Any Madeira fans out there?

[Jenise]

Madeira is both my husband and my favorite sweet wine of all.

A question for any of you fans: I'm presuming you save the 1827's for special occasions , so what do you drink for an everyday (under $50, say) Madeira?

At our house it's a brand that no one outside the U.S. will recognize, The Rare Wine Co. (The Rare Wine Co. is a wine retailer in Sonoma whose owner has a real jones for Madeira, and hence he's started bottling this series of non-vintage Madeiras named after American cities.) Our favorite is the Charleston, which is a sercial. There's also a bual (Boston) and a malmsey (New York), both of which are quite good but it's the nutty, drier sercial that I love best. Very versatile as both an aperitif and a dessert wine. Regularly costs about $40, though I recently found a local store had marked their stock down to $26. I bought the sercials and one bual, and left the malmseys for someone else.

The Rare Wine Company's offerings are fairly regularly available where I live now, so we always have some on hand. But we used to only have it sporadically because on the left coast where I've always made my home decent Madeira wasn't easy to find. Most retailers seemed to regard it as a little-old-lady wine, and if they carried any at all it would be the low-end version of the real deal like Blandy's Rainwater or some creepy Paul Masson California knock-off. So hard were good ones to find that a lot of time elapsed between bottles and I was never aware of having bought the same one twice. Thus we never formed a special affection for of the type we've formed over the last year and half for the RWC sercial.

So back to my question, what's your favorite everyday Madeira?

Jenise,

I love Rare's Boston Boal. A fine choice for the money. Sometimes an old'ish' D'Oliveira Madeira can be had for under $50. There's nothing like springing for 19th century though. When $300 dollars can get you wine from your Great Grandfathers era, it's money well spent. There is no other wine on earth you can get for such a bargain.

I know Thomas is a Madeira fan. I hope he views this post.

[Jenise]

Jenise,

I love Rare's Boston Boal. A fine choice for the money. Sometimes an old'ish' D'Oliveira Madeira can be had for under $50. There's nothing like springing for 19th century though. When $300 dollars can get you wine from your Great Grandfathers era, it's money well spent. There is no other wine on earth you can get for such a bargain.

Bill, wholeheartedly agreed, and I own some of those. It's the RWC Madeiras, though, that keep the few I own safe!

[James Roscoe]

I know Thomas is a Madeira fan. I hope he views this post.

Thomas is on a sabbatical. If you say something really outrageous, he might be forced to come out of lurkdom. I don't know if he is even lurking at this point.

I have never had a good madiera. Their only use as far as I can tell is to mix with fruit juice to make some sort of punch.

I really like Madeira. I also appreciate that you don't have to worry about provenance, etc since it's preoxidized.
Charles

Tastes differ - I really like 10 year and 20 year Malmseys. And I've had a couple of glasses of Madeira that are older than I am. It does age!

Madeira and Banyuls are my favorite postprandial sips. I think. Yeah, probably, but.. cognac and vintage Port are indispensable too.

Heck! If it has an ancestral grape I probably like it.

At our house it's a brand that no one outside the U.S. will recognize, The Rare Wine Co. (The Rare Wine Co. is a wine retailer in Sonoma whose owner has a real jones for Madeira, and hence he's started bottling this series of non-vintage Madeiras named after American cities.) Our favorite is the Charleston, which is a sercial. There's also a bual (Boston) and a malmsey (New York), both of which are quite good but it's the nutty, drier sercial that I love best. Very versatile as both an aperitif and a dessert wine. Regularly costs about $40, though I recently found a local store had marked their stock down to $26. I bought the sercials and one bual, and left the malmseys for someone else.

Jenise,

I have only tasted The Rare Wine Co. Malmsey, which I really like and keep in limited supply. I would love to try the others, but have never seen them. AND where the heck did you find these for $26?

Do you drink your RWC wines right away, or do you let them sit for a few years? I have little experience with Madeira.

-- Clark

I am also a huge Madeira fan - definitely my fortified wine of choice. Favorite is Kopke 10 year old Verdelho - it is also on the drier side, like Sercial, with a smokey character and the acids very tangy but a little less heavy than the usual sercial. It sells for about 23 euros here.
cheers, Bonnie

I love Madeira! It's the perfect wine for storing in a tropical climate. Unfortunately all we have here are those made from Tinta Negra Mole. I have a small stash of my own purchased from the US but it is dwindling rapidly. What's left are some Broadbent Terrantez and 1964 Bual (my birth year). I'm trying to convince some importers to bring some in although no success so far.

[Jenise]

I really like Madeira. I also appreciate that you don't have to worry about provenance, etc since it's preoxidized.

Hadn't thought about that advantage--only what John and Jay suggest about infinite aging capability, but you're right.

Clark--got these at a local grocery store who doesn't usually have much interesting stuff, and they were marked down. The original price tag is still on the bottle, but X'd out, and the new price tag shows $29. I bought two more bottles of something else which qualified me for a 10% discount, ergo, $26. You guys have me thinking I should run back and buy the Malmseys too.

I'm a huge fan of Madeira. You might want to check out Roy Hersh's websight For The Love Of Port. It has a Madeira section and Roy is also a hugh Madeira fanatic. I recently had the privledge to participate in a tasting of old and rare Madieras organized by Roy with Mannie Berk, the owner of Rare Wine Co.
I really like the Rare Wine Co. Wines. They also have a Verdelho-Bual blend from Barbeito which is quite nice and inexpensive. You can order direct from them. They have the finest Madeira selection in the states.
You also might look out for the Broadbent 10 Year Old Malmsey. Excellent quality and slightly less expensive than the Rare Wine Co. New York.

Do you drink your RWC wines right away, or do you let them sit for a few years? I have little experience with Madeira.

You can drink them right away. While Madeira can and will age in the bottle, most of the aging is done in cask where the flavors concentrate.

Yet another great thread. Thank you for starting it, Jenise.
I've got a lone bottle of RWC Boston Bual and didnt know what to expect. From what I read, I want to try it really soon! thanks.

Madeira rocks. And old Madeira rocks even more than Musar! (Shocking to see me write that isn't it?) Barbeito's 1834 Malvazia was bloody brilliant. I'm hoping to find their 1910 Sercial and 1795 Malvazia also, but with no luck so far. No Madeira is available in Finland (that I know of) so I'm unable to give suggestions for a good everyday example. FWIW, Roy Hersh has written very positively on even the younger (10 YO IIRC) Broadbent's that is available on that side of the pond for not all that much $.

-O-

Old Madeira is incredible, but I don't have an everyday option for a few reasons.

Reason 1: The sweeter versions have too many calories for me. Nothing like drinking a few candy bars before bed on a Tuesday night.

Reason 2: The drier versions aren't as high on the QPR scale as dry sherry.

[Jenise]

I am also a huge Madeira fan - definitely my fortified wine of choice. Favorite is Kopke 10 year old Verdelho - it is also on the drier side, like Sercial, with a smokey character and the acids very tangy but a little less heavy than the usual sercial. It sells for about 23 euros here.

Bonnie, lucky you. I remember from the time I spent in Hoorn that the selection of fortified wines was terrific there. Lots of small houses and good QPR stuff in addition to the big boys--stuff we'd never see in the U.S.