I am aware that the pronounciation of Danish is not as refined as other languages.
After all everything sound better in Italian
Thanks a lot for your travelogue
Looking forward to Olivieras
And then some more related data from Liddell’s Madeira:
João Pereira d’Oliveira founded the company in 1850 and it still remains in the family. The two brothers who run the firm - Aníbal and Luís - have been managing the company since 1988, when their father died. Aníbal, who joined the firm in 1958 used to be the winemaker, but Aníbal’s son, Filipe, has been working as the winemaker since 1998.
In the early 1900’s Aníbal’s and Luís’s grandfather bought and incorporated the Julio Augusto Cunha winery, that was founded already in 1820 but had run out of heirs to inherit the company. This way Oliveiras gained a sizeable stock of very old Madeira. Another company merge happened when Aníbal’s and Luís’s mother married their father, resulting in the merge of two family companies - Oliveiras and João Coaquim Camacho. Later on Oliveiras has purchased also three other wineries: Vasco Luís Pereira e Filhos, partidista Adegas de Torreão, Lda. and, finally, Arturo Barros & Sousa, which were the next-door neighbors of Oliveiras. All this means that not all of the Oliveiras wines are actually vinified by the Oliveiras winery, but they might be from old casks Oliveiras has acquired through company merges and purchases, and bottled under their own name. (I’ve heard how - unlike in the past - they might be actually planning on bottling the Barros wines with a special mention, as these old-school wines are stylistically quite different from those normally sold under the Oliveiras name, but then again, I’ve heard Oliveiras has already sold some Barros wines under their own name. There are so many stories going around in and of Madeira, but it’s hard to keep track of which are true and which are not!)
No other winery has similar stocks of old wines as Oliveiras. Most of these are not wines produced by the winery itself, but have come from company purchases. However, the main reason why they still have so much old Madeira was because Aníbal’s and Luís’s father Agostinho was dead-set against exporting wines, preferring to sell his wines only on the island to the locals and the tourists while letting the stocks of old wines just pile up. From the 1930s until the 1980’s Oliveiras didn’t export any bottles - all the bottles of Oliveiras Madeira were sold only on Madeira. Only for the past 40 years Oliveiras wines have been also exported, but they still retain an unrivaled stock of old wine. Wines up to 80 years old are still kept in large casks, whereas the older wines are transferred to glass demijohns and bottled only when the winery sees the time is right for them.
Originally the winery had a family farm at São Martinho, where they farmed sugar cane, bananas and grapes, and had an adega - a winery - which supplied a part of the company needs. However, due to labor shortage, the family were forced to sell of the 15 hectares of vineyards in the 1990’s, and now the old vineyards have been replaced with new houses. This means that today all of the Oliveiras wine is made with purchased fruit (just like with any other Madeira shipper apart from Henriques & Henriques, who still retain some estate vineyards) and the company works with around 100 small growers.
Oliveiras purchases around 150-280,000 kg of fruit annually and around 70-80% is Tinta Negra which is made into 3-, 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-yo blends. Curiously, Oliveiras reserves all of its noble varieties solely for Colheitas and Frasqueiras. The younger blended wines with age designation are aged in estufagem, where the wines are kept at between 42ºC and 43ºC between (107,5ºF and 109,5ºF) for 90 days.
While typically other shippers “freshen up” their oldest Madeiras - that can concentrate into quite viscous syrup with enough cask aging - with younger Madeiras, Oliveiras say they never freshen up any of their wines; if the wines start to feel too concentrated by the age, they are just transferred into glass demijohns. Tasting the ridiculous, otherworldly power, intensity and concentration in the oldest Oliveiras bottles, this is something that is quite easy to believe.
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Those old old Madeiras sound epic. I love when the drinking window is measured not in years, but centuries 
hi Otto, thanks for great Travelogue. Really interested in your notes and background in d’Oliveiras. Great story with the women who work there who must be bored with tourists with no idea about wine. Really nice they served you some of the much older wines.
