1977 DOliveira Terrantez Vintage Madeira - medium dry
€ 650.70
| Producer | D'Oliveiras |
| Region | Madeira |
| Grapes | Terrantez |
| Ageing | At least 20 years in cask (Frasqueira) |
| Alcohol | 19,5%vol |
| Serving | 18°C, open a few hours in advance Store upright, keeps almost indefinitely once opened |
| Scores | 97/100 Tim Atkin 17,5/20 Jancis Robinson 90/100 Wine & Spirits |
A 1977 Terrantez with 97 points from Tim Atkin, from a great year for the grape.
The story
These are Madeira’s finest wines, with almost unlimited ageing potential. A Frasqueira (formerly called vintage Madeira) must spend at least 20 years in cask and two years in bottle before it may be sold. It comes from a single good harvest and a single noble grape, both stated on the label with the harvest and bottling years. After gentle heating it ages for a long time in wooden casks, and once bottled its quality no longer changes. Because they are so rare, these wines are inventoried.
Terrantez is a medium-sweet white grape that is hard to grow. It copes poorly with humidity, so the slopes of the east coast suit it best. It has become very rare. Typical is a certain bitterness and a finish reminiscent of roasted coffee and ash.
Terrantez, also called Cascal, was once widely used on Madeira, but by the 1990s it had almost disappeared from the island, because of its low yields and the powdery mildew and phylloxera epidemics of the 19th century. Since 2016 the Madeiran government has supported replanting, but in 2021 there were still only 5.64 ha on the island.
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
Cheeses such as blue cheese, Stilton, Gruyère, Manchego and Emmental. Dried fruit. Crème brûlée, caramel desserts with apple, apricot, pecans, cherries, almonds, hazelnuts or dried figs, and vanilla ice cream. Also a fine companion to a pipe, cigar or aromatic tobacco.
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.
Critics & Awards
97/100 Tim Atkin | Tasted: Oct 2012
17,5/20 Jancis Robinson
Bottled in 2009, from a year that was particularly good for Terrantez. Dark, jewel-like brown, with a spicy, feral nose of real depth. Coconut and richness, and a fairly dry finish with some astringency, typical of Terrantez. A curiosity: very firm and very slow to mature.
Bottled in 2009, from a year that was particularly good for Terrantez. Dark, jewel-like brown, with a spicy, feral nose of real depth. Coconut and richness, and a fairly dry finish with some astringency, typical of Terrantez. A curiosity: very firm and very slow to mature.
90/100 Wine & Spirits Magazine
91/100 CellarTracker (32 notes)
Reviews
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