TRAVESSIA Winery Blog

Madeira Wine and Independence Day

The volcanic island of Madeira (wood in Portuguese) is one of the several places that I hope to visit before I die.  I’ve seen the images on RTPi and there’s no doubt that this archipelago is a very unique place on earth.  Though Madeira is closer to Africa from a geography stand point, politically and culturally it is part of Portugal.  The island has rich biodiversity, great weather and a very unique wine.

I was about 13 the first time that I encountered Madeira wine while reading the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, one of the few books I’ve ever read from beginning to end.  But I was not aware of the role of Madeira wine in American history until the US History course in my senior year at New Bedford High.  That’s when the bilingual teacher proudly pointed out to all of us in the class that Madeira wine was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson.  Now that’s how you connect with a “fresh off the boat” Portuguese kid and teach him a little about American history!  Historians have documented that when the founding fathers raised a glass to toast the signing of the United States declaration of independence, it was Madeira they drank.  Madeira might have been the very first cult wine in America.

What I find most fascination about the wine however, is not its historical references but the process used to make it.  Madeira is made mostly from grape varietals Boal, Malvasia, Verdelho and Sercial.  The wine is fortified similarly to Port wine which means that brandy is added to the grape juice at some point during the fermentation.  Depending on when the brandy is added, the result may be a more or less sweet wine.  So, just like with Port, Madeira wine doesn’t necessarily have to be sweet.  So far no surprises... but what happens next is what’s so amazing about this wine.

After the brandy fortification, the wine is heated either naturally by exposing the barrels to high temperatures caused by the sun (process known as the “canteiro”) or by heating it in stainless steel tanks.  In either case, the wine is basically put through a mild pasteurization.  The “canteiro” method takes much longer and develops better flavors.  The wine is then left to age in oak barrels for many years and often exposed to air causing the wine to become oxidized.  Eventually the wine is finally transferred to glass containers or bottles.  The wine is also high in alcohol content (20+ % volume) so it’s very robust and will last for decades.

So, why do I find this process fascinating?  Because two of the most basic "rules" of winemaking are broken.  First, the wine is exposed to high temperatures for a long time.  Second, the wine is deliberately exposed to air.  Try this on any other wine which is not fortified and you end up with vinegar at best.

For this July 4th weekend why not stop at your local wine shop and pick up a bottle of Madeira wine to celebrate Independence Day?  That’s what I plan on doing and you can’t say that it’s not patriotic.  I wouldn’t recommend it with a burger or barbecue ribs but it should go well at the end of the night on its own or with some dessert.

Related Links:
Madeira wine guide
Most recent top quality Madeira wine offerings by the "Rare Wine Company" (pdf) 

Botrytis & Sweet Wines

A few weeks have gone by since my last post…  I’ve been very busy at the winery, not that I want to make excuses, but I’m well into the making of approximately 12 different wines, over 5,000 gallons in total.  How much wine is this… about the equivalent to 25,000 bottles of 750mL.

One of the most interesting wines that I’m currently working on is labeled by Running Brook as “Auslesen”.  It is a sweet desert wine made with Chardonnay grapes which have been infected with a fungus called “Botrytis Cinerea”.  Special conditions in the vineyard coupled with alternating wet and dry periods around harvest time are necessary for Botrytis Cinerea to turn into what is called “Noble Rot”.  The berries shrivel leaving behind sugars, acids and minerals.  The end result is a more intensely concentrated juice leading to a wine with complex aromatics unlike other sweet and late harvest wines.  But Botrytis also causes a fair amount of loss in the total volume of juice extracted from the vines.  As a result, wines made from these grapes usually demand much higher prices compared with some other desert wines.

There is no agreement as to where Botrytis was first discovered in the world of wine and winemaking, with Hungary, Germany and France all claming that they were the first.  Sauterne is the most famous wine region to produce these wines, a small appellation about 25 miles south of Bordeaux in France.  Chateau d’Yquem dominates this region and is historically one of the world’s most famous desert wine producers.  Their desert wine is made from mostly the Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes… infected with Botrytis Cinerea.  D’Yquem wines usually sell for very high prices.  Their 2002 vintage received a score of 96 from the Wine Spectator so if you want to buy it you’ll have to dish out close to $450 per bottle.  If any of you ever buy or steal a bottle I expect to be invited for a tasting… :-)

Running Brook has successfully grown Botrytis infected Chardonnay at their Wesport Vineyard for the third consecutive year.  I walked the vineyard while the grapes were being harvest in late October and would say that at least 90% of the grapes were infected with the fungus.  Nasty stuff… in a good way.  In the two previous vintages, Running Brook sold its Sauterne style desert wine for $25 a bottle.

Making this wine requires special considerations.  Botrytis usually depletes the grapes of most nutrients and the winemaker needs to be certain that the yeast have what they need for an healthy fermentation.  But at the same time, the addition of too many nutrients can result in a wine which ferments beyond what is typical of a desert wine.  Fermentation is carried at a very cool temperature and since the wine is finished with residual sugar, other winemaking processes need to be considered such as filtration in order to avoid re-fermentation at a later stage after the wine has been bottled.

P.S. In the next few days, I hope to be able to post some wine recommendations for Thanksgiving.  I've already started working on it, so stay tuned.