Madeira is a prized wine that, as its name says, comes from the beautiful Atlantic island of Madeira. It is a fortified wine, like port, but with a unique character: thanks to the heating it undergoes as it matures it is practically indestructible, an opened bottle keeps for months, and great Madeiras can age for more than a century. The island's viticulture, carried out on small terraces carved out of volcanic mountains, is devoted mainly to this wine.
A story born on ships
Madeira's story is tied to the island's position, a compulsory port of call on the routes to Africa, India and the Americas. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ships were already loading casks of wine at Funchal that then had to cross the tropics in sweltering holds, where the wine risked turning sour. To preserve it, some spirit began to be added, and it was discovered that the heat and gentle rolling of the voyage, rather than spoiling it, improved it: wine that had been to the Indies and back, vinho da roda, "round-trip wine", was the most sought after and expensive.
In the eighteenth century Madeira became the favourite wine in England's American colonies: by tradition it was used to toast the signing of the US Declaration of Independence in 1776. In the nineteenth century the island's vineyards were devastated first by powdery mildew and then by phylloxera, but they recovered thanks to new plantings and the work of merchant families, many of British origin.
How it is made
To reproduce the effect of long tropical voyages, the wine is heated in two ways. In estufagem, used for younger wines, it is heated in large steel tanks, the estufas, to about 45-50 °C for at least three months. In the canteiro method, reserved for the best wines, it ages slowly in wooden casks in the lofts of the lodges, where the island's natural warmth "cooks" it over the years. Fortification with grape spirit brings it to about 17-22% alcohol, at different moments depending on the desired sweetness.
Grapes and styles
The four noble varieties give their names to the wines, from driest to sweetest:
- Sercial: dry, crisp and fresh, excellent as an aperitif or with fish;
- Verdelho: medium dry, with notes of nuts and honey;
- Boal (or Bual): medium sweet, rich and velvety;
- Malvasia, known in English as Malmsey: sweet and intense, a dessert wine.
The red Tinta Negra grape, the most widely grown on the island, is also used in all styles. Labels often show an average age (5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years); Colheita wines come from a single vintage aged at least five years, while Frasqueira or Garrafeira, the finest, are vintage wines aged at least twenty years in cask. There is also Rainwater, a light, medium-dry style.
Tasting Madeira
In Funchal you can visit historic lodges such as Blandy's Wine Lodge, in a former Franciscan convent in the centre, where you learn the wine's history among century-old casks and take part in tastings; the Madeira Wine, Embroidery and Handicraft Institute also has an exhibition space. In late August and early September the Wine Festival celebrates the harvest with events in Funchal and in wine villages such as Estreito de Câmara de Lobos. Madeira also pairs well with island sweets such as bolo de mel.
Other Portuguese wines
While port and Madeira are Portugal's most famous wines, many other regions make excellent wine: the Bairrada, in the centre, with its reds and sparkling wines; the Dão, south of the Douro, with elegant reds; Vinho Verde, in the north-west, with young, fresh, slightly sparkling whites now exported worldwide; and the Alentejo, with soft, much-loved reds. Portugal's wine routes are endless and show how deeply rooted this tradition is in the country's culture: we describe them on the page on Portuguese wines.