Wine Blogging Wednesday #51 – Baked Goods

This months Wine Blogging Wednesday is hosted by our good friend Joe at 1winedude. He chose the sweet topic of “baked goods” or wines that have been Maderized. Wines of this nature are ones that have been purposefully oxidized and “cooked” in hot houses after fortification with the result being a dessert style wine filled with nutty, caramelized aromas and flavors.

 

For my “baked” wine I chose the Blandy’s 5 year Bual Madeira.  Bual is one of the 4 grapes typically used for Madeira wines, the other 3 being Sercial, Verdlho and Malmsey.  Blandy is the “only family of all the original founders of the Madeira wine trade to still own and manage their own original wine company; nearly 2 centuries of fine wine production.”  The story of Madeira is similar to the story of Viagra, they started out with one thing and ended up with another.  Wines from Madeira are named for the Portuguese island they are made on, 400 miles from the African coast.  As the story goes, Madeira was an important stop for sailing vessels headed to the Far East and to the Americas. In order to insure that wine being transported from the islands was not spoiled and to prevent re-fermentation, it was fortified with Brandy or grape spirits. Over the long sea journey, the combined tropical heat of the Caribbean and the slow rocking motion of the boats transformed the wine into a whole new product when sailors reached their final port. 

 

Today, the process is done more scientifically either through heated water coils that are submerged in the wine, aging the casks in heated warehouses and the third and longest method being placing casks in non-temperature controlled facilities letting mother nature take her natural course. Madeira has 6 quality levels, Granel or bulk, Finest, Reserve, Special Reserve, Extra Reserve and Vintage, with the main distinction being years of cask aging.

 

Technical Specs on the Blandy 5 Year Bual Madeira ($23)

 

GRAPE VARIETIES Bual	VINEYARDS Various quality vineyards at Campanário and Calheta at altitudes of between 100 and 300m.
VINIFICATION Blandy’s 5 year old Bual underwent fermentation off the skins with natural yeast at temperatures between 18°C – 21°C in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. After approximately 3 days, fortification with grape brandy takes place, arresting fermentation at the desired degree of sweetness.	MATURATION Blandy’s 5 year old Bual was aged in American oak casks in the traditional ‘Canteiro’ system. This comprises of the gentle heating of the wine in the lofts of the lodges in Funchal. Over the years the wine is transferred from the top floors to the middle floors and eventually to the ground floor where it is cooler. After this gradual ‘estufagem’ the wine underwent racking and fining before the blend was assembled and bottled.
SPECIFICATION Alcohol: 19% ABV pH: 3.4 Residual Sugar: 100 g/l Total Acidity: 6.3 g/l tartaric acid

 

My Tasting Notes –

Nose – golden raisin, prune, caramel, almond

Taste – raisin, hazelnut, burnt toast (very recognizable)

Mouthfeel – fairly viscous but not syrupy

Finish – long, smooth not hot, lots of nutty flavors lingered

 

The wine was really nice but it is hard to be too critical of a deliciously sweet wine. As Gary Vaynerchuk always says, “Americans are suckers for sugar.” There is a fine balance though between being so sweet that and syrupy and having a rich and smooth mouthfeel. The 19% was barely noticeable surprisingly enough, although if I had more than one glass, I would physically start to notice it. Pairings for this would be similar to ones for a vintage port. Maybe a savory cheesecake, aged blue cheese or dried figs would go great with this Madeira.

 

Cheers!