I was fascinated by the price list. It even had the 1912 Verdelho on it. I have a single bottle of this in the cellar. It was a gift from a dear friend who passed away after a heart transplant operation. It is a very special bottle as it holds his memory for me.
I thought that given the unique nature of the wines and their age and provenance that the pricing was high but not unreasonable.
On an unrelated matter: How do you find the time to write such excellent detailed notes while on holiday with your partner? Doesn’t your SO get impatient with you ? they must be very understanding!
Cheers and looking forward to more updates
Brodie
Madeira Vintners, the newest producer, is also run by women. Some of the best 5 year old blends IMO. They’re supposedly going to release some older wines soon.
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One of my top 5 post WWII Madeira. To show how prices have increased, 10 years ago, this was on sale at the Funchal Airport for 80 euros.
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Indeed!
My Madeira-obsessed acquaintance said that +15 years ago, soon after the turn of the millennium, the wines from the 1800’s could be had for just one or two hundred euros and while it was much harder to source bottles from the 1700’s, some could be had for around 1000 euros, can’t remember if some were even under 1000€!
Furthermore, we had a Madeira tasting only a handful of years ago; some of the wines we had there that cost 150-200€ were now 300€ and those that cost 250-300€ were now 400-500€. The stocks are dwindling and the prices are going up, fast.
Day III
No winery visits today - this day we went on a more touristy tour around the island. Maybe we could’ve rented a car ourselves, but to tell you the truth, the small streets, steep up-and-downhills and hairpin turns of Madeira didn’t really encourage any DIY approach here. Going on a tourist tour just took all the stress of planning and execution away, and I didn’t mind - after all, I was on my first vacation abroad since 2019! I’m more than allowed to be a tourist this time.
First, we visited Pico do Areeiro, Madeira’s third highest peak at 1,818 m (5,965 ft). You really can’t get the full sense of the elevation from these pictures, but I hope you realize how crazy up we were and how majestic the views were, thinking that those clouds were hanging at the elevation of 800-1000 m (2600-3000 ft), which means we’re almost a kilometer (half a mile) above the clouds! Here the sense of perspective really disappears and places that are really far away seem like much closer than they really are. Getting near the edges of these cliffs really made one’s legs quite shaky!
Yours truly, in his super cool tourist garb, checking out the surroundings:
After the visit to Pico do Areeiro, we went to see some of the famous levadas, ie. water channels. As the southern part of Madeira was pretty dry and drinking water was scarce, these hand-built water channels were used to supply the southern part of the island with drinking water for centuries. Hiking along these channels from one point to another is a very popular tourist activity in Madeira!
After hiking a bit along the levadas we were transported to the northern shores of Madeira. In the parish of Santana we got to see some of the casas típicas, ie. rural straw-roofed Madeirense houses the farmers used in the past. Today only a handful of houses remain and they are maintained as tourist attractions.
However, you could see the same, traditional color palette from these typical houses even in some modern houses there:
The landscape on the northern side of Madeira is noticeably more rugged, greener, cooler and more humid compared to the less steep southern side - the parish of Arco de São Jorge here is a great example of how the northern side of Madeira looks like:
What might be surprising in Madeira is that even if it might be famous for its wines, it is really hard to find any proper vineyards! Even though the grapes are farmed throughout the island, the vineyards are really, REALLY small on the southern side of the island - many “vineyards” there were nothing more than a bunch of vines in somebody’s back yard! Only on the northern side we could see some proper vineyards and this was probably the most vineyards I saw during the whole trip. Since we were on the northern side, I guess these vineyards must’ve been Malmsey aka. Malvasia Branca de São Jorge, but who knows. Take also note how the vines are trained here in traditional pergolas, not in trellised rows:
From Santana we went to have a small lunch at a local restaurant. Nothing special there, just simple fare for a group of tourists. After the lunch we went to see the peak that sits on the ridge that divides Madeira in two and from where on a clear day you can see the Atlantic on both the sides of the island. However, on this day the peak was in the clouds, so all we could see wast white mist.
