All About Madeira Wine

Are you interested in the different desert wines available? One of the more popular desert wines, and also a terrific cooking wine, is Madeira wine from the Madeira Islands of Portugal.

Madeira Production

Madeira producers do all the wrong things to this wine that would ruin another wine before the wine is sold, but the drink tastes wonderful.

First Madeira is allowed to “cook.” Most wines die a flaming death when exposed to heat, particularly for long periods of time. Madeira wine is heated to between 100º to 140º F for several months. Even worse, Madeira is allowed to oxidize, a certain kiss of death for other wines.

Why do Madeira winemakers do this?

Madeira History

During the days when ships were used to transport goods in the 1500s, Madeira was transported to India around the Cape of Good Hope in the bowels of boats and was treated to heat and the rocking of the seas. The fact that the wine tasted better when it ended up in India than it tasted before it left Portugal was very confusing to wine makers of the time.

People tried to figure out why the wine tasted so good for more than one hundred years.

It was not until 1794 that a method was developed to cook Madeira in ovens, or estufias, that mimicked the conditions of being transported via ships in hot climates.

Interestingly, Madeira has a place in the history of the American Revolution. In 1655, England legislated that wine exports from Europe could only be shipped to British colonies using English ports and ships, with the exception of Madeira. Since grapes of good quality could not be grown in the original thirteen colonies of the New World, the New World colonies ended up consuming almost one quarter of all of the Madeira produced.

Five years before the Boston Tea Party, a dispute over import duties resulted in the Liberty, a sloop owned by John Hancock, the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence, to be seized by British officials. Rioters hit the streets of Boston over the loss of the Madeira wine.

Types of Madeira Wines

There are four major types of Madeira produced, all of which are named after the type of grape used to make the wine. The types of Madeira are Malmsey, Bual, Sercial, and Verdelho, with Sercial being the driest of the four types of Madeira wines and Malmsey being the sweetest.

In addition to types, Madeira wine is also available in different levels of quality.

• Finest – Three year old wines
• Reserve – Five year old wines
• Special Reserve – Aged for at least ten years
• Extra Reserved – Aged for at least fifteen years
• Vintage – Aged for at least twenty years with an additional two year aging in the bottle

Interesting Madeira Facts

• Madeira wine was originally not fortified. Fortified wines have additional alcohol content in them. Wines were fortified to help added to help preserve the wines for a longer period of time.
   
• If you open a bottle of Madeira, you might be able to continue to enjoy the wine for up to a year.
   
• Madeira wines should be opened at least twenty-four hours, if not forty-eight hours or more, to breathe before serving.
   
• Always serve Madeira wines at room temperature.

Madeira Wine Food Pairings

Madeira might be paired successfully with:

• Chocolate cake
• Crème Brulee
• Blue cheese
• Fontina cheese

Madeira also works well as a cooking wine when paired with chicken and mushrooms or when making savory sauces.

Enjoy!

~Laura Evans Staff Editor