When I think of fortified wines from Portugal, ruby and tawny ports tend to hog the spotlight in my head (and no shade there — a glass of good port is a thing of joy forever for me). But the Portuguese have another ace up their sleeve in this regard, and it’s a wondrous thing called Madeira. What’s amazing about Madeira (apart from its nutty caramelized sugar and smoke profile) is that by rights, it shouldn’t exist.
“Heat and air, both the sworn enemies of most wines and wine makers, conspire to turn Madeira into one of the most enthralling of the world’s wines as well as the most resilient,” author and fortified wine expert Richard Mayson wrote. “Having gone through this extreme and often extensive ageing process, Madeira is virtually indestructible … If ever there was a wine to take away with you to a desert island, this is it.”
High praise indeed. But what is Madeira wine, exactly? How did it come into existence? What does it taste like? The answers are equally astonishing and appetizing.
What is Madeira wine?
Broadly speaking, Madeira is a part of the interesting and delicious world of fortified wines. It’s named after the island where it’s produced: The Autonomous Region of Madeira, an archipelago in the North Atlantic proximal to Spain’s Canary Islands and as close to Africa as it is to Portugal. Madeira wines come in a variety of styles, ranging from dry to sweet, and so it can be served as an apéritif or dessert wine.
Everything about the Madeira winemaking process is artisanal and deliberate: Grapes (primarily Negra Mole, but also Malvasia, Bual, Verdelho, and Sercial, depending on the desired sweetness of the finished product) are hand harvested from small island vineyards exposed to sea breezes, juiced, fermented using natural yeasts in stainless steel tanks, fortified with a neutral grape spirit, and then aged.
In the Canteiro process, Madeira wine is aged in barrels that are situated on the roofs of shipping companies, where they’re gently oxidized by the warm Mediterranean sun. The Estufagem aging process involves pouring the wine into large tanks that are alternately heated and cooled between 113 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit over several months. You would think this is a sure way to ruin a perfectly good wine, but instead it makes them sublime. Trust me, yes, sublime.
The discovery of this heat-dependent aging process — unique to Madeira wines — was a very happy accident.
The upside of lengthy sailing voyages
The island of Madeira was an important stop for European shipping bound for the East Indies beginning in the 15th century. Quick to take advantage of this guaranteed customer base, islanders quickly established a wine industry to fortify the sailors on their long voyages. But regular wine, when subjected to heat and time, turns into vinegar (or something altogether nastier). The Madeirenses’ solution was to fortify their wine with a little cane sugar alcohol, thus stabilizing it. Soon, the Dutch East India Company was buying literal shiploads of the stuff.
Madeira’s true form was revealed when one cask made it back from a long voyage unopened, having been oxidized in the sea-tossed hull of a sailing ship for months on end. This wine was amazing; subsequently, vinha da roda (round trip wines) became all the rage. Since it was too expensive to ship wine barrels around the world, the vintner’s solution was to create artificial heating processes like the ones described above. Madeira wine became so popular in America that it was the drink used to toast the newly signed Declaration of Independence — on Thomas Jefferson’s insistence.
The different types of Madeira wine
Madeira wine ranges from bone dry to dessert sweet. The names of these wines are usually associated with their predominant grape, from driest to sweetest.
Sercial
The driest Madeira; smooth, pale, and slightly nutty. An ideal apéritif, Sercial is best when served slightly chilled and pairs well with a charcuterie board containing olives, nuts, goat cheese, oysters, and smoked fish. These wines really shine after 8 to 10 years of aging.
Terrantez
A low-production style making a comeback; basically, the middle ground between Sercial and Verdelho madeira.
Verdelho
The fermentation of these wines is stalled by fortification when their residual sugars are a little higher than Sercial, making for a deep-golden, medium-sweet wine. This is where the Madeira-associated aromas and flavors of fig, wood, citrus, and caramel start to assert themselves. Madeira Verdelho pairs just as well with fresh fruit as it does with pickles and stinky cheese.
Bual
A copper-colored, rounder, and sweeter Madeira, redolent with ripe fruit and baking spices. Different Bual Madeira can taste of butterscotch, vanilla, or raisins.
Malmsey
Sometimes known as Malvasia Madeira, this is the darkest, richest, and sweetest of them all. Malmsey’s musky nose gives way to flavors of caramel, smoke, burnt sugar, vanilla, walnuts, and molasses. As these wines age, they take on notes of chocolate, coffee, dried fruit, and baking spices.
Other Madeira wine labeling is related to aging
- Colheita are young wines from a single vintage
- Fine have been aged for 3 years and are usually used for cooking
- Reserve have been aged at least 5 years (with Extra Reserve being aged for a decade and Special Reserve for 15 years)
- Vintage or Frasqueira can’t be sold until they’ve aged for 20 years
The oldest Madeira wine was sold in 2016 for $45,000 New Zealand dollars; a J.C.A. & C. Terrantez Madeira bottled in 1715. One taster described it as “remarkably youthful and surprisingly sweet.”
