The moment is closing in and I don’t like it at all. For two months it has been my companion, this complex and ethereal Verdelho which totally reverses the belief what a Madeira ought to be. Now, when looking…
Funny actually; I’m not that much into sweets, chocolate or desserts for that matter. Never really been. Guess it comes with the nut allergy I’ve had since childhood. Although it turned milder with age, it’s still there: the avoiding…
Twenty years old Madeira. For the initiated Madeira consumer this has primarily been equal to Vintage wines which by regulation needs to spend two decades in cask. Most of these however, are allowed to evolve much longer than that, knowing…
3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years old. Occasionally you will also bump into the 30 and 40 years old blends – the latter being the oldest stated blend allowed in the Madeira wine regulation. But are they all needed;…
Just out of the blue it starts dripping from the wooden ceiling. The liquid misses Isabel with a decimetre or two. I’m at Rua 31 de Janeiro number 83. The old flour mill where H.M. Borges are to be…
The grapes keeps coming in and a new truck has just arrived. Tinta Negra and Verdelho. Plastic cases filled with grapes are lined up. Around 35 kilos in each. Forget about the romanticized idea of winemaking; this is hard…
You know, there’s a saying in Portugal: “As uvas de Terrantez, não as comas nem as dês, para vinho Deus as fez.” Meaning: The grapes of Terrantez are not for eating, nor to give them away, but for wine god…
-There are more modern instruments, but we like this old one, Americo says when explaining for me how they measure the alcohol content in the wines. We’re standing in the laboratory of Vinhos Barbeito together with Americo Pereira who’s guiding…
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