H.M. Borges 5 years old Madeira - medium sweet

€ 14.40

The color is dark amber with greenish reflections. The nose bears the mark of Madeirization in the form of a faint scent of nail polish remover, coffee, a little bit of coconut, dried quince and faint dark cinnamon. The mouth is juicy and slightly bitter, as if you were sinking your teeth into candied grapefruit peel, with a hint of molasses with coffee that turns into honey, and a very long and pleasant aftertaste.

Food-pairing

Nice as an aperitif or with a good appetizer. Try it for spicy Vietnamese Pho with veel fish sauce, a dash of coriander, a dash of lime juice and a dash of chilli.

Grapes: Tinta Negra

Tinta Negra is a moisture-resistant American hybrid of the vinifera variety that was introduced in the 18th century following the attacks of wine mold in the 1850s and phylloxera in the 1870s. Today it is the most common grape variety in the region, accounting for about 85 % of total production in Madeira.

Tinta Negra is used for the production of wines with 4 different degrees of sweetness: dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet and sweet. The degree of sweetness appears on the bottle.

Adaptable and robust, it bears medium to small grapes with very fine and soft skins, and has adapted incredibly to the geological and morphological conditions of the island, so that it is now grown in the south, in Funchal and Câmara de Lobos and in the north in São Vicente. The grapes for this wine are harvested close to the coast at Estreito de Câmara de Lobos, characterized by clayey, acidic volcanic soils, mainly basaltic, rich in organic matter.

The grapes are destemmed and lightly pressed. The wine fermented for about 5 days in open fermentation tanks under temperature control between 24 and 26 degrees. Then, after 3-4 days, it is enriched with taste-neutral 96% alcohol.

Then half of the wine is aged according to the estufagem technique. Estufa actually means oven or heating room and is used to imitate the tropical heat to which the historic Vinho de Roda was exposed during the long sea voyages. The wine matures in temperature-stabilized cylindrical stainless steel tanks in estufas, for a minimum of 3 months at a temperature between 35 and 45 degrees. The tank is not completely filled, partly because the wine expands as it heats, partly to deliberately oxidize the wine. After the wine is finished with estufagem, it cools at room temperature for about 30 days. The wine is then stored for 5-6 years in barrels of 24-26,000 liters of hard tropical wood.

The other half of the wine matures in canteiros. Here the matured wine matures gently for 5-6 years at 20-35 degrees in small 650 liter French and American oak barrels according to the traditional canteiro method until bottling, where somewhere between 5 and 8% of the wine per year evaporates, which helps concentrate the acidity of the wine.

Alcoholcontent

19%

Store & Serve

serving as an aperitif at 10 ° C as dessert wine at 13-14 ° C. Decanting unnecessary.

Can be stored for several months after opening.

Critics & Awards

Tags: H.M. Borges