1977 Verdelho

The 1977 Verdelho was bottled in 2009, a run of 695. It offers a very persuasive, lively bouquet of dried orange peel, quince, melted wax and a touch of anis, all with impressive delineation and vigor. The palate is pure and very well-balanced with vibrant, shimmering citrus fruits that marry perfectly with the honey, quince and peachy fruit. This is a comparatively approachable, less oxidative take on Verdelho that will appeal to those who prefer less fiery Madeira. My “road to Damascus” was a Bual 1920 tasted in the Old Blandy Wine Lodge in Funchal. Up until then, I had assumed I would dislike Madeira. How wrong I was! So I will always have a great deal of time for this major house, which supplies around one-third of all Madeira sold and celebrated their bicentennial last year. I have detailed the history of Blandy’s on several occasions and so I advise readers to seek out my article “The Atlantic Jewel” (http://www.erobertparker.com/members/nmartin/nm1382.asp) on Wine-Journal for further information. Basically, Blandy’s is a brand under the Madeira Wine Company, who also stencil the bottles under Leacock, Cossart Gordon and very occasionally, Miles. There are subtle differences between them in terms of style, Blandy’s undergoing shorter fermentation and sweeter, perhaps more commercial. Cossart can be light and drier; Leacock’s richer. In this report, I thought it would be clearer to list the producer as the brand rather than the company. They have a talented winemaker in the form of Francisco Albuquerque, and in Chris Blandy, they have new blood coming on-line, a mature head on young shoulders, someone with ideas to usher both Blandy’s and Madeira itself into the 21st century. An example is the unusually modern packaging for their Alvada, which is specifically aimed to appeal to members of the human race without white hair and several grandchildren. Most of the following Reserva wines would have been bottled in 2011. Importer: Premium Port Wines Inc., San Francisco, CA; Tel: (415) 554-9920; Fax: (415) 554-0380