The last stop before returning to Funchal was the sightseeing spot at Cabo Girão, where they had built a platform with a glass floor - 580 meters (1900 ft) above the shore:
Here is Funchal as seen from the Cabo Girão sightseeing platform:
When we returned to Funchal, it was getting pretty late, so we went to the hotel’s rooftop jacuzzi for a little break, then took off to the streets of Funchal for some dinner:
And only now did I realize that the wines that we had at the restaurant were those that I accidentally mentioned in yesterday’s post, so I’m moving them here! However, I also updated the wine for yesterday’s dinner accordingly, so anyone interested - check out that TN for the red Barbusano. Anyways, here are the notes for the wines we had at the restaurant (and the d’Oliveiras Colheita I bought the day before):
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2018 Barbeito Verdelho - Portugal, Madeira, Madeirense (1.9.2022)
A blend of Verdelho (96%), sourced from Raposeira in the southwest corner in Madeira and Seixal and São Vicente in the north coast of Madeira, and Sercial (4%), sourced from Seixal. Verdelho was foot-crushed and left to macerate with the skins in cool temperatures for three days, whereas Sercial was directly pressed and moved into stainless steel tanks for fermentation. After three days of cold soak, Verdelho was moved into stainless steel tanks (50%) and oak barrels both old and new (50%) for fermentation. Aged in stainless steel and oak for six months. Blended and left to marry for another six months. Bottled unfiltered in November 2019. 11,5% alcohol, 1,4 g/l residual sugar, 7,34 g/l acidity and pH 3,11. Total production 3082 bottles.
Medium-deep yellow green color. Fresh and slightly reductive nose with aromas of ripe lemony citrus fruits, some creamy notes of oak, a little bit of sweet yellow fruits, light leathery tones and a herby hint of greenness. The wine is dry and medium-bodied on the palate, but much softer than I expected it to be. The flavors are somewhat dilute and a bit underwhelming with some lemony citrus fruit tones, a little bit of creamy oak, light steely mineral notes, a hint of tangy salinity, sweeter nuances of ripe yellow apple and a touch of apple peel bitterness. You can taste the acidity is quite high, yet the overall feel is somewhat mellow and lacking the verve and zip I was expecting from a Verdelho. The finish is quite light with a medium-long aftertaste of fresh yellow apple, some lemony tones, a little bit of leathery funk, a hint of apple peel bitterness and a reductive touch of struck match.
A pleasant but also surprisingly dilute and soft Madeirense white. Having read the specifications of the wine beforehand, I had expected it to be something akin to a Muscadet - a light wine with lithe body, refreshing acidic zip and bright flavors. However, the acidity here felt surprisingly soft despite the numbers, whereas the flavors were lacking depth and intensity - it felt as if the wine was made from grapes that hadn't attained enough ripeness to develop a good number of flavor precursors, making the wine feel a bit lacking in taste. While not a bad wine, I was expecting something of more depth, freshness and intensity. This was just a mild, simple and agreeable little white. Priced somewhat according to its quality at 7,50€ for a glass in a restaurant.
(84 points) -
2020 Sem Igual Vinho Verde - Portugal, Minho, Vinho Verde (1.9.2022)
There was no obvious vintage designation in the label, but the back label had lot numer "L20-09" which makes me think this is from 2020 vintage. A blend of Baga (45%), Touriga Nacional (45%) and Vinhão (10%). 12% alcohol.
Slightly translucent blackish-red color with a subtly evolved maroon hue. The nose feels slightly funky or a bit odd with aromas of ripe cranberries, some sweet dark fruits, a little bit of leathery funk, light brambly notes of raspberries, a hint of lingonberry and a touch of pomegranate juice. The wine is light-bodied, crunchy and acid-driven on the palate with bright flavors of lingonberries and cranberries, some appley tones, a little bit of earth, light spicy notes reminiscent of Pinosity and a tart hint of pomegranate juice. The structure relies almost solely on the piercing acidity, as the tannins come across as quite easy and gentle. The finish is dry, crunchy and racy with intense flavors of cranberries, some tart lingonberries, a little bit of sour cherry bitterness, light tangy notes of Granny Smith apple, a hint of pomegranate and a touch of saline minerality.
