Madeira is a Portuguese-owned archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, 600 miles (970km) southwest of Lisbon and 450 miles due west of the North African coast. It gives its name to one of the world's great fortified wines. Both the wine and the island hold unique places in the history of wine. All fortified wine from the island is now produced under the Madeira DOC, while the table wines are sold under the VR (Vinho Regional) title Terras Madeirenses.
The island of Madeira was discovered in 1419, by Portuguese mariners exploring the west coast of Africa (they also visited the Canary Islands). They encountered Dense laurisilva forests – the reason for the name Ilha da Madeira "the island of wood" – much of which were cleared to make way for sugar plantations and vineyards (the remaining forests are now a World Heritage Site).
For almost two centuries, the wines made here remained relatively unknown, and were of little economic significance. Things changed dramatically in the mid-17th Century however, when the island became a key supply station for ships en route to India and the Portuguese colonies in Brazil.
During this time demand for Madeira's wines boomed.
The early Madeira wines were produced in the image of those from the Portuguese mainland, and lacked the Structure and stability required to survive Long sea voyages. Over time, it was discovered that an addition of high-proof spirit solved this problem, and by the middle of the 18th Century such fortification had become the norm. A second discovery – that this New style of fortified Madeira acquired Complex, desirable flavors on long, hot voyages – led to the Madeira wine style that exists today.
Bordeaux Index said its sales jumped by 47% in 2021 to reach $174m (£128m), a new record for the company. Its results reinforce the sense of a strong 12 months for the global fine wine market, led by famous ‘blue chip’ labels in particular. Yet the UK-based merchant also pointed to new customer sign-ups and the success of its LiveTrade trading platform as contributing to company-specific growth. Its client base expanded by around 30% year-on-year, with trading by value on LiveTrade up by 55%. Bo ...
The Champagne 2022 harvest has begun and picking start dates have been set for the majority of villages, the Comité Champagne has announced. Individual harvest start dates are set for each village and grape variety in the entire Champagne region. This year, dates range between 20 August (Montgueux in the Côte des Blancs) and 6 September (Dormans Soilly in the Vallée de la Marne). The Réseau Matu, a network of hundreds of vineyard control plots, is used to observe the ripening of grapes across th ...
‘Por fin se ha hecho justicia.’ (Finally, justice has been served) This strongly-worded statement was made by the Denomination of Origin Utiel-Requena in Spain’s Autonomous Region of Valencia as part of a press announcement in July. It refers to a Spanish Supreme Court ruling that was fully ratified at the end of September, closing a decade-long conflict between the region’s three DOs that pitted Valencia against Utiel-Requena and Alicante. The latter two had demanded that grapes fro ...
