Madeira

History

Lying southwest off of Portugal, the island of Madeira has been populated and cultivated since the 15th century. Enjoying a temperate climate, the island proved immediately a good place for growing. Initially, the focus was on sugarcane as sugar fetched a high price, but as Brazil eventually proved a better place for sugar cultivation, the farmers switched to growing grapes. Being near to major Atlantic shipping routes, Madeira found it easy and profitable to sell its wine. The final and perhaps most important factor for the success of the wine trade was the accidental discovery that wine actually became better after sitting in the hold of the ships. The heat of the tropics and the constant agitation from the rolling sea softened the wine and gave it a rich caramel character. The longer a cask had been “afloat” the more valuable it became. Driving a good deal of this trade was the large American demand. Unfortunately in 1873 the scourge of Phylloxera found the island and nearly all the vines died. Today only about 20% of the original island vines remain.

The Land of Madeira

The temperate marine climate and warm winters are ideal for grape and all kinds of growing. Madeira has some of the highest sea cliffs in the world and farmers must scratch out their cultivation on manmade terraces. Much like in the port producing Douro Valley, these steep heights no doubt contribute to the strength and concentration of the mature grape, exposing the plants to intense sunlight but always having the cooling sea breeze to temper the effects of prolonged radiation.

Method of Production

How Madeira comes into being is certainly a singular process. Like all fortified wines, distilled alcohol is added early in the fermentation which acts as a brake upon the chemical process. Yeast feeds upon sugar and this fortification serves to retain a good amount of natural sweetness. Unfortunately, the days of sail are long over and so modern Madeira producers must replicate what happened in the dark, dank cargo holds of yesteryear. They do this by slowly heating the wine for a few months. One wonders if the results of circumnavigating the globe in a sailboat can be replicated this easily but it seems to work. Unlike any other sort of wine, Madeira is exposed to air and heat on purpose. Due to these practices the finished product is nearly indestructible. An open bottle can last for months and a sealed bottle can last for hundreds of years. Most if not all Madeira is bottled with the Solera method, in which many different vintages are blended together to create the desired result.

Styles of Madeira

Madeira is classified by sweetness and how old the finished blend is. The earliest year in the blend determines how old the bottle is considered, though components of the blend might be much older. The degree of sweetness is indicated by the name of the grape on the label, though presumably the grape named is simply the dominant ingredient and the others are used as well in the blend as well. Tinta Negra Mole is the most common grape in Madeira and is generally used in bulk wines and the cheaper 3 year old blends. The four classic grapes, in order from driest to sweetest, are Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey. Since Madeira can age so long and so effortlessly, producers don’t release the better vintage wines until they’re very old. More common are the ten and fifteen year releases and most good wine shops will have a few. It’s not uncommon, especially at wine auctions, to see bottles from the 19th century and older, and yes, they will cost quite a bit. But how many things are still good and enjoyable after 100 plus years?

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