A nice, crisp and racy red that drinks almost like a mineral, acid-driven white wine. Probably too lean and tart if one prefers ripe and fruity reds, but if one is looking for something light, dry and refreshing, this is simply perfect stuff. It's hard to assess whether this kind of wine has enough substance for any serious evolution in a cellar, but for immediate consumption, this is terrific. Pair like you would pair a Riesling, an Albariño or some other acid-driven, mineral white. Priced according to its quality at 6,50€ for a glass in a restaurant.
(88 points) -
2007 D'Oliveiras Madeira Verdelho Colheita - Portugal, Madeira (1.9.2022)
The wine is made with purchased Verdelho. After 5-6 days of fermentation, the must is rectified to approx. 20% ABV with 96% ABV grape spirit to halt the fermentation. The fortified wine is transferred to old oak casks which are moved to age in Canteiros, ie. in warm warehouses in which the wines age in casks that are never topped up. 20% alcohol. Bottled in 2022, after 15 years of aging, labeled as "medium dry".
Moderately deep mahogany color with a reddish, coppery core and pale golden-yellow rim. The nose feels sweet and, attractive and quite evolved yet not particularly oxidative with nuanced aromas of maple syrup and apple jam, some creamy custard notes, a little bit of clove-driven Christmas spice, light marzipan tones, a hint of Sultana raisins and a touch of butterscotch. Lovely! The wine feels quite sweet, intense and a bit hot on the palate with a medium-to-moderately full body and layered flavors of apple jam and tart, lemony citrus fruit, some Christmas spices like cinnamon and cloves, a little bit of maple syrup, light creamy notes of vanilla custard, a hint of burnt sugar bitterness and a sweet touch of Sultanas. The high acidity lends great sense of freshness and structure to the wine while at the same time letting the richness from the residual sugar lift the sweeter flavors. The finish is juicy, textural and quite acid-driven with a somewhat sweet and very lengthy aftertaste of butterscotch, some creamy custard tones, a little bit of lemony citrus fruit, light sweet notes of apple jam and Sultana raisins, a hint of cloves and a touch of peanut butter.
A beautiful, harmonious and wonderfully textural Colheita. Stylistically the wine is quite close to the younger d'Oliveiras Frasqueiras, but compared to the older Frasqueiras, this is quite a different thing - the wine seems sweeter and more textural as the wine doesn't have any of the concentration that the older wines have developed. Especially the "lack" of acidity is quite apparent: while nobody in their right mind would say this wine is lacking in acidity, because it is actually very high in acidity, it is nowhere near as sharp and incisive as the old Frasqueiras can be with their piercing acidity. Furthermore, even if this wine shows some really lovely complexity and sense of development, the wine is still missing the concentrated mouthfeel and intensity in the flavors one can find in wines that have been aged in oak casks for a century or even more. I guess that might also explain why the alcohol shows here a bit more than in the older wines - in those wines the immeasurable flavor intensity just masks all the alcohol away. But even if this wine is a mere shadow of the best d'Oliveiras wines, it is still an excellent and immensely delicious fortified wine in its own right. Outstanding stuff, solid value at 46€.
(93 points)
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I was really grateful for the tasting and it really seemed they were happy that there was once again somebody who understood something about the wines and could appreciate what they were doing!
I’m very sorry to hear that + you lucky, lucky man! That bottle is going to be a stunner.
And you know what? It’s a Madeira! You could actually open it whenever you want to! The wine will keep fine for years after you have opened it, as long as you keep it closed with some kind of closure in a fridge / cellar temp.
I guess it must be an equal blend of understanding, habituation and frustration. 
