1999 Justino Sercial Frasqueira
€ 195.84
| Producer | Justino's |
| Region | Madeira |
| Grapes | Sercial |
| Ageing | At least 20 years in cask (Frasqueira) |
| Alcohol | 19%vol |
| Serving | 10-12°C Store upright |
| Scores | 93/100 IWSC |
A 1999 Sercial Frasqueira: taut, saline and with phenomenal acidity.
Tasting note
Light gold with green and silver tints. A delicate, intense nose of walnuts and pecans with cinnamon and figs. Beautifully firm on the palate, dry, taut and focused, with phenomenal acidity, lovely salinity and flavours of lime and yuzu, with rancio notes on the long finish. A sensational example.
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.
Sercial is the white grape behind the driest style of Madeira: the spirit is only added at the end of fermentation, when almost all the sugar has fermented. Its very high acidity when young earned this late-ripening grape the name Esgana Cão (dog strangler), and it is why Sercial usually ages for a long time. It grows in the highest vineyards in the south, at around 600-800 m, or in the cooler north. Sercial is somewhat reminiscent of Riesling.
Food pairing
Lightly chilled as an aperitif with olives and almonds, or with sushi, oysters, squid carpaccio with tomato-coriander vinaigrette, salmon tartare, prosciutto, crab and fresh tuna (sashimi).
Critics & Awards
93/100 International Wine & Spirit Competition 2024
Clean, soft and mellow, with candied orange and dates on the nose. Good freshness and fruit concentration, with sweet orange marmalade and nutty caramel. Softly structured and well balanced.
Clean, soft and mellow, with candied orange and dates on the nose. Good freshness and fruit concentration, with sweet orange marmalade and nutty caramel. Softly structured and well balanced.