Cossart Gordon 5 Years Old Madeira Verdelho

Portugal as a wine country distinguishes itself by mainly producing wines from its own grape varieties. The Portuguese wines are also developing well and quickly, so it is certainly interesting for wine lovers to try some different wines from this beautiful country. When Portugal joined the EU in 1986, the quality of Portuguese wines immediately increased enormously.

It was then stimulated to start vineyards and produce wine. As a result, the large umbrella wine producers were sidelined and many smaller wine producers started to work for themselves.

Today, therefore, more than a thousand winemakers can be found in Portugal. The Douro wine region is one of the examples of such a wine region that has undergone tremendous development since accession to the EU. In the past, mainly a sweet Port was produced here, but gradually the wineries in this region have kept up with the times and are increasingly experimenting with different grapes. The result of this is that they now also produce a lot of dry quality wines in this region. A not so well known wine region in Portugal is the wine region Beiras. In this region, a lot of red Portuguese wines are produced on a steep slope. These wines can often be stored for decades and even then they do not lose their taste. A grape variety that is widely used in this region is the Baga grape. This grape is powerful and has strong acids that can be softened by mixing the grapes with other types of grapes. All in all, Portuguese wine producers often use the native grape varieties . This is not difficult since there are about 500 different grape varieties in Portugal. Partly because of this, the winemakers can make their own unique wine and do not have to compete with other wine countries, such as Chile.

Madeira - history & location

The Portuguese island of Madeira is located in the Atlantic Ocean, about 600 km west of Morocco and about 1,000 km southwest of Lisbon. The island was discovered in the early 1400's by Captain João Gonçalves (popularly known as Zarco meaning "squint"). The island was covered with dense forests, which is why Zarco came up with the name Madeira, which is Portuguese for wood. The story goes that in order to purify the island for settlements, he started a fire. Whether coincidental or intended, the fire smoldered for seven years, producing massive amounts of potassium, which mixed with the volcanic soil, creating the ideal soil for vines. The first vines were planted shortly after. To this day, and despite the fact that due to the mountainous nature of the soil, all vineyards are very small and difficult to access, viticulture is still one of the main activities on the island. Today Madeira's soil consists mainly of basalt and is rich in magnesium, sulfur, iron, and aluminum. However, the soil does not contain lime. This type of soil blocks phosphorus and potassium. Due to this combination, the grapes have a fairly high acidity.

Viticulture

There are 3 main wine-growing areas in Madeira: Câmara de Lobos (on the south coast), São Vincente and Santana (on the north coast). The wineries in Madeira do not own land but buy their grapes from winegrowers, who usually also grow other agricultural products. The only exception to this is winery Henriques & Henriques, which owns about 10 hectares of vines. An average winegrower owns less than half a hectare of wine-growing land, he brings about 1500 kg of grapes to the producer at harvest time. But there are also wine growers who only bring 60 kg of grapes. Very early, the picked grapes were brought to the press house in “borracho”, these are goat skins of 45-50 liters. The yield of a vineyard was then also expressed in numbers of goat skins. The best grape varieties in Madeira are: terrantez, verdelho, bual, tinta negra, malvasia and sercial.

Madeira wine is a fortified, long-lasting wine. The wine is made by aging with heat and oxygen. The simpler (and cheaper) Madeira's are already on the market after 3 years, but the most beautiful Madeira's only after 10 years or more. The wines are characterized in particular by the balance of fresh acidity and soft sweetness and the beautiful complex aromas that have arisen through maturation. There are different styles depending on the grape, maturing time and the winery.

Climate

Madeira is quite mountainous, so the island has different climate zones. It is more rainy in the north and sunnier in the south. It often rains in Madeira, so the island is very green. The temperature is fairly constant throughout the year and usually does not drop below 10 degrees. On the other hand, it does not get very hot in summer.