Although I admit I try to keep my notes as brief as possible in a restaurant setting. If I’m having just a wine or two, I can actually write down just the very basic skeleton of the TN in a minute or two and fill out the remainder later on, when I have more time.
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The 1912 D’Oliveiras Verdelho is a very great wine. Agree with Otto, open and drink at your leisure.
The average vineyard holding on the island is tiny. Something like half a hectare. Some of the producers have growers who show up with only a basket of grapes and are proud of it. Pergolas are traditional and help mitigate some of the disease pressure from the humidity.
Otto, I’m hoping you made it to Faja dos Padres!
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Will return to this sooner than you think! 
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This thread has given me a reason to open a 1912 Verdelho this holiday season. I have 3 bottles of it, so no season like the present.
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You lucky son of a gun!
So here’s a question about Madeira. How long does a bottle keep after opening it? Is it something you can open and drink over a year or two, or is it more like so called normal wine where its best consumed within a few (or 3…) days?
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Well, they ruin the wine already during the vinification, so there’s really no way to spoil the wine any further - apart from cooking it, having TCA in it, and so forth.
So basically an opened Madeira stays more or less completely unmoved for months. It stays in top condition for a few years, although you might find some minor between a freshly opened bottle and a wine that has been kept open for a year or two. A little bit of deterioration starts to happen after several years and if you have some experience with Madeira, you can probably pick up hints that maybe this bottle has been open for a tad too long. But even then, Madeira is still pretty indestructible. I’ve had a taste of old Madeira that was opened almost 10 years ago and it was still a superb wine, full of depth and character.
But you have to remember that usually the older wines fare better against oxygen than younger wines. A 10 yo blend or a Colheita from a vintage 10 years ago will probably keep perfectly fine for months, maybe even a year, whereas a Frasqueira from a vintage 50-100 years ago is basically built to stand against the whole eternity, if need be.
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Day 4, pt. I:
One of the things in my bucket list was seeing Fajã dos Padres. However, despite contacting them well beforehand and asking about multiple different dates, it seemed impossible to visit the place so that Mário Fernandes, the owner of the state, would be present, so it didn’t seem like it was possible to see the adega. Oh well, I wanted to see the place anyway, so we booked a tour around the fajã and grabbed a taxi to take us there on the 4th morning of our trip.
Those who do not know, a fajã is a flat, cultivable piece of land under a cliff by the sea, formed by landfall or volcanic flows. Fajã dos Padres, on the other hand, is not just any fajã - it is The Most Celebrated Vineyard in Madeira and has been known to produce some of the most exceptional wines over several centuries. In essence, it’s the Romanée-Conti or To Kalon of Madeira.
A short summary with data sourced from Liddell’s Madeira:
Throughout the history of Madeira, several kinds of varieties known as “Malvasia” (or “Malvazia”) have been cultivated on the island. Today the most cultivated Malvasia by far is Malvasia Branca de São Jorge, but it’s a recent cross introduced in the 1970’s. Some other varieties that are or have been cultivated include Malvasia Fina (aka. Boal), Malvasia di Lipari (aka. Malvasia Cândida), Malvasia Babosa and Malvasia Roxa. Even generic “Malvasia” and an unknown “Green Malvasia” have been mentioned in the past.
Of all the Malvasias, Malvasia Cândida has always been considered to be superior, and historically the best Malvasia Cândida grapes were grown at Fajã dos Padres - the oldest mentions of the extraordinary Malvasia Cândida from Fajã dos Padres go all the way to the 1600’s! In fact it is believed that even if was thought to be one of Madeira’s principal varieties, relatively little Malvasia Cândida was grown there and by 1680’s the Jesuits at Fajã dos Padres had a monopoly on the variety!
This fajã became the property of Jesuit monks in 1595 and soon it was the most important agricultural estate of the Jesuits. They had a chapel built there over the following decades (it has been standing there at least since 1626) and it is there even today - although repurposed as the Fajã dos Padres adega aka. winery.
