A sweet, amber-hued Madeira wine has a sharp acidity and a long, soft delicate finish.
The sweet and precocious malvasia, called malvazia or even malmsey, can only be found in the South, on low-lying vineyards at 150-200m, close to the ocean.
Food-pairing
It is an excellent addition to pastries, fruit, chocolate, pralines, hard cheeses, ice cream, caramel & coffee desserts.
Grapes: Malmsey - Malvasia
The sweetest style Madeira is made from this. There are two types, the malvasia and the malvasia candida. The malvasia candida grows closest to the ocean and originated in Greece. A nice legend about the malmsey is that of the Duke of Clarence who chose death by drowning in a barrel of malmsey to death by a sword. Blandy's named one of his wines after him. And in Shekespeare's work there are numerous references to Malmsey. Even Napoleon took some malmsey from the island. In the 19th century, malmsey became even more fashionable and there was even a "morning malmsey" to start the day. Malmsey is "meditation wine" with which you can end a good dinner perfectly. Aromas: honey, raisins, caramel, vanilla. An old malmsey has aromas of toffee, vanilla and sometimes even beef stock.
Alcoholcontent
20%
Store & Serve
Always keep a Madeira wine upright.
Madeira's acids are so strong that they attack the cork if the bottle is stored lying down
Serve at 18 °C
Madeira is a wine that has matured in an oxidative environment for several years, before being bottled in a reductive environment. 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 affects Madeira wines. In fact, the wine tastes better after months - if there is still some left - than when opening the bottle..
Critics & Awards
Gold - Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2016