When it started

It was around 1807 when John Blandy arrived from England to the island of Madeira. He was 23 years old, as records suggest one of the main reason must have been the good “climate” of the island. He set up a business as a general trader in 1811. Good hundred years latter in 1925 several wine companies joined to form a group and to represent the wines of the island at an even stronger level. In 1981 the name was changed to the current one, Madeira Wine Company, while Blandy’s is still the original and leading brand. The Symington family of Porto was brought in 1989 to join forces, promote Madeira at an even higher level. The Madeira Wine Company’s aim is to promote the wines of the islands and of course their brands. Over 50% of the production goes to the export market and 1/3 of the total production of Madeira wines, comes from the MWC.

The winery is located in Funchal just a few minutes from the centre where the visitor centre “The Lodges” a former Franciscan monastery is situated, the Sao Francisco.

The winery

While in the lodges some of the most fantastic wines mature in oak barrels in the canteiro system, glass demijohns or wait in the bottles to be opened there is also a visitor center attached to it. But everything starts at the winery further up the road. Why not in the vineyard? Well, actually it does, as Madeira has a special terroir yet  so many things happen in the cellar, especially during aging that I consider winery work in this case more important.

Certainly the special climate of Madeira, soil which is highly acidic on the volcanic island makes the grape high in acidity too (or other fruits such as the banana), a pH of around 3-3,3, the roots of the vines don’t go too deep either.

Harvest starts around the 3^rd week of August, while the Madeira Wine Company does not own any land it works with roughly 800 producers. Each producer supplies the company with 20 kg of grapes on average said Filipe Azevedo, Wine Assistant Manager at Blandy’s. Agents help to maintain quality and give advice to the growers, crucial is the 9 Baumé the grapes must arrive in the companies boxes which fit not more than 50 kg of grapes. Due to the humidity 75% and temperatures of 30°C, grapes do not travel well. We don’t want oxidation said Filipe. Sercial is usually the last which gets harvested and while Tinta Negra is looked upon as a workhorse and only red grape variety is also the most moderately priced. Depending on quality without any additional bonuses growers get paid around 85 cents/ kg, for Sercial this can be 1,20 EUR / kg.

While the majority of the vineyards planted on the South side of the island, around Camara des Lobos there is plenty to look for on the North side too. Slightly more rainy and less land for farming make it, however a bit more difficult, everything is done by hand. Not to mention the distance as virtually all the producers are based in or around Funchal, the capital. The highest spots around 800 m are J Serra where Sercial appreciates the terroir and Estreito, Sao Vincente Tinta Negra and Verdelho likes it as well. Malvasia likes it lower around 300 m of sea level, general rule of thumb.

Humidity can cause some headache to some growers, powdery mildew and downy can be problems there is usually more rain on the Northern side, spraying with sulphur is the major weapon. I was wondering how did phyloxera arrive to the island as it doesn’t appreciate water. Felipe was suggesting by wind. You can feel occasionally the hot winds from Africa. A funny picture came into my mind, the bug was riding on the currents.

Tinta Negra is placed in autovinification if medium sweet and sweet wines are wanted, dry and medium dry is done without skin. Maximum extraction is achieved through “pelicular maceration” practiced for the white grape varieties.

Fermentation is stopped by neutral grape spirit of 96% this should be of high quality and will be checked by the Madeira Wine Institute. It should smell clean, dry fast, and evaporated quickly. Roughly 1 million kg of grapes are received annually and the winery never has to buy a single cask again (just repair them) as they have so much wood on stock it will keep them for ever. Cooperage however is a rare occupancy and virtually only the MWC has coopers, the 22000 hl wooden casks are also maintained by them.

Depending on style and type of wine they either age in estufagem or all of the noble varieties undergo the canteiro system and aged for a minimum period of 4-5 years. Colheitas around 6-19 years while vintage receives a minimum of 20 years. The “workhorse” of Tinta Negra mostly -but by no all- will put under estufagem, 3 months where the temperatures rises to 50°C and slowly comes down to age a further 2 years in wood. It’s basically a vat where through a heated coil pipe warm water is circulated. Some of the canteiros are just above the “green house” the estufagem and a lot of the precious wines aged at the lodges down town. The winemaker can decided where to put the wines for further aging, moving it to a cooler place for more gentle aging. High temperatures bring high evaporation said Francisco Albuquerque chief winemaker at Blandy’s. If the wine is stored too long it can dry out and bring too much concentration. The angel share yearly can be sometimes 3%, and volatile acidity (VA) has to be carefully measured.

The style

Madeira Wine Company has several labels and while it is very hard translate it in words but most people consider the Cossart as the lightest of all due to longer fermentation perhaps, Leacock fairly rich, and Miles perhaps the sweetest while Blandy’s is the leading and most important brand for the company. There is also some still wine made, I had a chance to try the rosé. I would say quite okay…

What are the main characteristics for Madeira? Certainly the high alcohol 19-20%ABV depending on the house, high acidity and the aroma profile. Francisco was pointing out the caramelization, or otherwise known as “maderazition”. A lot of things happen during aging and some are not always understood, but through this welcomed oxidation and “heating” a lot happens to the wine. Alcohol, acids, polyphenols a lot more gets concentrated in the wine, esters and flavours emerge such as 3 hydroxy-4,5 dimethly-2 5H-furanone. Or put in simpler terms resinous eucalyptus, pine wood, pine raisin, vanilla, bread, chocolate, coffee, honey, smoke. Some yeasty notes/mushroom, prune, raisin, nuts, almonds and even spices such as peppermint, cinnamon, cloves and much more can be noted during tastings on the aroma, flavour profile.

Jacques Faro da Silva de managing director of the Madeira Wine Company a very modest and humble person shared with me a few fantastic wines. A short interview can be seen here (done for a Hungarian website):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xA52uWZIrVY

Madeira is passion but also needs some prior knowledge to get a full appreciation from the consumer. With the dynamic team around Faro and Francisco a lot happened and I believe a lot is going to happen in the future. The visitor centre got a new face and development continues of course. I mentioned to Filipe Pereira in charge with Sale and Marketing the visitors centre at the Lodges could have an active education centre. Running classes and seminars all kind for the people who are interested get some certificates from the “joyful” to the more serious kind to the people who are willing to learn more about the fantastic wines of the island. Which is rich in history as from Winston Churchill to the White House people all around the world showed great appreciation for the amazing wines of this small island.

Tasting notes

coming soon…

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