D'Oliveiras Madeira Sercial of 2013 has an intense bouquet pleasant aromas of vanilla, caramel, apple peel and roasted almonds. Reveals a moderate acidity and a touch of sweetness. In the mouth, aromas of apple, plum, lemon and nuts are presented again. The finish is long and refreshing. The sercial Madeira wine is the lightest in color, beautiful golden yellow, aromatic, floral and has citrus notes in its youth that after a while become a bit nuttier and even remind one of older Riesling. Ginger is a characteristic aroma. Due to its high acidity, this is the best aperitif wine.
If you spot a Madeira labeled “Sercial,” it must be made from at least 85% Sercial grapes. Rules are rules, even in the wine cellar! 🍷
Food-pairing
lightly chilled as an aperitif with olives and almonds or with sushi, oysters, squid carpaccio with tomato-coriander vinaigrette, salmon tartare, prosciutto with ham, crab & fresh tuna (sashimi).
Grapes: Sercial
Sercial is traditionally the white variety used for the driest Madeira style. A sercial is therefore always dry! This means that alcohol is only added at the very end of fermentation, when almost all the sugars have fermented. The late-ripening variety is also called ‘Esgana Cão’ (dog strangler) because of its extremely high acidity in its youth. Because of this almost undrinkable acidity, sercial usually ripens for quite a long time.
Sercial comes from the highest vineyards in the south, at around 600-800m or in the cooler north.
Sercial is reminiscent of Riesling. They do share a love for acidity and a penchant for making our taste buds tango
Alcoholcontent
Always store Madeira wine upright. The acids of Madeira are so strong that they will attack the cork if the bottle is stored lying down
Madeira is a wine that matured for several years in an oxidative environment, and then enters a reductive environment during bottling. It is therefore useful to open the bottles a few hours in advance. The bottles can then be stored almost indefinitely, as the air no longer has any effect on Madeira wines. In fact, the wine tastes better after months - if there is any left - than when the bottle was opened.