TNWG Wine Times: Ep 39: Wines of Madeira
- aplofthouse
- Mar 25
- 6 min read
I have been lax of late so apologies but I am now back in the swing of things and time to focus on Madeira.
As always, a quick update on a couple of key dates for your diary and to book on to events that are being held in the public domain below:
🍷 UPCOMING EVENTS 🍷
👉 Wednesday 26th March - 6.30pm-8.30pm
The Wine and Cheese Network - March Event
After a SOLD OUT January and February, we are now open for tickets for March!
Keynote speaker for this event - will be Chloe Lowe on AI Marketing and why all businesses need AI involvement.
10% of the ticket price will go to The Suit Works and we will hear all of their amazing projects too.
Plus of course a range of wines and cheeses to enjoy in a social setting too.
👉 Sheffield's FIRST ever Ukrainian Wine Tasting Event in collaboration with Cawa Coffee
Friday 11th April 7pm till 9pm
This will be the first time that anyone has showcased the skills of the Ukrainian Winemakers in the North of England and Sheffield.
Join us in a wonderful setting at Cawa Coffee in Broomhill for this unique event.
Wines of Madeira
This week, it is all about the island of Madeira.
400 miles off the coast of Morocco are the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, Selvagens and the Desertas. Madeira being the largest of these collection of islands.
The island topography is one which starts at sea level but at its peak reaches some 1,800 metres and is terraced, making it ideal for vine propagation. However, what is not true is to say there are masses of them - there are not. The island though was producing the grape varietal Malvasia and exporting it from as early as the mid 15th century - great amounts of sunlight and some sweetness, prompted it to be bought up by France as an import to them without too much trouble.
With increased trade and Funchal as a port, it soon derived that grape varietals such as Malvasia, Boal, Verdelho and Sercial became main stays.
Madeira is an interesting product because typically the bulk of the mass produced wines undergo 'ESTUFAGEM' which is whereby the wine is heated to almost 50 degrees Celsius in hot stores for at least 3 months. 🥵 Almost if you will, a quick way of ageing or hurrying the process up thus reducing the time to consumer.
The wines that are looking to be aged however typically go through a gentler process known as 'CANTEIRO', slowly aged in barrels in the ambient island temperatures.
⚠️ TNWG HOT TIP ⚠️
If you see the label 'FRASQUEIRA' on a madeira, it must be from a single year, a single grape varietal and aged in cask for at least 20 years. Some of the very finest wines may well spend a 100 years in barrel and/or glass demijohns before bottling!
If you see 'COLHEITA' madeiras, then they have been made from a single year but bottled after spending a minimum of 5 years in wood.
Note, that Madeira was not immune from the phylloxera disease (hitting hard in the 1870s) and so now has a resistant varietal, namely Tinta Negra, which makes up 90% of all grapes grown on the island.
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In today's world, Madeira maybe labelled with the name of the variety that constitutes at least 85% of the wine. However typically it is brand name that you see and the average age of the blend put down too.
Also, were you aware that most commercial Madeira's are between 2 and 3 years old as bottling is forbidden before the end of October in the second year after harvest.
There is so much to learn re Madeira, but I think we have given enough information already today on Madeira, aside from to say, it can actually claim to be the world's longest living wine. Madeira's development in age is that of a snail! 🐌 The older - the better more generally and nearly any good Madeira when opened can still retain its freshness for months - so no need to knock it all back in one go!!
For more information on Madeira, let me know.
💥PUBLISHED WINE ARTICLE: Why and How the Swedish Wine Movement is Only Going to Get Bigger? 💥
Ever heard of the Swedish Wine Movement?
Well you have NOW!
Check out my latest piece that I did for The Buyer on what is happening in Sweden !
🗞️ LATEST DRINKS INDUSTRY ARTICLES 🗞️
Now, this is an interesting move and something which I thought may happen sooner rather than later. Given I work with brands such as English Wine Project who have already implemented the removal of capsules or foils around the bottle neck, I thought it would only be a matter of time before a large chain started to gauge consumer views.
What do we think as consumers to removing the foil from the bottle neck? On the one hand, rather superficially, it looks less impressive to me, it does however, reduce costing and focus the value in the liquid within the bottle - which has to be a positive move. Not to mention that they are generally not recycled items and so it then feels fitting that we are evoking further change. Well done Aldi!
OTHER ARTICLES OF NOTE THIS WEEK:
📈 MARKETS IN BRIEF 📉
On the week (as at 11th March 16:00 LDN) changes:
EQUITIES: ⬇️ FTSE 100 down 3.15%; ⬇️ DAX down 0.01%; ⬇️ S&P 500 down 3.2%; ⬇️ Nikkei 225 down 1.5%; ⬇️ Dow Jones down 2.38%;
COMMODITIES: ⬇️ Brent Oil down 1% ; ⬇️ Crude Oil down 1.57% ; ⬇️ Gold down 0.01%; ⬆️ Silver up 3.3%; ⬆️ Copper up 4.8%
BONDS (in yield terms): ⬆️ UK 2yrs higher 0.0295%; ⬆️ UK 10yrs higher 0.175%; ⬆️ German 10yrs higher 0.4155%, ⬆️ US 2yrs higher 0.019%; ⬆️ US 10yrs higher 0.109%
Well if the year started well for equities, it certainly landed hard and fast in the past week. Trump's actions have been centre to global traction and the market is starting to take note. The sell off started in the first two sessions of this week to a material degree with the new tariffs on Canada by all accounts, sapping market confidence here and the rationale that this could end up leading to US recession before long too, that wasn't particularly dismissed by Trump either.
Bloomberg's recession monitor now suggesting that there is a 25% chance of a US recession in the first quarter of this year. Gold has had a full retrace of its weakness over the last week and alternative metals are the place to be for gains. My focus for US equities now is for further weakness as we continue to further price in a likely slowdown and this will also see weakness for the USD currency as a result.
Not surprisingly bond curves are steepening and we are seeing the back end most affected in light of current market dynamics. Meanwhile, the expectation would be that Europe may not be as hard hit, given their defence spending is likely to be significantly increased in the coming months which could drive domestic growth (see Germany's latest release in increased spending), albeit it is still very fragmented rather than a wholesale one way move for all.
Overall views are simplified here:
Take profit on US equity gains (over the last 12-18 months) and wait the correction before re-entry at much lower levels.
China to have further weakness so sell signal for domestic equities.
In bonds - steepeners in the UK. I would be surprised if there are any further rate moves in the UK for some time, given the expected impact that needs to be seen of NICs increasing. Cross market I like Bunds vs USTs for choice.
In FX: I like being long EUR/USD and long GBP/USD here. General USD weakness expected.
In fine wine space - this could be the inflexion point that we have been looking for as money is put to work away from the regulation markets, given now equity weakness and the likes of crypto suffering too. It is also coming into the end of the tax year so would expect some positive balance flows into alternative assets that are deemed safe havens like Fine Wine.
📚 DRINKS EDUCATION ZONE 📚
Did You Know......?
Grapes are the ONLY fruit that can be fermented naturally without having to add any additional sugar - this is also why they are the perfect fruit for wine making!
I hope you had enjoyed reading this week!
Do let me know if you have any questions or requests or just want to discuss anything wine related further.
🎧👉 Stay tuned for more Wine Podcast episodes from The Andy and Olly Show - see here for the latest TWO episodes that we have done already with a THIRD being released at the end of this week in Season 4!
Thanks for your time and readership!
Best Regards,
Andy a.k.a. The Northern Wine Guy 🍷
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