Madeira Wines | Prices, Types & Reviews
Written By: Brian Freedman on Wed, Jul 12th 2006
Madeira is an island between the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa that belongs to Portugal. It is also the fortified wine made there. One might legitimately claim that the island is so well known for no other reason than the sweet wine that is produced there.
Much like Port, Madeira is a wine whose fermentation has been halted by the addition of a grape-based spirit. Unlike Port, however, the wine that will eventually be bottled as Madeira is allowed to age in high temperature environments, either via an artificial process called estufa or a natural one. The best Madeiras are aged naturally, a process that involves storing the wines in tubes or casks and exposing them to the natural heat of the sun for decades, and sometimes even more than a century, before bottling. It may seem like a long time to wait for a sip or two, but one taste is all you need to understand that all that time is justified.
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