1996 Faja dos Padres (Barbeito) Malvasia Candida Vintage Madeira

RS 98 g/l, VA 1.04 g/l, TA 9.28 g/l, pH 2.91. Canteiro aged with American and French oak. Bottled 2021. 531 bottles. Completely different ballgame from the Justino’s 1996 Bual tasted alongside. It’s like comparing low-res and high-res photographs. This is exquisitely pixelated. And what a crazy nose. Alice in Wonderland spirals down a rabbit hole. Nutmeg and green laurel leaf, cobnut peels. Curry leaf and turmeric and helichrysum. Smoky sour cherries. This smells like walking into an old abandoned shed, collapsing under ivy and the weight of moss and years of autumn leaves, light shafting through the old wood panels, birds’ nests tucked into tilting eaves, wild raspberries winding through the windows. The scent of forester’s coffee in the morning air. The scent of wild-herb tea in the wide bowl in your cold hands. Tiny white flowers clustered around the mossy stone doorstep. Bruised bergamot. Evocative and edgy. (TC)