On Thursday G held his annual Madeira dinner at the Savile Club. This year's theme was extinct producers. We opened the wines on Sunday afternoon to give them time to breathe and get rid of any bottle-sickness, and to taste them so that he could write his tasting notes and work out the running order. This also gave me the chance to take photos so that I could write a detailed post about it on here, as during the dinner itself one tends to find oneself distracted by the sparkling conversation of one's fellow guests...
We tasted 15 madeiras altogether.
This was a medium brown colour - most of them were, so I will only mention colour on the rest where it was anything different - and had some bits of gunk floating about in it on Sunday, when it had just been decanted. I got turps or "hint of the potting shed" on the nose and T found the palate soapy. On Sunday I recorded that it was actively unpleasant, and we gave it no stars out of a possible five, but by Thursday G considered that it rated one star.
The seal on the bottle refers to the Junta Nacional which indicates that this wine was bottled in the 1970s. And what a delightfully cheery label it is!
2. Vinhos Viuva Abudarham & Filhos
3. Verdelho, Silva Vinhos
This was a murky mid-brown. It had a horrible nose - my notes read "Ew, really nasty." On the palate (the fainthearted should look away now) it literally tasted like bile. This was the case on both Sunday and Thursday. Extremely unpleasant.
G tells me that Silva Vinhos were a minor producer who set up in 1990 and had gone out of business by 2002. I doubt that anyone shed any tears.
4. Verdelho, Adegas de Torreao
This was a darkish brown colour. I found the nose unpleasant, and the palate was unfortunately congruent with the nose. By Thursday it had improved a bit, but started better than it finished. It actually had a very long finish, but since it wasn't nice, that wasn't a plus point.
5. Phoenix, Joao Lomelino
This one was interesting. It was a clear golden-brown colour and looked nice. On Sunday, I liked it - it was quite sweet in the midpalate but had a dry finish - and G and I had a debate about what grape it was made from, as he thought it was malmsey but I thought it was drier than that.
6. Castle Grand Gold, WA Gilbey
7. C, Araujo Henriques & Ca
G believes that "C" stands for Campanario, an area of the island noted for its sweeter wines. This was darker in colour, and was a classic malmsey with caramel and marmalade flavours.
8. Boal Solera 1930, Veiga Franca
9. Cama de Lobos, Welsh Brothers
Again, this was dark brown and was probably a boal. It had wonderful legs. On Sunday it was still slightly bottle-sick and G said this was because it had been bottled under screwcap which is too efficient a seal for madeira. On the palate, it was fruity, with dried cherries and prunes. We all liked it, even T!
10. Moscatel, Vasco Luis Pereira
This was quite dark too, but clear. It had an intriguing nose which we thought boded well. On the palate, it had a nice mouthfeel and was very sweet without being cloying. We detected sultanas. It had good length too.
11. A, Joao Pereira Oliveira
This was a clear, golden colour. I found that it didn't do much for me on the nose, and on the palate it was dry, savoury and sharp. G described it as razor-sharp sercial and thought that the base was "bathtub aguardente", i.e. a pretty rough spirit, the sort that if you drink it, you go blind.
12. Franca & Co
On Sunday this was bottle-sick but I noted that there was "something nice underneath it" and indeed this proved to be the case. It was sweet on the nose, with barley-sugar notes, but on the palate it was dry as a bone with a streak of minerality which made us wonder if there was some terrantez involved. However, T, whose ability to detect terrantez at 30 paces is unparalleled, did not think that was the case. In fact, it showed very well on Thursday.
13. Krohn Brothers
14. Verdelho Solera 1870, Rutherford & Miles
And finally, we had this Boal which was very bottle-sick on Sunday. I found it quite sickly, and G noted that it had a tearing acidity which came through on the finish. On Thursday it had improved a bit and I recorded that it was "ok but just ok". A delightful bottle though, with a fetching wicker cover, masquerading as a bottle of Mateus Rosé!
2. Vinhos Viuva Abudarham & Filhos
This had that thing on the nose that shoots up your nostrils, cleans out your sinuses and makes your eyes water slightly. T, who knows about chemistry, said this is isopropionic acid. It was noticeably bottle-sick on first tasting and by Thursday had improved a lot. G thought it was a sweet sercial.
The bottle was wobbly, indicating that it was hand-blown. The label showed that this wine won a gold medal in 1889, so it probably dated from around 1880.
3. Verdelho, Silva Vinhos
This was a murky mid-brown. It had a horrible nose - my notes read "Ew, really nasty." On the palate (the fainthearted should look away now) it literally tasted like bile. This was the case on both Sunday and Thursday. Extremely unpleasant.
G tells me that Silva Vinhos were a minor producer who set up in 1990 and had gone out of business by 2002. I doubt that anyone shed any tears.
4. Verdelho, Adegas de Torreao
This was a darkish brown colour. I found the nose unpleasant, and the palate was unfortunately congruent with the nose. By Thursday it had improved a bit, but started better than it finished. It actually had a very long finish, but since it wasn't nice, that wasn't a plus point.
G informs me that the bottle was pre-1963. A remarkably modern-looking label!
5. Phoenix, Joao Lomelino
This one was interesting. It was a clear golden-brown colour and looked nice. On Sunday, I liked it - it was quite sweet in the midpalate but had a dry finish - and G and I had a debate about what grape it was made from, as he thought it was malmsey but I thought it was drier than that.