The Jesuits were expelled from Madeira in 1759 and the property was auctioned off. Over the years its ownership changed and not all of it is quite clear anymore. After 1870 Fajã dos Padres was not a Malvasia vineyard anymore, but a mixed vineyard of several different varieties. After phylloxera hit Madeira, virtually all vineyards were wiped out and it became land for mixed agriculture.
In 1919, Joaquim Carlos de Mendonça, the grandfather of the current owner Mário Fernandes, purchased the property. By then very few vines survived and 1920 was said to be the final vintage of Malvasia Cândida in Madeira. However, in 1940 they found a single surviving vine at a remote part of the fajã and it was determined to be Malvasia Cândida. Some cuttings were taken, but none are thought to exist anymore. However, some new cuttings were taken in 1979 and propagated at the Gulbenkian Institute in Lisbon, resulting in clones that were planted at Fajã dos Padres. The original vine has since died, but at the moment they have a small vineyard that is probably the only and surely the largest vineyard of original Malvasia Cândida in Madeira.
Fajã dos Padres itself is a very remote place - the people at the fajã themselves say they are on an island in an island. It’s a natural veranda about a kilometer long, totaling to about 9 hectares (22 acres), sitting in front of a vertical cliff standing about 250 m (820 ft) high! Historically the fajã was only accessible either by a boat or climbing that vertical cliff. Only in 1984 the place became accessible from the mainland after Mário Fernandes installed a small vertical lift - a device that looked very iffy and perhaps even quite dangerous by today’s standards. Finally, in 1997, a panoramic cable railway was built and the place truly became accessible for tourists.
The place was planted with bananas around 1930 and soon afterwards the place was developed as a tropical fruit farm. Even today the place is mainly a certified organic farm for tropical fruits, and viticulture is only a very small part of what they do. They have around 2 ha (5 acres) of mangoes, 1,5 ha (3,75 acres) of bananas, 1 ha (2,5 acres) of avocado pears and smaller amounts of other fruits. Of grapes, they have only 1 ha (2,5 acres) of Malvasia Cândida and a tiny 0,025 ha (0,06 acres) parcel of Terrantez. Apart from growing fruit and making wine at the fajã, they also have a seaside restaurant, and they’ve also renovated old farmers’ cottages for rental cabins.
Although they make wine at Fajã dos Padres, they are not a licensed Madeira shipper, meaning that they cannot bottle and commercialize their own wine. However, since 2006 they’ve been collaborating with the neighboring Barbeitos winery so that Barbeitos bottles and sells the Madeira produced at the Fajã dos Padres under the estate name. (What was very interesting to learn during my trip to the fajã was that the wines are actually not 100% the vintage the bottle is labeled with. They operate more like they do in Champagne; as the annual production can vary wildly from bountiful to almost nonexistent, they prefer to make blends in which the labeled vintage plays the role of a base wine and other - both older and younger reserve wines - are used to fill out the remainder and keep the “house style” as consistent as possible.)
So, back to the travelogue! After 20 minutes (and 20€), we were at the Fajã dos Padres cable car - which is located a little bit west of the Cabo Girão sightseeing spot. Here’s the view over the fajã from the cable car platform:
And here’s the old lift built in 1984 (which we fortunately didn’t have to ride!) as viewed from the fajã:
After reaching the sea level, we went for an organized trip around the fajã, so be prepared for some fruity photos!
