1 dozen bottles per lot
Details
MADEIRA
Madeira has always been one of my favourite wines, My wife and I drink it frequently, and for over a quarter of a century, when I was head of Christie's wine department, I kept a bottle of Verdelho for clients and friends, usually synonymous, who called mid-morning - so much better than office coffee - Bual for the afternoon so much more delicious than tea. Moreover, with unfailing regularity I am asked which is my favourite wine (after all these years where do I start?). I fall back on old Madeira. And, to take with my if stranded on a desert island, I can be very specific: H M Borges 1862 Terrantez, or failing that 1846. Apart from the glorious, indescribable perfume and taste, Madeira is the one wine which is able to survive the heat and which can be dipped into a leisure. It doesn't go off after drawing the cork. Well, what is Madeira? It is a fortified (with brandy) wine made on the Portuguese -owned island of Madeira, lituated in the Atlantic Ocean some 650km to the west of north Africa. The island has a wonderful year-round climate and its wines, named after specific grape varieties are versatile, ranging from dry to very sweet, from aperitif to dessert. The wine is stable due to a unique heating process during its production and can survive hot climates. The best can claim - with Tokaji - to be the longest lasting of all wines.
17th-19th centuries
By 1780 there were over 70 British trading houses on the island, annual exports of wine reaching some 15-17,000 'pipes'(each of approximately 110 gallons). It was around the middle of the 18th century that brandy was used to fortify and stabilize the wine for shipment to England and the colonies.
Vintage 1795*****
MB, Vintage Wine.
VINHOS BARBEITO
Barbeito also sells a range of vintage madeiras, of which the glory is undoubtedly the Terrantez 1795. This wine originally belonged to the Hinton family, from whom it was acquired by Oscar Acciaioly. On his death his stock of wines was divided between his two sons by his first wife (who later sold them at Christie's) and his second wife, who sold them to Mário Barbeito. The 1795 Terrantez was by this time in demijohns, but Mário Barbeito took the unusual decision of returning the wine to wood. Of the little now remaining, fewer than a dozen bottles, eagerly awaited by enthusiasts, are sold each year.
From: Madeira, by Alex Liddell, Published in 1998 by Faber and Faber
Property from America's foremost collection of Madeira
Removed from an ideal home cellar
Terrantez--Vintage 1795
Barbeito
Levels: into neck; one chipped capsule
In original wooden case
"Provenance was the Vasconcellas family via the de Freitas, owners of Barbeito. Barbeito have a reputation for their stocks of rare Madeira but are diffident about putting them on the market. Several bottles of this 1795 have appeared at Christie's over the years and I have more than six notes...Most recently: palish amber; sweet, lovely, ethereal, crystallised violets bouquet; medium-sweet, concentrated yet not heavy, penetrating flavour, rapier-like acidity. Superb. Last noted at a Hollywood Wine Society tasting, March 1998 *****", MB, Vintage Wine.
1 dozen bottles per lot
Madeira has always been one of my favourite wines, My wife and I drink it frequently, and for over a quarter of a century, when I was head of Christie's wine department, I kept a bottle of Verdelho for clients and friends, usually synonymous, who called mid-morning - so much better than office coffee - Bual for the afternoon so much more delicious than tea. Moreover, with unfailing regularity I am asked which is my favourite wine (after all these years where do I start?). I fall back on old Madeira. And, to take with my if stranded on a desert island, I can be very specific: H M Borges 1862 Terrantez, or failing that 1846. Apart from the glorious, indescribable perfume and taste, Madeira is the one wine which is able to survive the heat and which can be dipped into a leisure. It doesn't go off after drawing the cork. Well, what is Madeira? It is a fortified (with brandy) wine made on the Portuguese -owned island of Madeira, lituated in the Atlantic Ocean some 650km to the west of north Africa. The island has a wonderful year-round climate and its wines, named after specific grape varieties are versatile, ranging from dry to very sweet, from aperitif to dessert. The wine is stable due to a unique heating process during its production and can survive hot climates. The best can claim - with Tokaji - to be the longest lasting of all wines.
17th-19th centuries
By 1780 there were over 70 British trading houses on the island, annual exports of wine reaching some 15-17,000 'pipes'(each of approximately 110 gallons). It was around the middle of the 18th century that brandy was used to fortify and stabilize the wine for shipment to England and the colonies.
Vintage 1795*****
MB, Vintage Wine.
VINHOS BARBEITO
Barbeito also sells a range of vintage madeiras, of which the glory is undoubtedly the Terrantez 1795. This wine originally belonged to the Hinton family, from whom it was acquired by Oscar Acciaioly. On his death his stock of wines was divided between his two sons by his first wife (who later sold them at Christie's) and his second wife, who sold them to Mário Barbeito. The 1795 Terrantez was by this time in demijohns, but Mário Barbeito took the unusual decision of returning the wine to wood. Of the little now remaining, fewer than a dozen bottles, eagerly awaited by enthusiasts, are sold each year.
From: Madeira, by Alex Liddell, Published in 1998 by Faber and Faber
Property from America's foremost collection of Madeira
Removed from an ideal home cellar
Terrantez--Vintage 1795
Barbeito
Levels: into neck; one chipped capsule
In original wooden case
"Provenance was the Vasconcellas family via the de Freitas, owners of Barbeito. Barbeito have a reputation for their stocks of rare Madeira but are diffident about putting them on the market. Several bottles of this 1795 have appeared at Christie's over the years and I have more than six notes...Most recently: palish amber; sweet, lovely, ethereal, crystallised violets bouquet; medium-sweet, concentrated yet not heavy, penetrating flavour, rapier-like acidity. Superb. Last noted at a Hollywood Wine Society tasting, March 1998 *****", MB, Vintage Wine.
1 dozen bottles per lot