Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med brown, legs
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, fully developed, spice, brown sugar, earth, mineral, roasted almonds, caramelized sugar, figs, molasses, hint citrus, coffee
Mouth: medium-sweet, med+ bodied, high fortification, high acid, med+ length, med+ intensity, brown sugar, spice, earth, mineral, roasted almonds, salted almonds, burnt toast
All in all: Outstanding quality: it’s unfortunate that Madeira is wildly underrated. This wine has a complex and lasting flavour profile. It has balance, intensity, and concentration.

Breakfast in a glass. I’m talkin’ flavours of orange marmalade, hints of coffee, a bit of burnt toast (but in a good way), boosted by other complex things involving toasted almonds, scorched earth, caramelized sugar, and figs. Oh boy.

Okay: the “scorched earth” thing sounds stupid and I’m pretty sure I just borrowed that one from somewhere else, but I swear by it on this one!… read more

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med amber, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, fully developed, spice, caramel, sultana raisin, nut, ripe citrus, almond skin, mineral, cashew, fig, dates
Mouth: dry, med+ body, high fortification, high acid, med+ length, med+ flavour intensity, almonds, hint brine, caramel, spice, sultana raisin, overripe citrus, cashew
All in all: Very good quality: this drier style of Madeira is intense and well-balanced. Though the fortified wine is quite complex, there is a slight lack of concentration on the finish.

Oh Madeira. If these wines weren’t popular to begin with, then the lesser-known fortified wine in its drier version is even more of a sad and ignored little outlier. Madeira made from Sercial definitely tends to be on the drier side of the spectrum – (my way of remember this is sort of associating “SERcial” with “SERious”) but even so, a significant chunk of the class thought this was off-dry.… read more