New York Madeira Wine Experience: the Mysteries of Madeira
A few weeks ago, my friend invited me to the New York Madeira Wine Experience at City Winery in New York, and as a huge fan of Madeira, I was floored by the number of rare and special wines that were being served!
Listening to the conversations buzzing around me, I also realized that Madeira remains a mystery to many people in the United States. Madeira was once THE trending wine of the North American colonies in the 18th century, but today, the varieties, categories and production processes behind this incredible wine remain unknown to many wine lovers.
Let’s unpack some of the mysteries of Madeira.
What is Madeira?
Madeira is a fortified wine produced on its namesake island of Madeira and the surrounding islands in Portugal. The island of Madeira is mountainous, warm and humid, which are extreme extreme conditions for grapegrowing and winemaking, and the area under vine in Madeira is only 450 hectares (just over 1100 acres). Truly rare gems in the world of wine!
Fortifying Madeira
Like Port wine, Madeira is fortified by “mutage”, which is the process of adding an alcoholic spirit to fermenting wine, which kills the yeast. Because the process of mutage stops fermentation prior to completion, residual sugar is left in the wine, and as a result, most Madeira wines have some level of sweetness and are not completely dry wines. However, they also have some of the highest acidity levels among the fortified wines, which acts as a wonderful balancing factor against the sweetness of the wines.
Fun historical fact: For a while, Madeira wines were actually mostly dry wines! According to Richard Mayson, up until the mid 19th century, most Madeira was fermented to complete dryness and then fortified with brandy just before shipping.
By law, today, the spirit used in Madeira must be a 96% abv grape spirit. This is a neutral spirit that will not impart its own flavor or character to the wine, unlike Port, which is requirements a minimum of 77% abv for the brandy. The resulting alcohol in the final Madeira wines will usually be between 17% and 19% abv.
The Grape Varieties
Today, Madeira wines are produced from two categories of grape varieties:
“Recommended” varieties: These are usually varietally labeled with their names, Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Malvasia, Terrantez and Tinta Negra. The recommended varieties tend to produce the highest quality wines.
“Authorized” varieties: After phylloxera decimated the Madeira vineyards, many of the higher quality European vines were replaced with hybrid and American vines for their reliability and output, rather than their quality. These varieties generally go into non-varietally labeled blends.
Madeira is easy to understand in some ways, because the varietal labelling gives you a good idea of what you can expect about how sweet the wine is, as the wines generally go up in sweetness from Sercial, Verdelho, Boal to Malvasia.
Sercial tends to produce the lightest, driest (although usually off-dry) and highest acid wines out of the group, with its notable acidity being the origin of its nickname, “dog strangler”. These are the lightest in color (lemon or gold), although the wines will darken with age.
Verdelho is usually medium-dry in sweetness and the bridge between Sercial and Boal. Boal and Malvasia wines tend to be the darkest in color (amber or brown) and medium or fully sweet, which make them excellent dessert wines.
The names “Malvasia” and “Boal” are notoriously confusing, as they are terms used for a number of different varieties, many of which are not actually related. Boal Cachudo is the specific variety used in Madeira, which is also called “Malvasia Fina” in Port wines. Malvasia also has many names, with Malvasia de São Jorge the most common variety in Madeira, and the most prized and rare type being Malvasia Cândida.
How rare is rare? According to some sources, there are only 4 hectares of plantings of Malvasia Cândida left, which roughly translates to just under 10 acres. You can imagine how excited I was to try this treat at the Rare Wine Company table!
As for the two remaining recommended varieties, Tinta Negra is the most produced variety on the island due to the fact that it is easy to grow on the humid island of Madeira and produces high yields. It is made in a range of sweetness levels and is particularly used in non-varietally labeled wines.
As for Terrantez, this is the rare variety due to the fact that it is highly susceptible to powdery mildew and botrytis, both of which thrive in the warm, humid climate of Madeira. However, it is often considered the variety with the highest reputation in terms of complexity, richness and elegance. It’s practically extinct, so if you have a chance to try it, go for it!
Maturation of Madeira
Madeira is all about maturation, and the three main factors are: (1) heat and humidity; (2) oxidation; and (3) length of time.
Today, Madeira wines are matured in one of two processes:
Estufagem - the quick and easy method: The wines are heated in temperature-controlled stainless steel vessels under oxidative conditions for a minimum of three months, laid to rest for 6-12 months in the winery and then released no earlier than October 31st the second year following harvest.
Canteiro - the resource-intensive but rewarding method: The wines are left in wooden barrels with some headspace of air in a humid, warm environment for longer periods, with the first sale permitted three years after January 1st following harvest.
Heat/Humidity:
The term “maderisation” refers to the process of heating wine under oxidative conditions. This practice originates from the 17th and 18th centuries when British merchants sent wine from the Portuguese islands to the North American colonies and discovered that using barrels of fortified wine as ballasts to steady the ships in hot, oxidative conditions stabilized the wine from the effects of oxygen and kept them from spoiling on their journey to the Americas.
Consider the process of caramelization of sugar (in a pan, on a candied apple, on the top of a crème brûlée). Caramel is basically heated sugar, and the heat turns the color of the sugar from white or tan to dark brown and crystallizes the texture. Similarly, the warm maturation conditions cause the remaining sugar in the Madeira wine to caramelize. With longer ageing, the color will turn darker and browner and the wines become more concentrated.