By Thursday, it had gone downhill. T made a comment about acetone which went over my head but I don't think it was intended as a compliment, and it had become oily, with "a tart edge" rather than a dry finish.
The bottle dated from the 19th century but G thought that the contents was a solera of early 20th century wines.
6. Castle Grand Gold, WA Gilbey
This madeira was bottled by Gilbeys, the gin firm, who would have acted as a pure bottler in this case. It had a lovely texture with a lot of glycerin, the kind of wine that reminds me of Benylin cough mixture from my childhood. It tasted of sweet, creamy fudge. T breathed a sigh of relief at this point and said it was "worth drinking".
One unusual thing about this wine was that the sediment ran down one side of the bottle, indicating that it had been stored on its side. This indicates that it was stored in Britain, as we Brits are used to keeping port on its side to prevent the air getting in. The Madeirans store madeira standing up, as they want the air to get in.
The label made a reference to the "late King George V". He died in 1936 which suggests that it was bottled in the late 1930s.
7. C, Araujo Henriques & Ca
G believes that "C" stands for Campanario, an area of the island noted for its sweeter wines. This was darker in colour, and was a classic malmsey with caramel and marmalade flavours.
The bottle was a litre bottle, which apparently is the biggest size that madeira wine can be sold in - sadly no magnums here! Again the seal referred to the Junta Nacional suggesting the wine was bottled in the mid-1970s.
8. Boal Solera 1930, Veiga Franca
This was a darker brown, and muddy in appearance. It had a powerful, sweet nose. It was much sweeter than most of the wines we tasted, but was lacking in subtlety.
G informed us that a madeira solera has to be at least 9% wine from the vintage in which the solera began - the Madeira solera system works differently from the sherry one where there could be a miniscule amount of the original wine left. I never knew that. More on solera systems can be found here, including some mathematical equations for the hardcore.
9. Cama de Lobos, Welsh Brothers
Again, this was dark brown and was probably a boal. It had wonderful legs. On Sunday it was still slightly bottle-sick and G said this was because it had been bottled under screwcap which is too efficient a seal for madeira. On the palate, it was fruity, with dried cherries and prunes. We all liked it, even T!
The label said it was made by appointment to King Gustaf V of Sweden, who died in 1950.
10. Moscatel, Vasco Luis Pereira
This was quite dark too, but clear. It had an intriguing nose which we thought boded well. On the palate, it had a nice mouthfeel and was very sweet without being cloying. We detected sultanas. It had good length too.
Details on the seal indicated to G that it was bottled between 1967 and 1970.
11. A, Joao Pereira Oliveira
This was a clear, golden colour. I found that it didn't do much for me on the nose, and on the palate it was dry, savoury and sharp. G described it as razor-sharp sercial and thought that the base was "bathtub aguardente", i.e. a pretty rough spirit, the sort that if you drink it, you go blind.
G thinks the A is based on the classification of wines that the Madeirans used when exporting to South America, A to E meaning dry to sweet. This wine came from the Leacocks sale (see notes on last year's dinner here) but the seal mentioned the letters JPO which is how G knew it was made by Joao Pereira Oliveira, not Leacocks.
12. Franca & Co
On Sunday this was bottle-sick but I noted that there was "something nice underneath it" and indeed this proved to be the case. It was sweet on the nose, with barley-sugar notes, but on the palate it was dry as a bone with a streak of minerality which made us wonder if there was some terrantez involved. However, T, whose ability to detect terrantez at 30 paces is unparalleled, did not think that was the case. In fact, it showed very well on Thursday.
The producers are extremely obscure and G says this is the only bottle of their wine that he has ever seen. The bottle was handmade and wobbly, and the label had all sorts of stuff going on including a crest which could only be seen if you tilted it to catch the light at a certain angle, and some nifty fonts.
13. Krohn Brothers
This wine was a clear, light brown with a greenish rim, and looked like a consommé. The nose was lovely, quite dry but with an element of butterscotch. T got wood varnish! On the palate it had a wonderful unctuous mouthfeel and was sweet with a marmaladey tang on the mid-palate but with a dry finish. It was great madeira, five stars. Fabulous! My wine of the evening.
The label was equally amazing, with some stuff in a cyrillic script in the red area at the bottom and a reference (in the Roman alphabet) to December 1895. Apparently this writing is in Old Russian and we have not yet found anyone able to translate it, but at the end of the evening someone took the bottle away with them for further enquiry so we live in hope. What we can say is that this wine was exported to Russia before the revolution. How exciting is that!
14. Verdelho Solera 1870, Rutherford & Miles
This had a nice thick texture and was marmaladey on the palate but with a certain creaminess too. It was serious stuff, and had a great finish. Very sweet for a verdelho. On Thursday I made a note that it brought a smile to my face. It was my second favourite wine of the evening, after the Krohn Brothers.
And finally, we had this Boal which was very bottle-sick on Sunday. I found it quite sickly, and G noted that it had a tearing acidity which came through on the finish. On Thursday it had improved a bit and I recorded that it was "ok but just ok". A delightful bottle though, with a fetching wicker cover, masquerading as a bottle of Mateus Rosé!
All in all, this was an extraordinary evening with wines ranging from the absolutely revolting (no.3) to the absolutely stunning (no.13). I have to thank G for his generosity, expertise and hard work in collecting the wines for this tasting and inviting me along. It really is time to start writing that book, G!
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