Blandy's Verdelho and Malmsey ten years old

One type of wine that is many times overlooked are Madiera wine. Once you get by the cheaper cooking wines you will find a lot of very good Madeira wine. 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.

Blandy's is a one of the few producers of Madeira wine. This time I have tried two of their wines. One Verdelho 10 years old and the Malmsey 10 years old. Verdelho is a grape grown on Maideria that produce a version of Madeira that is between dry and sweet called medium dry. In the taste I get caramel, raisin, walnut and some citrus. A very good aperitif wine. This is one Madeira that I would go for on a warm summer day.

Next up is the ten year old Malmsey wine. This grape gives the sweetest Madeira wines of them all. In the taste I get a lot of rich sweetnes with burnt sugar, raisin, nuts and honey. Quite a complex taste and a very good dessert wine or even meditation wine.

Broadbent 10 year Verdelho and Blandy's 15 year sercial, Madeira wine

Broadbent is a bottler of for example Madeira wine. I have tasted their 10 year old Verdelho. Here the Verdelho is a grape that produces semi sweet Madeira wine going over to almost a bit dry style. In the taste I get notes of caramel, orange and some walnut in a drier style. Quite a delicate and not in your face as some other Madiera wines can be. A good meditation wine.

The Blandy's 15 year old Sercial is made with the grape Sercial with makes this Madeira wine to be quite dry. In the taste I get walnut, burnt almond, oak and it is quite dry. Perfect as an aperitivo or an after dinner drink.

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of Blandy's. The Leacock's 15 year old Bual is not for sale at the moment as I bought it several years ago and it has been replaced by a Tinta Negra 15 year old medium rich in the wines from the company.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.

Leacock's ten year old Sercial Madeira and Blandy's 2010 Colheita Madeira Malmsey

One type of wine that is many times overlooked are Madiera wine. Once you get by the cheaper cooking wines you will find a lot of very good Madeira wine.

Leacock's is part of the Madeeira wine company, this company also includes Blandy's and Cossart Gordon and is run by the family of Blandy's. The Leacock's ten year old Sercial is not for sale at the moment as I bought it several years ago and it has been replaced by a Tinta Negra ten year old dry in the wines from the company.
What is Sercial? It is a green grape grown on the Island of Madeira. It is considered one of the four classical Madiera grapes. This Madeira wine is ten years old and the ABV is 20%.
I get a dry nutty taste with some citrus and some oak. This is true to its name, dry Sercial as the wine is very dry. I had a 10 year old Sercial from Blandy's a couple of months ago and that one felt sweet compared to the Leacock's Sercial. It is very good and I feel that this wine should be more as an aperitif or as a wine during some anti pasti dishes.

Net up is the Blandy's 2010 Colheita Madeira Malmsey which was bottled in 2017 giving it an age of seven years. Malmsey also known as Malvasia is also one of the four classic grapes of Madeira and these grapes gives an extremely sweet Madeira wine. A colheita wine must be at least five years old and older, however after twenty years a colheita wine can be called vintage wine and then the name colheita is dropped. The colheita allows the producers to showcase one year without having to wait 20 years for a vintage.
In the nose I get a nutty caramel smell. In the taste a deep lingering taste of nutty caramel and raisins. A very good dessert wine. It is a bit different from the ten year old Malmsey from Blandy's that I tasted a few months ago and it is a very good Colheita and showcases a good style from Blandy's.

Madeira Malmsey ten years old

The fortified wines from Madeira are one of the most interesting wines in the world. Due to the taste and the history of Madeira. Not many wines can be stored for hundreds of years. Unfortunately good Madeira are hard to get in Sweden. The few Madeiras at Systembolaget are not that interesting with a few exceptions. Many of them are just for cooking good sauces and not for drinking. One of the few good ones are a ten year old Madiera from the producer Cossart Gordon made by Malmsey grapes or malvasia grapes as they are also called. This bottle I decided to open when I had a chocolate tasting with several good dark chocolates from the producer Maglio and an extra milkchocolate from the producer Venchi. The colour of the Madeira wine was very dark amber. I have never seen a wine so dark amber. Woyuld be interesting to see the colour of an even older madeira wine. The taste was sweet, some nuts and dried fruits. Excellent. And of the all chocolates tried it worked so very well together with the cioccolato al latte extra. It is these occasions there one plus one is more than two. The Madeira worked good together with the other dark choclates. Next time I have a Venchi milk chocolate I better bring out the Madeira. For those interested in Madiera check out http://madaboutmadeira.org/