MADEIRA

Medium sweet. Grapes from various quality vineyards in Campanário, Estreito da Calheta and Prazeres. Grapes were pressed in a continuous press. Aged canteiro method in French oak casks. TA 6.59 g/l, pH 3.47, RS 90 g/l. Smells of homemade taffy, toffee apple. Smells so good I want to climb into it right away, bury myself in it, close the door on the world. So many layers in this: layers of richness, of spice, of texture so fine there is no grain, of shiny acidity, of coiled-spring energy. Golden apple; golden sultanas; butter biscuits and ginger snaps; apple and ginger cream drizzled with syrup. Cooked banana. Lots of spice. The spices of dried grass and warm-earth-meadow-hay; the spices of baking; the spices of orange pekoe tea leaf. Power and grace, and, despite all that residual sugar, a wine that finishes dry and ineffably elegant. Rating: 17 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (Dec 2020)