Mango trees to the left, banana trees to the right. The road is covered with a Malvasia Cândida pergola:
Although most of the Malvasias were already harvested, you could still see some unpicked, unripe bunches that remained on vine:
Some mangoes:
Unripe figs:
Even though the place is known for their wines, almost all of the Malvasia Cândida there is grown in pergolas amidst, between and around the tropical fruits! The closest thing to a vineyard I ever saw was this:
I suppose seeing a monarch butterfly isn’t anything special to you living in the US, but Madeira was the first place I’ve ever seen a monarch butterfly in wild - after all, they don’t live anywhere in mainland Europe. A small group of these (surprisingly big) butterflies seemed to follow us wherever we went in the fruit farm:
We actually spotted some monarch larvae, too:
Some bananas:
After the tour, we had a small tasting of fruits they grow at the fajã, including passion fruit:
Small araçal guavas:
Banana and some fruit I can’t even remember what it was:
Many different varieties of mangoes (all ridiculously tasty):
After the fruit tasting we spent some time walking around the pebbly beach, enjoying the warm sea air and admiring the imposing cliff towering over us. We were pondering whether we should’ve gone swimming, but ultimately we just decided to go have a lunch at the seaside restaurant. I ordered a tuna steak with some fries:
We had a bottle of local Arnsburger with the food and I ordered a glass of Fajã dos Padres Malvasia for the dessert:
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2020 Terrabona Madeirense Family Harvest - Portugal, Madeira, Madeirense (2.9.2022)
100% Arnsburger (thought to be a Riesling x Riesling cross, but now believed to be a Müller-Thurgau x Chasselas cross) from Boaventura, a parish on the northern side of Madeira. 12% alcohol. Bottle #652 of total 2500 bottles.
Pale, limpid lime-green color. Fresh, crisp and somewhat restrained nose with slightly Vinho Verde-like aromas of crunchy green apples, some fresh citrus fruit tones, a little bit of herby character, light floral tones and a sweet hint of ripe cantaloupe. The wine is fresh, lively and pretty tangy on the palate with a light body and relatively understated, somewhat neutral flavors of fresh white fruits, some waxy tones, a little bit of saline minerality, light woolly notes and a crunchy hint of whitecurrant. Despite its rather neutral, acid-driven overall feel, the wine comes across as quite balanced, not either watery or austere. The finish is light and quite neutral but also rather lengthy with a dry, understated aftertaste of fresh white fruits, some saline minerality, a little bit of woolly lanolin, light mineral water tones and a hint of crunch ywhitecurrant.
A pleasant but also quite harmless little white. Feels like a missing link between an inexpensive, big-production Riesling and a simple, cheap Vinho Verde. Quite nondescript an effort on its own, but drinks quite nicely with light seafood dishes. OK stuff, priced according to its quality at 24€ for a bottle in a restaurant.
(82 points) -
2005 Fajã dos Padres Madeira Malvasia - Portugal, Madeira (2.9.2022)
A sample tasted at Fajã dos Padres. Unlike all the modern Malvasia / Malmsey Madeiras, which are produced from the modern Malvasia Branca de São Jorge, this wine is 100% Malvasia Cândida (aka. Malvasia di Lipari), the original, esteemed Malvasia introduced to Madeira in the late 15th century. Although never a widely-cultivated variety, the Malvasia Cândida acreage started to dwindle in the 1850's, after the introduction of oidium to the island, and by 1920's the variety was all but extinct - even at Fajã dos Padres, the site known for centuries as the single most exceptional vineyard in the whole Madeira, making the most exquisite Malvasia Madeiras. In 1979 the owners of Fajã dos Padres took cuttings from the last remaining Malvasia Cândida vine and started replanting the vineyards at the fajã, slowly bringing up the total vineyard size to approximately one hectare. As Fajã dos Padres is not a Madeira shipper, they can't commercialize the wines made at the adega - yet they do make their own wine, which they sell at the Fajã dos Padres restaurant. A small number of these wines are also bottled and commercialized by the neighboring winery Barbeitos, so in effect all the Barbeitos Malvasia Cândida bottles are made by Fajã dos Padres from the estate fruit. And while this wine might be labeled as a single vintage, it is typically only based on the vintage with some reserve wines blended in - just to even out the vintage variation in the quantity of production. The wines are aged in old French oak barrels and the typical annual production is just a few hundred bottles.
