WINES OF MADEIRA | REVIEW
The small and beautiful Portuguese island of Madeira is a well-known tourist destination receiving approximately 1 million visitors a year. For me, it is not only a wonderful place to visit but it is the home of a very special fortified wine.
I tasted my first Madeira wine when I enrolled on a wine course over 20 years ago and I can still vividly remember the experience. It was like no other wine I had ever tasted. What impressed me was the intensity of the aromas of honey and raisins and the rich taste of caramel, honey, nuts and spices. Although sweet, it was not‘ cloying’ because of the fresh acidity. I resolved to find out more about this very special wine.
During the past 20 years, I have become a regular visitor to the island and its wineries. Visiting at various times of the year, I have had the privilege of seeing the grapes being harvested, the various stages of wine production and then had the opportunity of tasting wines of varying ages, some dating back to the 1800’ s and still amazingly fresh and having wonderful intensity and flavours.
How can a wine last that long? What is so special about Madeira wines?
Their unique character is due to the heating and prolonged oxidation during production, especially the aging process, which gives them‘ special’ aromas and flavours and incredible longevity. This is very different from most wines, where the winemaker avoids high temperatures and oxidation.
This small island has a very rugged terrain, with very steep slopes and land is a valuable commodity, especially with the increase of tourism over the years. The most recent statistics( 2010) show the total plantings of Vitis vinifera vines, used for the production of fortified Madeira wine and table wines, is just 493.7 hectares with a total annual production of around 4 million litres. From a large number of producers in the past there are just eight today and only one owns vineyards. The rest of the grapes are grown by approximately 1600 registered growers, for many of whom growing vines is not their main occupation.
Five main grape varieties are used. Four white varieties are each used to make one‘ sweetness’ style: Sercial( dry); Verdelho( medium dry); Bual( medium sweet) and Malvasia( sweet). A red variety, Tinta Negra, from which the majority of wines are made, is used to make all four sweetness styles.
After harvesting, which usually starts in the last week of August or the first week of September, the grapes are fermented using natural yeasts, thus changing the sugars in the grapes into alcohol. During fermentation the wines are fortified by adding grape spirit. This stops the fermentation. The timing is very important and the sweeter the wine required, the earlier the fortification will take place. After fortification, the wines start their aging process. The first stage is carried out in one of two ways.
In the Canteiro process, the wines are aged in wooden casks of various sizes, which are kept in lodges heated by the sun over a period of two years. This process was developed in the 17th century, when it was found that wines exported to the Indies, but returned unsold, had improved in quality despite having been subjected to very high temperatures during their passage through the tropics.
The Estufagem process, dating from the 18th century, which is quicker and more intense, involves heating the wines, usually in stainless steel tanks, between 45 – 50 o C for a period of 3 months. This process is normally used for wines to be sold young and made from Tinta Negra grapes.
I tasted my first Madeira wine over 20 years ago and I can still vividly remember the experience. It was like no other wine I had ever tasted.
| www. madeira-life. net | Summer 2012 | 19