Madeira Repackaged and On Trend

Blandy’s have recently revised and repackaged their 10-year-Old range of Madeira wines. The wines now come in transparent 75cl bottles with colour-coded labels conferring the image of a range of malt whisky. The smart new livery is very much on trend and the style of the wines themselves has been sharpened up considerably in recent years which much more emphasis on varietal character and definition. Winemaker Francisco Albuquerque and his team embarked on a programme of research a few years ago with the aim of deepening their understanding of the aging process. This was undertaken both to comprehend the numerous variables influencing the wine as well as to anticipate and mitigate the impact of climate change on the aging process.

I received these wines in IVBAM sample bottles, with notes written up in the order they were tasted (below). The UK retail price for all these wines is around £30 - £35/bottle.

Blandy’s 10-Year-Old Sercial ****

Pale golden amber with a glint of orange; fine, delicate and gently lifted on the nose with an appetising dusting of smoked almonds and a hint of dried apricot; fresh and linear on the palate with that same dried apricot character combined with a hint of spice, seemingly with minimal residual sugar (though its actually 55g/l) offset by a distinguishing streak of appley acidity and a long lithe finish. Characteristically Sercial in style but in no way punishing on the palate as some of these wines can be. 17.5

Blandy’s 10-Year-Old Verdelho ****

Slightly deeper in hue than the Sercial, pale-mid amber with a similar glint of orange; more subdued with a gentle quince marmalade and a gentle leafy character on the nose with more quince on the palate and a touch of dried fig richness (75g/l residual sugar), spice too mid-palate with a lovely tang leading to a fresh, well-balanced finish retaining a touch of appetising salinity. 17

Blandy’s 10-Year-Old Bual ****

Marginally deeper mid-amber hue (when compared to the Verdelho); dried fig with a hint of raisin and butterscotch on the nose; gentle toffeed richness on the palate (95g/l residual sugar), offset by lovely freshness from the limey acidity that cuts through onto the finish where a savoury-saline overtone makes you want to have another sip immediately. Delicious and really very satisfying overall. 18

Blandy’s 10 Year Old Malmsey ****

Mid-deep amber with a glint of red-mahogany and green; soft, raisiny aromas with a hint of earthy-casky complexity that seems very characteristic of the Malvasia de São Jorge grape grown on the north east side of the island; rich and immediately satisfying with lovely, gentle dried fruit character (raisins, sultanas and dried fig), quite rich and silky-smooth (125 g/l) but far from cloying with a streak of acidity cutting through and leaving a fresh, yet complex finish. 17.5