Luminous, clear syrupy-brown color. Rich, sweet and very intense nose with immensely attractive aromas of raisins and mahogany, some alcohol heat, a little bit of syrupy molasses, light perfumed notes of fragrant flowers and vanilla blossom, a hint of dried dates, a touch of Christmas spice and a sweet whiff of VA. The wine feels intense, slightly hot and quite concentrated on the palate with sweet and surprisingly oxidative flavors of chopped walnuts, tangy rancio and toasted honey waffle, some lemony notes of citrus fruit, a little bit of mahogany, light rich notes of syrupy molasses and maple syrup, hints of Christmas spices and fragrant Asian spices and a slightly bittersweet touch of dark chocolate. The high acidity keeps the wine balanced and relatively airy. The finish is rather sweet, moderately oxidative and slightly warm with very lengthy and complex flavors of roasted walnuts and nutty rancio, some dried-fruit notes of raisins and dried dates, a little bit of crème brûlée, light lemony nuances, a hint of bruised apple and a touch of apple jam.
A fascinating, complex and quite singular Madeira that is relatively airy and a bit less sweet than your typical Malmsey Madeira. However, the wine felt also surprisingly oxidative for its age - we tasted lots of much older Madeiras during our visit, most of which were noticeably less oxidative and nutty. While very distinctive and wonderfully complex, this wine didn't feel as precise, fresh and bracing as the 1996 vintage I had tasted before, instead showing a bit more richness, less acidity and more pronounced oxidative nuttiness and rancio. An immensely delicious wine in its own right, I was still a bit let down by this vintage - based on my experience with the older vintage a few years back. Still, a fantastic wine in its own right!
(93 points)
So even if I couldn’t get to see the adega or get to taste any of the older or more recent wines, at least I got to taste a glass of the most recent release. Do note that this wine was still technically a barrel sample, as a Frasqueira can be bottled only after 20 years from the vintage - hence it name might not be technically correct. If the wine were to be bottled and commercialized now, it should be bottled as a Colheita, since it was only 17 years old at the time! And those who are interested; a small tasting glass at the restaurant cost 16€ - basically more or less as much as a bottle of table wine off the wine list!
This is how the seaside path from the restaurant back to the cable car looks like - all covered with Malvasia Cândida pergolas!
Returning to the cable car, I also spotted some Madeiran wall lizards hanging around on warm rocks. These skittish little creatures are endemic to Madeira and the only species in their genus:
Some more wildlife - while waiting for our taxi at the cable car station on top of the cliff, we saw these two very tired fellas hanging around:
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I’ve gone down that original lift. It was definitely dangerous. You could see the bolts coming out of the rock face as you went. It was later replaced with the current newer elevator, but the cable car has rendered it moot.
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Mario Fernandes likes his wines less sweet. He even has some Malvasia only meio seco, i.e. Verdelho sweetness. Of course since he doesn’t commercialize, he can get away with this. Ricardo Freitas of Barbeito says the adega at the Faja seems to age wines very quickly. The ones he sells with the Barbeito label are aged at the Barbeito adega.
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Great input, thanks! This was exactly the kind of stuff I would’ve loved to hear more only if I had had the opportunity to meet him!
Visiting the other producers, it was also interesting to hear how Instituto do Vinho da Madeira does not allow for making wines outside their mandated levels of residual sugar. For example at Borges they told they recently (some vintages back) received Sercial with atypically high levels of residual sugar. They told me they weren’t allowed to make sweeter Sercial than “dry”, despite the grapes being perfectly suited for making a richer-style Madeira that year, even if they wanted to. On the one hand, I understand how they want to keep the styles the same as they’ve always been, but on the other hand I’d love to see bracing varieties like Sercial made into with more sweetness, or have drier Malvasias or Boals that would be drier, showcasing more of their true varietal character!
Anyway, they told me the Sercial they made that vintage seemed very promising, because they needed to use a noticeably smaller amount of grape spirit for the fortification than normally, resulting in a wine with even more pronounced varietal qualities.
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Very well done, Otto. 
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