Madeira COPY Flashcards
Madeira
Number of miles from the coast of Portugal
625 miles
torna viagem
“round trip”
- Reference to the lengthy ocean voyages through the tropics, where wines would be subjected to repeated heating and cooling
What is the only other inhabited isle in the Madeira archipelago?
Porto Santo
- Where Madeira DOP wines may also be produced
poios
basalt stone terraces
- Ring the island’s perimeter like steps on the nearly vertical mountainside
Madeira
Most common training method
pergola system
- Combats the danger of fungal disease in the damp subtropical environment
Latadas (Madeira)
low trellises in a pergola system
levadas
canals
- Makes agriculture possible with the abundant rainfall on the higher mountainous peaks
Madeira
Size of average grower’s estate
0.3 ha
- Often separated among several plots
- Thus, production is concentrated in the hands of several large companies
Who regulates harvesting and production methods of Madeira wines?
Wine, Embroidery and Handicraft Institute of Madeira (IVBAM)
Madeira
Town where most production companies are located
Funchal
- Madeira’s capital
Number of production companies registered with the IVBAM
8
- Faria & Filhos 1949
- H.M. Borges 1877
- Henriques & Henriques 1850
- Madeira Vintners (Cooperativa Agricola do Funchal) 2013
- Madeira Wine Company 1913 as the Madeira Wine Association, the MWC formally changed its title in 1981
- Pereira D’Oliveira 1850 as a partidista
- Vinhos Barbeito 1946
- Vinhos Justino Henriques 1870
Number of production companies that actively export wine
6
Largest company in Madeira today
Vinhos Justino Henriques
- Responsible for half of the island’s exports
2nd largest company in Madeira
The Madeira Wine Company
Year the Madeira Wine Company formed
1913
- As an association of exporters and producers
- Blandy’s
- Cossart Gordon
- Leacock’s
- Miles
Producer of Blandy’s and Cossart Gordon
The Madeira Wine Company
Largest independent producer
Henriques & Henriques
The only company that owns a significant amount of vineyards
Henriques & Henriques
Where are shipping companies usually based?
London
Example of a Madeira trader
Broadbent Selections
- A company founded by Bartholomew Broadbent (son of Michael) that selects wines produced by Justino’s
partidistas
partidistas - store wine and sell it at maturity to other traders for a profit, similar to almacenistas of the Sherry trade
Madeira
Principal noble white grapes of today
- Sercial (Esgana Cão)
- Verdelho (Gouveio)
- Boal (Bual, Malvasia Fina)
- Malmsey (originally Malvasia Candida, now more commonly Malvasia Branca de São Jorge)
Madeira
Most common grape used if no variety is stated on the label
Tinta Negra
Island’s workhorse grape
Tinta Negra
- Formerly Tinta Negra Mole
- Accounts for nearly 85% of total production
T/F: The DOP prohibits using the name of the Tinta Negra variety on labels.
True
What % of the variety is required if labeled by vintage?
100%
Three American hybrid grapes that were introduced to Madeira during the phylloxera crisis
- Cunningham
- Jacquet
- Isabella
Two great noble varieties of the 19th century that were not replanted
- red Bastardo
- white Terrantez
Liters of Bastardo produced in 2010
4.5 liters
Prior to phylloxera of the 1870s, as many as 3,000 ha of vines existed on the island of Madeira; how many ha are planted today?
just under 500 ha
Varietal wines from sweetest to driest
- Malvasia
- Boal
- Verdelho
- Sercial (piercingly acidic dry wine that can often require decades to soften)
2 noble white varietals harvested last
Sercial and Verdelho
2 noble white varietals separated from their skins prior to fermentation
Sercial and Verdelho
estufa
- Stainless steel vat
- Warms wine by circulating hot water through serpentine coils inside the tank
- Heated to a temperature of 45-40 C (113-122 F)
Amount of time wine is held in an estufa
min 3 months
estágio
Period of rest, min 90 days
- After the Estufagem process is completed, and before the wine is transferred to cask for aging
Estufagem
Aging requirement
2 years
armazens de calor
Rooms warmed by nearby tanks or steam pipes
vs. the direct heat of the estufa
Canteiro method
-
Cask-aged for min 2 years in lodge attics, bottled after 36mos total
*Method used for the best wines
*Exposed to gentler, natural warmth of sun as it undergoes much slower process of maturation, preventing burnt caramelization of sugars and resulting bitter flavors associated with rapid heating
Canteiro
Aging requirement
min 3 years prior to bottling
- Although the best Vinhos de Canteiro will remain in cask for 20 years or more
While Sercial wines are considered dry, they may still contain around how many grams per liter of residual sugar?
