Your Next Lesson: Madeira

by Eric Asimov, The New York Times

 

Eric Asimov, The New York Times wine critic, talks about Madeira Wine in the following excerpt:

“... Even among fortified, sweet wines, Madeira is singular. For one thing, it is virtually indestructible, made in such a way that the usual enemies of fine wine — heat, light and air — are shrugged off like flecks of dust. It was this invulnerability that gave Madeira the strength to withstand the rigors of ocean voyages and become the most popular wine of colonial America. The popularity of Madeira, which comes from the Portuguese island of the same name, plummeted in the late 19th century with the arrival of phylloxera, a ravenous aphid that ravaged vineyards throughout Europe. The vineyards were replanted after a solution was found, but revolution, wars, the Depression and Prohibition in the 20th century prevented Madeira from regaining its former markets.

Today, in the United States at least, Madeira has experienced a modest revival. But fortified and sweet wines have largely fallen out of favor, so its popularity remains limited. ... The best bottles tend to come from four principal grapes in ascending order from driest to sweetest: sercial, verdelho, bual and malmsey, which is better known elsewhere as malvasia.

... How to serve Madeira? Please, don’t haul out the brandy snifters, just use ordinary wine glasses. The sercial is dry enough to drink with meals. I remember it as an excellent combination with a grilled skirt steak. The malmsey is quite sweet. It goes wonderfully with cheese and chocolate. The bual is somewhere in between: You can try it with savory and sweet. You may not want to drink as much Madeira as you would table wine. It’s 19 percent to 20 percent alcohol, which makes it more suited to ocean voyages than overindulgence.”