The Bottle Talk: Madeira plays a key role in U.S. history (2024)

FLORENCE — Around this time every year I find myself feeling a wholesome and heartfelt appreciation for the country I call home.

Many nationalists will express their gratitude by grilling parts of some animal and launching explosives into the night sky. Although I do love fireworks and the wafted scent of a good ribeye undergoing that Maillard reaction, my celebration slants more toward intellectual curiosity and patriotic introspection.

To clarify, that most likely includes reading about our forefathers and, like them, sipping some misunderstood Madeira.

This fortified wine hails from the Portuguese-owned volcanic island bearing the same name. A fortified wine involves prematurely arresting fermentation with the addition of a high-alcohol neutral grape spirit.

Killing the yeast not only stops the ferment but leaves residual sugars remaining, adding some balance to the searing acidity these grapes can attain from their volcanic soils. The timing and amount of the fortification depends on the grape variety and desired style of the final wine.

Addition of the spirit earlier in the fermentation process, means more sweetness for us to enjoy.

Madeira remains unique from other fortified wines not only for their interesting grape varieties but especially for its brutal maturation process. These wines are slowly oxidized and exposed to tremendous heat; literally cooked.

The heating process (estufa*gem) varies from hot coils in the wine itself, heat jacketed tanks or even large wooden casks of wine stored in a room heated by steam pipes. The most esteemed Madeira wines are produced by a traditional process called the Canteiro process.

The 600 L casks of wine are stored under the eaves of the lodges (usually for a few decades) where they are warmed by the sun.

Most grapes used in quality Madeira are white but through this process, the final wines range in color from pale gold to orange-amber to deep mahogany brown with a yellow-green tinge appearing on the rim of well-aged examples. The process of heat and oxidation gives these wines unique aromas and flavors including fruit (citrus peel, prunes, raisins), nuts (almond, hazelnut, walnut), spices (cinnamon, clove), sugar (toffee, honey), coffee, chocolate, balsamic, mushroom, and yeast, to name a few.

Another benefit evolving from the harsh maturation process is the virtual indestructibility of these wines.

An opened bottle of Madeira, recorked and sat upright, could last years without much change in aromas, flavors and completely without degradation. After all, it has already been oxidized and baked.

In this month's The Bottle Talk, Dennis Fraley guides us through his favorite wines to drink during his birthday week.

This ability to tolerate heat and oxygen made it a perfect candidate to accompany long ocean voyages, something the Portuguese were well known for.

At this point, you may be wondering how this wine produced thousands of miles from our shores can, even remotely, be referred to as patriotic.

Wine was made in the colonies with limited success and rum more the drink of the common man. Fortified wines were something special. Even though available due to their ability to cross the ocean relatively unscathed, their price made them available to those with more elevated means.

Madeira and the birth of this country are woven together throughout some major historical events.

It was one of the popular drinks served at the Green Dragon Tavern where American colonists met prior to staging the Boston Tea Party. Upon completion of the Declaration of Independence, our forefathers toasted by raising glasses filled with Madeira.

The signing of The Treaty of Paris, ending the war for independence, was also celebrated with this loved drink.

The Constitutional Convention, that led to the drafting of our Constitution, George Washington’s inauguration and many Thomas Jefferson dinners at Monticello, all had Madeira flowing.

I would challenge anyone to find a beverage that has been witness to so many instrumental pieces of our country’s development.

You’ll be able to locate this historic drink in close proximity to wherever your local alcohol shack shelves its port and sherry.

There are also endless suppliers online, especially if you are interested in buying that very old bottle (like when Napolean was in power). There are still Madeira wines out there that are hundreds of years old, albeit these wines are becoming ever rarer and, if you do find one, you’d probably have to sell a kidney to afford it.

As I like my kidneys where they are, I lean toward the bottles that are quality but affordable. It would be hard to miss with a well-established company like Broadbent, Henriques & Henriques or The Rare Wine Company.

Although there are many styles, I tend to go for those named by their noble grape variety, because this also gives me an indicator of how sweet they are. Sercial is the driest with up to 27 g/l residual sugar, Verdelho next with 27 – 45 g/L, Bual with 46 – 63 g/L and Malvasia (called Malmsey) topping out at close to 120 g/L.

Even the sweetest of these are well balanced with the impressive acid levels of the base wines.

There are a number of food pairings to play around with but I’ve found that the driest styles tend to go with fatty meats, creamy soups and rich cheeses. My favorite pairing is a Malmsey with pecan pie, this will change your life.

As we hang our flags and break out copies of the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution for light reading while waiting for fireworks, don’t neglect sipping on this timeless classic. Our forefathers would be proud to see you raise a toast, as they once did, to this great nation of ours.