40-45 g/l rs
Madeira
Varietal wines that tend to be the darkest in color with age
Boal
Madeira
Sweetest and softest varietal wines
Malvasia (Malmsey)
Rainwater Madeira
Main grape
usullay 100% Tinta Negra
Madeira Multi-Vintage Blend
Reserve
Aging requirement
min 5 yrs (below 10 yrs)
Maderia Multi-Vintage Blend
Special Reserve
Aging requirement
min 10 yrs (below 15 yrs)
- Often made of a single noble variety, heated by the Canteiro method
Madeira
Colheita
Aging requirement
min 5 years prior to bottling
- Produced from a single vintage
- May be a blend or a single varietal wine
Another word sometimes used in place of Colheita
“harvest”
Vintage Madeira
Frasqueira
Aging requirement
20 years
- The epitome of Madeira
Who produced wines in the traditional Vinho da Roda/Vinho da Torno/Vinho da Volta style as late as the early 1900s?
Shortridge Lawton
- Now a brand of the Madeira Wine Company
Madeira Multi-Vintage Blend
7 styles/aging indications
Madeira Multi-Vintage Blends
- Rainwater: Popular in US, usually 100% Tinta Negra, med dry, light style
- Seleccionado: Labeled “Finest,” “Choice,” or “Select,” includes a blended wine that is min. 3 yrs old (but below five yrs), mostly Tinta Negra, Estufagem, aged in tank rather than cask
- Reserve (Reserva): min 5 yrs (below 10 yrs)
- Special Reserve (Reserva Especial): min 10 yrs (below 15 yrs), often single noble variety, Canteiro
- Extra Reserve: min 15 yrs (below 20 yrs)
- 5 Years Old, 10 Years Old, 15 Years Old, 20 Years Old, 30 Years Old, 40 Years Old, Over 50 Years Old
- Solera: Fractional blending, Canteiro, max 10% of solera’s stock may be drawn off each year, and only 10 total additions may be made to each solera. Bottled with the starting date of the solera, but wines added to the solera may actually be older than the original wine—a solera on Madeira often served to extend the lifespan of a particular vintage, when there was little or no wine to sell in the following year. To accomplish this, producers refreshed soleras with stocks of older, rather than younger, wines.
Vintage Madeira
3 Aging Indications
Madeira with a Vintage Date
-
Colheita (Harvest)
- min 85% of the vintage
- Aged min 5 yrs prior to bottling
- Blend or single varietal
- offers “vintage” Madeira w/o extended cask aging, complexity, or cost of true Vintage Madeira, or Frasqueira
- “harvest” is sometimes used in place of Colheita, but producers are not allowed to use the word “vintage” on labels
-
Frasqueira
- Aged min 20 yrs cask
- may be aged longer—sometimes decades—in glass demijohns after the period of cask aging
- like Colheita, blend or single varietal
- since min 85% of the vintage is required, topped up with younger wines throughout the aging
- Canteiro
- Epitome of Madeira, one of the world’s legendary, long-lived wines
- Aged min 20 yrs cask
-
Vinho da Roda/Vinho da Torno/Vinho da Volta
- Exceptional rarity, underwent an ocean journey across the equator
- Shortridge Lawton, now a brand of the Madeira Wine Company, produced wines in this traditional style as late as the early 1900s
Madeira
Multi-Vintage Blend
Aging requirements
- Reserve (Reserva):
- Special Reserve (Reserva Especial):
- Extra Reserve:
Madeira Multi-Vintage Blend
- Reserve (Reserva): min 5 yrs (below 10 yrs)
- Special Reserve (Reserva Especial): min 10 yrs (below 15 yrs), often single noble variety, Canteiro
- Extra Reserve: min 15 yrs (below 20 yrs)
Vintage Madeira
Colheita and Frasqueira
Aging Requirements
- Colheita: min 5 yrs
-
Frasqueira: min 20 yrs in cask
- may be aged longer—sometimes decades—in glass demijohns after the period of cask aging
