2003 DOliveira Verdelho Colheita Madeira - medium dry
€ 155.80
| Producer | D'Oliveiras |
| Region | Madeira |
| Grapes | Verdelho |
| Ageing | Colheita (single harvest), at least 5 years in cask |
| Alcohol | 20%vol |
| Serving | 18°C, open a few hours in advance Store upright, keeps almost indefinitely once opened |
A 2003 Verdelho Colheita: medium dry, with dried fruit, nuts and honey.
Tasting note
A fruity style with a lovely balance between acidity and sweetness, without Sercial’s high acidity. Dried fruit, nuts and honey on the nose, sometimes with a little coffee and chocolate on the palate.
The story
A Colheita comes from a single harvest and ages for at least five years in cask. At D’Oliveiras the wine stays in cask until it is bottled.
Elsewhere in Portugal, Verdelho is also known as Gouveio. The grape gives a lightly sweet, medium-dry style, is mainly planted in the north at 400-600 m and ripens late. It is the main ingredient of Rainwater.
Madeira spends years ageing in an oxidative environment and moves into a reductive one at bottling. It is therefore best to open the bottle a few hours in advance. After that, air no longer affects the wine: an open bottle keeps almost indefinitely and often tastes even better months later. Always store Madeira upright, as the acidity attacks the cork if the bottle lies down.
Food pairing
As an aperitif, or with oxtail soup (served alongside, not in it), cream of shrimp or asparagus soup, lobster with tarragon vinaigrette, Caesar salad, smoked duck with mango chutney, pigeon with macadamia and star anise or Peking duck. Also good with hazelnuts, quark and aged, sweet or nutty cheeses, smoked salmon, prawn cocktail with Granny Smith, mussels and sardines. It suits almost any meat, from chicken and duck to pork and steak, and is a classic with smoked ham. A Madeiran speciality: swordfish with banana and passion fruit, or grilled pineapple.
The producer
D’Oliveiras (Pereira D’Oliveira) is one of the most traditional Madeira houses and is still owned by the founding family, whose roots lie in São Martinho, above Funchal. Through the purchase of other houses, the oldest of them founded in 1820, D’Oliveiras holds the island’s largest stock of old vintages, going back to 1850. In 1968 the brothers Aníbal and Luís D’Oliveira joined the firm, which then began to export. Since Aníbal’s death in 2017, Luís and Aníbal’s son Filipe have carried on the house.
The house is convinced that Madeira ages best in cask. Old vintages therefore stay in wood, and only as much is bottled as is needed. D’Oliveiras was one of the first on the island to print the bottling year on the back label. The lodge is on Rua dos Ferreiros in old Funchal, in buildings dating back to 1619.
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