Madeira newbie, looking for advice

[Eric_Ifune]

Burgundy styled bottle with broken lettering? That’s what the JCA looks like. I haven’t tasted it, nor the 1720 Pather. I have had the 1760 Borges Terrantez. The last bottle of the JCA that I know of for sale went for $39,000.00!

[Otto_Forsberg]

Burgundy styled bottle with broken lettering? That’s what the JCA looks like. I haven’t tasted it, nor the 1720 Pather. I have had the 1760 Borges Terrantez. The last bottle of the JCA that I know of for sale went for $39,000.00!

Since I wasn’t there in the tasting, I didn’t take a bottle pic meself. However, managed to snag a pic from this friend’s FB wall. Does this one look right?

[Eric_Ifune]

Bottle on the far right? Hard to tell from the photo. Christies auction catalog from the end of 2016 in New York has a photo.

[Otto_Forsberg]

Bottle on the far right? Hard to tell from the photo. Christies auction catalog from the end of 2016 in New York has a photo.

Doesn’t seem to be the same bottle, as the Christie’s catalogue bottle is much cleaner, but the bottle shape, wax and the stencil letters do match.

Also, I remember him paying thousands of €s for it, but not tens of thousands.

Here’s a close-up on the final four bottles.

[M.Kaplan]

This bottle of 1795 Barbeito Terrantez, generously brought by Saul Cooperstein to a crazy dinner in 2012 (blind steaks from all over the world), is on my life list.

[Michael_D]

Also, if it’s possible for you I would strongly recommend visiting Madeira itself whenever you are able. It is a beautiful and wonderful place.

Yes. It’s the Hawaii of the Atlantic but European rather than Asian influenced. The local table wines have improved immeasurably the last few years. The food is fantastic!

I wouldn’t call the 1795 Barbeito Terrantez the oldest wine in the world. There was at least 4 other producers of Terrantez that year. Christies sold several bottles of the Borges 1720 Pather and 1760 Terrantez just last week. Probably from one of the Borges family. The oldest wine for sale was probably the 1715 JCA Terrantez, last seen at auction a few years ago. The 1795 Barbeito originally belonged to the Hinton family before Mario Barbeito bought it in the mid 20th Century. Last year, Ricardo Freitas found a small demijohn of this that his mother stashed. The Rare Wine Company got it but I haven’t seen if for sale. Mannie Berk of the RWC probably is keeping it for himself.

I just re-read the certification we got from the Herbfarm. It calls the 1795 the Oldest Wine in the World, then clarifies it as “oldest known wine being offered by the glass”.

Frankly, I couldn’t care less about that triviality. It was freaking excellent, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to drink it. I can’t imagine a life where I could afford to actually own (and drink) an entire bottle.

[Chris_Blum]

The thing is low end Madeira isn’t all that great. At least if you are looking for typical wines that people enjoy. The lower end wines are almost a whole 'nother thing.

The Rare Wine Co bottlings give you a nice window into better Madeira without breaking the bank. Madeira isn’t really like other regions where you can play around in the kiddie pool while you figure it out. But the RWC bottles give you a medium range to play around with to see if you want more. Plus, they’re just good wines and cover a good range of styles. And as Tomas mentions they’ll live in the fridge for a long time. The bigger ones make nice late night sniffs. The lighter ones can work with dinner.

I wholeheartedly agree.

[Eric_Ifune]

Just 10 years ago, the 1715 JCA was well under $10,000. The 1795 Barbeito Terrantez was under $1,000.00. Madeira, and especially old Terrantez, has really escalated in price.

Otto, on that close up photo, the 1842 was likely a Borges bottling, another famous Borges Terrantez. The saying on the label is an old Madeiran one, “The grapes of Terrantez are not for eating, nor to give them away, but for wine as god created them.”