Madeira Wine: A Beginner's Guide

Madeira wine is one of the world’s great fortified wines, and one of the longest-lived. It’s deliberately heated during ageing, which makes it almost indestructible: old bottles last for decades, and an opened bottle keeps for months. Here’s a guide to the styles, the grapes and where to taste it in Funchal.

Quick answer: Madeira comes in four classic styles named after grapes, from dry to sweet: Sercial, Verdelho, Boal (Bual) and Malvasia (Malmsey). Age statements of 5, 10 and 15 years are a good place to start. Taste it at a historic wine lodge in Funchal. See Blandy’s Wine Lodge tours.

Why it’s unique

In the age of sail, barrels of Madeira crossed the tropics in ships’ holds, and merchants found the heat improved the wine. Today, producers recreate this by heating it:

• Estufagem: wine is warmed in tanks for several months. This method is used for younger, more affordable wines.
• Canteiro: wine ages slowly in casks in warm lofts for years. This method is used for the best wines.

The styles

• Sercial: dry and tangy, good as an aperitif.
• Verdelho: medium dry, nutty and smoky.
• Boal (Bual): medium sweet, with caramel and dried fruit.
• Malvasia (Malmsey): rich and sweet, a dessert wine.
• Tinta Negra: the most planted grape, used in many blended wines labelled by sweetness (dry, medium dry, medium sweet, sweet).

Age categories

• 3 years: young and simple, often used for cooking.
• 5, 10, 15 years and older: blends with an average age, increasingly complex.
• Colheita: a single-harvest wine, aged for at least five years.
• Frasqueira: a single-vintage wine aged for at least 20 years in cask, the pinnacle of Madeira.

Where to taste

Funchal has several historic wine lodges offering tours and tastings, plus wine bars and shops. Some tours visit vineyards in the hills. See things to do in Funchal and the best Madeira tours.

Tips

• Food pairings: dry styles with soup or cheese, sweet styles with cake, chocolate or nuts.
• Take some home: it travels well. See Portugal souvenirs.

More: the port wine guide and wine tours in Portugal.

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