TN: NV Broadbent Madeira Verdelho 10 Year Old (Portugal, Madeira)

WINE TALK
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  • NV Broadbent Madeira Verdelho 10 Year Old - Portugal, Madeira (11/9/2020)
    Much more sweetness than should exist in a well made Verdelho. The citrus is good as is the acidity. It’s a good wine with spicy food due to the sweetness. It will also work with high fat dishes due to the sweetness and the acidity.

Overall however, I’m pretty disappointed in the entire line of Broadbent Madeiras. They’re not made in the traditional style of the grapes used. I’m glad these were inexpensive. (87 pts.)

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Posted from CellarTracker

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I’ve had similar disappointments tasting most low end Madeira. None of them seem to deliver an experience I want to repeat.

The Rare Wine Co Historic series are about as low end as I’ve found for Madeira that I enjoy. It’s a solid lineup but you are talking $40-60.

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What are some of the high-end Madeira? I have been drinking Rare Wine Co Madeira for a while and definitely enjoy them.
A couple of older Madeiras I tasted (from 60/70) are good but not exactly eye-opening.

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I think there are a number of really good NV Madeiras on the market that won’t break the bank. In addition to the RWC offerings. I really like the Henriques & Henriques 10-year Verdelho and 15-year Verdelho are excellent wines that are very representative of the way the grape should perform. Those are both in the same price point as RWC.

Pretty much any of the vintage dated Madeiras are going to be really expensive, even those that are only 50-80 years old. But the 19th century wines are the ones that will really be eye opening.

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Borges has the best 10 and 15 year olds IMHO. They have a 20 year old Verdelho which is excellent.

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Pretty much any of the vintage dated Madeiras are going to be really expensive, even those that are only 50-80 years old. But the 19th century wines are the ones that will really be eye opening.

Ricardo Freitas of Barbeito has recently released some very, very fine nonvintage blends based on the demijohns laid down by his mother. Not cheap and tiny quantities, but worth it given they’re mainly 19th C and early 20th C wines.

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Eric, are these labeled “Barbeito” or with Ricardo’s name on the bottle? I would like to seek some of these out. They sound really interesting.

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Barbeito, sold by the Rare Wine Company. You need to get on the mailing list since the production volumes are tiny (only a few hundred bottles) so they sell out fast.

Barbeito has also recently released a couple of wine from the Manuel Eugenio Fernandez estate (MEF). He was a wine broker on the island and a great friend of Ricardo’s mother. His family has continued the tradition of family Madeira production and has some lovely Sercial and Verdelho from the north side of the Island. One son owns the Faja dos Padres.

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Thanks Eric. I dropped off the RWC email list because they won’t ship to Illinois. I’ll get back on it, as there’s always a way to skin the cat.

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I second Barbeito. Rare Wine Co. has a bunch of different offerings for them on their website, so I am not sure if you need to be on their list. BUt being on the list will give you first dibs on new releases.