A fortified wine that can be dry, sweet, or (more normally) in-between, and (uniquely) is deliberately heated during maturation. It hails from the rocky, volcanic Portuguese island of Madeira, after which it is named. And it was born in the felicitous discovery that fortified wines actually tasted better after long sea voyages round the tropics. For a time, Madeira was the height of fashion; the Founding Fathers of the United States drank it in 1776 to toast the Declaration of Independence. These days, it is underappreciated. Voyages around the tropics are a thing of the past; nowadays, Madeira is raised in warm warehouses that simulate the rapid maturation of a long, warm sea voyage. The combination of fortification and heating make Madeira uniquely long-lived; Uncorked has been privileged to taste some exquisitely good condition bottles from the 19th century.
Barbeito is by some way our favourite modern-era Madeira producer. As Madeira producers go, they are young; Barbeito was only founded in 1946, but has an extraordinary reputation built on the very high quality of the wines. Ricardo Diogo de Freitas took over the winemaking in 1993, and hasn't looked back. He harvests his grapes earlier than most, to preserve the acidity that can balance the sugar and alcohol in Madeira, keeping it fresh. His labour-intensive approach to warehousing involves keeping track of the hot spots and moving barrels around so they develop evenly.
Malvasia (sometimes called Malmsey) is one of the great Madeira grapes. Barbeito's 5-year-old is a lovely introduction to the style, nutty and rich, but still very vibrant. The 5-year-old Boal is more intense and exotic in style. Ricardo notes that there is not much Boal left on the island and his is extremely good quality, so he has discontinued the 5-year-old; when our stock is gone, it's gone! He is holding back his Boal fruit for bottlings like the complex, focussed single cask 264 A+D. Rainwater is a drier style of Madeira that is said to have been born when (you guessed it) rainwater got into a barrel of Madeira that had been left on a dockside. The top of the range is represented by two intense, exquisite 20-year-olds, which have achieved fantastic complexity and concentration from their long warehouse aging. /NT
