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Alcoholic drinks from Madeira Demarcated Region

MadeiraVinho da Madeira

Madeira is a fortified wine from the Portuguese islands of Madeira and Porto Santo. The must ferments with its own yeasts and is stopped with neutral grape spirit of at least 96 % vol, early for sweet wines and late for dry ones. The wine is then aged warm, either heated in tanks (estufagem) at no more than 50 °C for at least 90 days, or in casks in warm lofts (canteiro) for at least 2 years.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks2.3 yearsPDO Madeira (PDO-PT-A0038)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes no batch size. It sets the must, the spirit and the limits on concentrated must; how much spirit goes in depends on how sweet the wine is meant to be.
Grape must from the Madeira Demarcated RegionNatural potential alcohol of at least 9 % vol[madeira-pdo]
Neutral alcohol of wine origin, at least 96 % volAdded during or after the fermentation[madeira-pdo]
Concentrated or rectified concentrated grape must from the region (optional)May raise the total alcohol by no more than 8 % vol[madeira-pdo]
Starterspontaneous (yeasts from the vineyard and the cellar)

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.3 years

Start
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What changes: Ripe grapes are picked, mostly by hand, on small terraced island plots

Step 1 of 6
Harvest grapes in the Madeira Demarcated Region
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Output: ripe grapes.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Madeira is a fortified wine from the Portuguese islands of Madeira and Porto Santo. The must ferments with its own yeasts and is stopped with neutral grape spirit of at least 96 % vol, early for sweet wines and late for dry ones. The wine is then aged warm, either heated in tanks (estufagem) at no more than 50 °C for at least 90 days, or in casks in warm lofts (canteiro) for at least 2 years. Made in 6 steps over 2.3 years. The longest step, or age in casks in warm lofts (canteiro), takes at least 2 years (Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho 2012) and runs at 30–35 °C (Perestrelo R 2023). Saccharomyces cerevisiae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 yearsSet[madeira-pdo]Or age in casks in warm lofts (canteiro)
Temperature30–35 °CReported[perestrelo2023]Or age in casks in warm lofts (canteiro)

What makes this one different

Port is fortified the same way, but Madeira is then deliberately aged warm, either heated in tanks (estufagem) or kept for years in casks in warm lofts (canteiro). Its spirit is neutral alcohol of wine origin of at least 96 % vol.

Related ferments

Variants

  • SercialDry style, very pale to pale.
  • VerdelhoMedium dry.
  • BoalMedium sweet, amber.
  • MalvasiaSweet, deep amber, with raisin and molasses notes.
  • RainwaterDry or medium dry, golden and light.
  • Colheita, Frasqueira or GarrafeiraTraditional terms tied to the harvest year. The specification describes Garrafeira and Frasqueira as wines of exceptional quality and Colheita as good quality.

Safety

The specification caps volatile acidity at 1.2 g acetic acid per litre for wines up to 10 years old and 1.5 g/L for older wines.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Madeira wine has been made on Madeira island since the 15th century and is tied to the Age of Discovery. The PDO file lists regional and national rules on it from 1913 (Decree 218), 1934 and 1957 among its supporting documents.

  1. [madeira-pdo] Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho 2012, Madeira PDO technical file and single document (PDO-PT-A0038, Ares(2012)483215), eAmbrosia register, European Commissionspec
  2. [pereira2013] Pereira V., Albuquerque F., Cacho J., Marques J.C. 2013, Polyphenols, antioxidant potential and color of fortified wines during accelerated ageing, the Madeira wine case study, Molecules 18(3):2997–3017paper
  3. [perestrelo2023] Perestrelo R., Jaouhari Y., Abreu T. et al. 2023, The fingerprint of fortified wines, from the sui generis production processes to the distinctive aroma, Foods 12(13):2558 (review)paper