WTN: A superb 1940 Sercial Madeira from Justino Henriques.

Madeira Sercial 1940 V.J.H – Vinhos Justino Henriques, Filhos Lda, Funchal


At the end of my note about a week ago on Gert’s newly “discovered” Rioja Bodega Hermanos Piceña, I mentioned a delicious Madeira of which I did not feel then capable of analysing.

Well here it is, after the half-full bottle had sojourned for a week under a VacuVin stopper in the fridge with about an hour outside in the evening shade to warm up. (The first decent summer day for over a week!)

C: Quite deep amber with golden yellow at the rim (or should I say meniscus?). N: At first it seemed rather austerely and bitterly sherry like but with a little cradling and swirling it soon blossomed into a true Madeira bouquet showing generous rich currant and balsamic notes. P: Complex, generous yet elegant, broad and incredibly long after an initial shyness. I find it hard to describe this wine; there was some RS but perfectly balanced gently appealing and slightly varnish like acidity with similar aromas to the nose. I still have its elegantly discreet after-taste at the rear of my palate nearly an hour after the last sip.

I don’t think that this wine has suffered at all from having been opened for a week and there still remains enough for two small glasses another day.

Old Madeira rocks! It's one of my favourite wines - maybe more so than Musar. I find that they almost demand a day in a decanter to open up properly. Since they are oxidised and heat shocked as a matter of style they survive open forever. At least the Barbeito Malvasia 1834 was stunning even after four months open, and I hear that their 1795 Malvasia was also as vibrant as upon opening after six months! Sadly I didn't get a taste of that wine. Sercial is usually my favourite style - it is drier and more austere and uncompromising than the other grapes. I've been searching for some examples from early last century but with no luck so far. Apparently Barbeito's 1910 should be stunning. Oh well, living vicariously through your note is better than nothing. Would you care to name your source?

-O-

Generally, the longer in bottle, the longer air time Madeira need, IMHO. It helps get rid of the bottle stink and allows the fruit to open. I've gone as long as 48 hours for some old 19th C wines.

1934 Verdelho was recently mighty fine.

Re: source

Alas! La Vigneronne wine shop in Kensington, from which I bought this bottle, has been sold. Mike and Liz Berry used to run there what must have been one of the most friendly and enterprising wine businesses in London.

Their core business consisted of discovering and selling the wines of good small winegrowers, mainly from the South of France, but there were always bottles of gems like this in this shop.

They continue to run their core business by mail order under the name Grand Cru Wines, or something like that.

I've been searching for some examples from early last century but with no luck so far.

Where have you been looking, Otto? There's plenty around.

Stick "madeira" into wine-searcher, and change "Bottle/Case" to "Bottle". If you limit to one country (UK certainly works) you seem to get the results in cost order, which approximates to age (a 1795 is listed at £1,600). Alternatively set "Type" to "PC Download" and you can import the results into a spreadsheet and do your own analysis.

An alternative, and more pleasant, strategy is to get on a flight to Funchal, where early 20th Century Madeiras can be bought quite easily from several shops, or direct from the producers. Quite possibly you don't even have to leave the airport - you could maybe pick something up from the Blandy shop in the departure lounge.

Steve,

I am staggered by the prices now being asked for old Madeira in the UK. To buy Blandy's Sercial 1940, I would have to pay £110 + VAT at the Wine Society, of which I am a member, or approx 6x £170 + VAT from Fine & Rare Wines. I don't think I paid more than £50 (VAT incl) for my bottle.

I have done a search on Belgium and got a nil return (Wine Searcher is pretty useless for here) but in the nearby Netherlands came up http://www.winenose.nl/. Their prices are still quite steep (I'm not sure if VAT is included) but more reasonable than those in the UK.

At least, with these bottles, the wine is likely to be genuinely delicious right now, whereas if one pays such sums or more for, say, Harlan Estate 1995....... (expletive deleted!!!) while for leading Bordeaux from 2005 one has to wait 15++ years.

I am staggered by the prices now being asked for old Madeira in the UK. To buy Blandy's Sercial 1940, I would have to pay £110 + VAT at the Wine Society, of which I am a member, or approx 6x £170 + VAT from Fine & Rare Wines. I don't think I paid more than £50 (VAT incl) for my bottle.

When did you buy yours?

As you hinted at in the rest of your post, £110 is not a lot of money compared with other wines of that quality (and not too far off the prices in your link - £170 seems too much). I also like the idea that with Madeira you can work your way through the bottle at your leisure in small glasses.

Re: date of purchase -

Probably 2000 or 2001.

Tim,

For Madeira in Belgium, 1 address: http://www.madeirawine.eu/en/home.html

They do have some nice stuff, but pricy...

Gert

Thanks for that, Gert. But the absence of prices in the catalogue is very discouraging. A la tête du client?

$33.60 (must have been $44 less 20%) 1993 in US. Alas only bought 1.
Charles

An alternative, and more pleasant, strategy is to get on a flight to Funchal, where early 20th Century Madeiras can be bought quite easily from several shops, or direct from the producers. Quite possibly you don't even have to leave the airport - you could maybe pick something up from the Blandy shop in the departure lounge.

Was recently in Funchal. At the Barbeito shop prices were about 2/3 current prices in the US. Got the 1834 Malvasia for 265 euros and the 1863 Boal for 210 euros. Was also very impressed by the quality and prices at Borges.

When I visited Funchal, I noticed that they serve Madeiras at a rather tropical room temperature. I imagine that your wine would open up quite a bit more if allowed to warm up to somewhere around 70 - 75 F.

I know it's heresy for most wines, but these tropical islands are heretical places to grow wine anyway.

Certainly my bottle of Blandy 10 yr. is better on a warm day than on a cool day, and it hasn't degraded (to my degraded palate) over a few months of having been open.

Guys - I'm afraid you've missed the boat!
Madeira prices have multiplied in the past 18 months - due to arrival of "silly money" (quote from someone in the trade) - new purchasers - I'm speculating based in Vegas.
Last year I bid on almost 50 lots (that's lots, not bottles) at auction and got ZERO (was 2nd highest on only 2 lots)! All serious vendors have now suspended their lists as the retail prices were substantially below auction prices. Nobody knows if these new purchasers are sticking around as the buying market used to be fairly thin. If they do then get used to at least a doubling/tripling. I'm holding off and waiting (but my cellar is in good shape!).

Argh.

Argh.