Berry Bros and Rudd in the UK.

Berry Bros

& Rudd

Holders of two royal crests, BBR are a specialist vintners in London, Britain. They have an exceptionally good range, from the affordable to the rare and expensive, and they deliver internationally.
See their Madeira Page