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Tinta Negra Mole
Tinta Negra Mole (aka Tinta de Madiera and Negra Mole) is a versatile red grape variety used in the production of Madeira wine.
It the most widely planted grape on the island of Madeira and it was created over 200 years ago as a crossing of Pinot Noir and Grenache. Plantings are found mainly around Funchal, Câmara de Lobos in the south and São Vicente in the north. Tinta Negra Mole makes up roughly 60% of Madeira’s total grape production.
Recently it was recognised as a 'Noble' Madeira grape variety, but it is commonly used as a component of the Madeira blends, where typically 15% or less is Tinta Negra Mole, with the remainder being Bual, Sercial, Malvasia or Verdelho . If the label does not state one of the 4 aforementioned grapes, then it is most certainly a Tinta Negra Mole Madeira. It comes in all different styles, dry, medium dry, medium rich and rich. and as a 3 year old, 5 year old or 10 year old bottling.
Though vintage Tinta Negra Mole is rare, some Madeira producers have introduced colheita (vintage with 6 to 10 years in cask) and frasqueiras versions of the grape.
Tinta Negra Mole
Tinta Negra Mole (aka Tinta de Madiera and Negra Mole all meaning “black soft/suave”) is a versatile red grape variety used in the production of Madeira wine. it was created over 200 years ago as a crossing of Pinot Noir and Grenache. Plantings are found mainly around Funchal, Câmara de Lobos in the south and São Vicente in the north.
The grape dominates the island’s plantings (60% of the vineyards). The variety’s emergence to the spotlight came in the wake of the phylloxera epidemic of the 1860s, when it was used to replant the other traditional Madeira grapes (Sercial, Bual and Terrantez) that were ravaged by phylloxera. Its prolific yields, often at the cost of of fruit quality, served well the local wine industry at the times of high demand.
In the 1980s it was recognised as a 'Noble' Madeira grape variety, but it is commonly used as a component of the Madeira blends, where typically 15% or less is Tinta Negra Mole, with the remainder being Bual, Sercial, Malvasia or Verdelho . If the label does not state one of the 4 aforementioned grapes, then it is most certainly a Tinta Negra Mole Madeira. It comes in all different styles, dry, medium dry, medium rich and rich. and as a 3 year old, 5 year old or 10 year old bottling. Since 1993 Madeira wines have been required by law to contain at least 85 percent of the grape variety stated on the bottle. Prior to this date, wines labelled as Madeira Sercial or Madeira Bual may, in fact, have been based largely on Tinta Negra Mole.
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Description
1997 Colheita Single Cask 113 b+e is good; I mean really, really good. When tasting it, I keep thinking every time that this might be the best young Tinta Negra I’ve tasted. From a single site in one of my favorite places on the island, Estreito de Câmara de Lobos, this baby shows an intensity on the nose which you normally won’t think could be possible outside the Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, Malvasia and Terrantez world. It’s concentrated, with scents of lemon peel, dust, wet rocks, flowers and just a dash of milk chocolate in the background.
It’s even better on the palate. Think in terms of the best lemon curd you’ve ever drunk! The lemon acidity is so lovely balanced with the vanilla, the dusty summer road feel, tobacco and slightly floral feel. Moderate sweetness. Despite all the time in cask, it’s trademark is freshness, Not the oxidative sign one finds in other Madeiras of the same age. It’s long, concentrated and in such fine balance. What a Tinta Negra!
madaboutmadeira.org - August 2012
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