Leacock's Medium Rich Bual aged 15 years

Leacock's Medium Rich Bual aged 15 years is a madeira wine from the Portugese island of Madeira far out in the Atlantic.

Leacock's is part of the Madeira wine company, this company also includes Blandy's and Cossart Gordon and is run by the family of Blandy's. The Leacock's 15 year old Bual is not for sale at the moment as I bought it several years ago and it has been replaced by a Tinta Negra 15 year old medium rich in the wines from the company.  

Bual is one of the noble grapes that is grown on the island of Maderia. It is used to make medium rich sweet maderia wine. Only Malmsey maderia wines are sweeter. 

The wine has a high ABV of 19%. In the nose I get a smell of nuts. The taste is of raisin, some tobacco, caramel with some burnt fudge. Quite a long aftertaste. This is one wine that slowly grows on you the longer you keep sipping on it. 

Three Madeira wines

Madeira wines is an under appreciated fortified wine from the island of Madeira. It is made in different styles from dry to sweet. A lof of the flavour of Madeira wine comes from the oxidizing process that all Madeira wines undergo. Because of this process it is one of the wines that can survive for several hundred of years, this is especially true for the high quality wines.

First wine is the J.H. Goncalves Sercial 5 year sold. It is made from the grape Secial which means that this will be a quite dry wine. In the taste I get walnuts, some dry sugar  with nuts and very dry. Definitely a aperitif wine. I think that the grape sercial needs at least ten years of age or it will be too young for most people.

Next up is two Madeira wines from the producer Henriques & Henriques. This is an old producer with roots from the 18-hundreds. The first wine is the Bual 10 years old or Boal as it is written on the label. This is a sweet Madeira wine because it is made of Bual grapes. A big hit on the nose of walnuts, roasted nuts and figs. In the taste raisin, roasted almonds and walnuts with a nice sweetness. A very good bual. Perfect for people who wants a sweet Madeira wine but not the sweetest variant.
The last wine is the 15 years old Veiga Malvazia. This is made from the grape Malmsey or Malvzia as it can be know also. This is the sweetest variant of Madeira wines that you can find. For this wine I get burnt caramel on the nose. In the taste figs, caramel roasted almonds and sweetness. Very well structured.