Furthermore, the warm environment also speeds up the rate of evaporation of water in the wine, which increases the concentration of the flavors in the wine.
This intentional heating process is one of the key features that differentiates Madeira from other fortified wines, such as Sherry or Port.
Oxidation:
During the maturation process, producers will leave some headspace in the barrels for oxygen, and the oxidative environment causes the wine to turn darker from pale to brown, similar to how the surface of an apple turns brown after the apple has been cut.
Further, the prolonged exposure to oxygen in the maturation vessels protects the wine against spoilage from oxidation. Most wines will spoil and deteriorate quickly once the bottles have been opened. However, the combination of the high acidity of Madeira wines and the high alcohol following fortification act as preservatives and eventually stabilizes the wine against oxygen to the point that oxygen stops having much of an effect on the wine. Due to this process of prolonged period of intentional oxidation, Madeira has some of the longest shelf lives in the wine world and can last several months to a couple of years after the bottle has been opened. It’s no wonder that these are sometimes called “indestructible wines.”
Length of Time:
Madeira matured for longer periods of time in the canteiro system will have more developed, complex and concentrated flavors than Madeira matured for short periods of time in the estufagem system.
The way I usually think about this concept is to compare cooking tonkotsu ramen broth on a stove over 24 hours versus heating up a cup of noodles in a microwave. The microwave will get the job of heating the ramen broth and softening the noodles just fine when you’re in the mood for a salty, fast snack, but it will not get you anywhere near the depth of flavor that comes from the longer cooking process.
Quality wine, like quality food, takes time, and the quick and easy method of estufagem generally does not produce the complexity and integration of flavors from slow, oxidative maturation that is found in wines made from the canteiro method.
The Flavors of Madeira
Typicity is a major factor of Madeira, as Madeira wines are generally made to fit within certain styles, so you often get consistent aromas and flavors, although with the more complex and concentrated wines, you will often see more interesting aromas not found in the lower quality wines.
Here are some of the most common aromas you’ll find in Madeira wines:
Coffee/espresso
Chocolate
Caramel
Burnt sugar
Toffee
Burnt popcorn
Charred wood
Smoke
Roasted walnuts and hazelnuts
Crème brûlée
Dried dates, prunes, rains and orange peels
Candied oranges, lemons and apricots
When looking at the quality of Madeira wines, you want to consider the following factors:
Concentration, complexity and length of the flavors
Integration of the alcohol with the wine
The presence of “cooked” or unpleasantly “burnt” flavors
What’s the deal with the dates on the bottles?
In terms of age, Madeira wines can be broken down into three different categories:
Vintage Wines:
Frasqueira or Garrafeira - These are vintage wines made from the recommended varieties only. The minimum ageing requirement in wooden barrels is 20 years.
Colheita - Similar to Port, Colheita wines are vintage wines that are required to have been aged in wood for at least 5 years.
Age-Indicated Wines - These are non-vintage wines (i.e., blends of wines from different growing seasons). They are labeled 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 and even “more than 50” years old according to the style of the wine, rather than how old the wine actually is in the bottle. The wines are tasted by a tasting panel to confirm that the wine indeed conforms to the standards of that particular style. As expected, the “50 year” wines generally tend to be higher in quality and much less common than the “5 year” or “10 year” wines, as the “50 year” label would indicate that the wine is deemed to have the characteristics of a wine that has been matured for 50 years prior to bottling, which would be expected to result in higher concentration and complexity.
Standard Blends - Examples are Henrique & Henriques Full Rich Madeira or Blandy’s Duke of Clarence, and these wines do not have any age or vintage indications. They tend to have short maturation periods and are therefore less complex than some of the other styles, and their purpose is mostly to conform to consumer expectations of that particular brand.
One word on the ages and numbers - People often think that a vintage Madeira from 20 years ago (let’s say, a 2002 Colheita with a minimum ageing period of 5 years) would of course be more complex and concentrated than an age-indicated Madeira of “20 years”. However, Madeiras are not generally considered meant for ageing in bottle.
Bottle ageing refers to the evolution of wine in bottle over time due to exposure of the wine to tiny amounts of oxygen coming through the cork. The slow oxygenation changes the flavors from primary fruit flavors to tertiary flavors.
However, because the Madeira production process basically revolves around significant exposure of wine to oxygen over prolonged periods of time (years) in a highly alcoholic solution that prevents spoilage, eventually, the transforming effects of oxygen on the wine start slowing down and, as noted above, the wine eventually starts stabilizing against oxygen. There may be some tiny changes in the bottle, but most of the evolution really occurs during the maturation process in cask prior to bottling.
As mentioned above, the age-indicated labels signal that the wine reflects the characteristics of maturation of that particular year. As a result, all things being equal, a 2000 Madeira that was matured for 5 years in cask would not necessarily be expected to be a more complex and developed wine than a 20 year age-indicated wine.
Are you a fan of Madeira?
Admittedly, wines with residual sugar have been falling out of fashion worldwide in favor of dryer styles. However, high quality sweet wines are gaining ground, as consumers are beginning to appreciate the nuances and technical winemaking processes behind these precious wines, and savoring a glass of Madeira with a rich dessert can be a refined, beautiful way to end the night.
