Critics reviews
(Decanter - Jan 09)
Richard Ehrlich, Low on Alcohol High on Flavours, the Jewish Chronicle, Jan 2014
About this WINE
Vinhos Barbeito
Vinhos Barbeito is one of the most forward-thinking companies on Madeira as well as being one of the youngest, being founded in the 1940's by Mário Barbeito. When Mário died in 1985, the company was taken forward by his daughter, Dona Manuela de Freitas, whose two sons, Ricardo and Miguel joined the firm in 1991. Today, Ricardo is in day to day charge of Vinhos Barbeito, his mother having retired in the early 1990s, and his brother looking after other family business interests. The company is now co-owned by a Japanese wine distributor called Kinoshita Shoji. Barbeito was the first Madeira producer to voluntarily switch all production to bottled wines in 1993. A few years ago Ricardo took the decision to eliminate the addition of caramel to the wines. Barbeito are attempting to redefine the popular notion of Madeira to a generally slightly drier, more food-oriented wine. As well as careful selection, long ageing and the absence of caramel, the wines are not de-acidified, so they retain much more freshness and tang than many Madeiras. At this level, Barbeito are leading the way in making complex, fine Madeiras as naturally as possible.
Sercial
Sercial is a white grape and a corresponding style of Madeira wine, one of the four recognised styles of this fortified wine, along with the medium-dry Verdelho, the medium-sweet Bual and Terrantez and the lusciously sweet Malvasia (aka Malmsey).
Sercial is the driest style of Madeira, containing up to up to 1.5 percent residual sugar; Verdehlo (a medium-dry style) has up to 2.5 percent residual sugar while Bual has 3.5 percent and Malmsey Malvasia has more than four percent residual sugar.
Sercial is the last of the white grapes to ripen in Madeira, often as late as mid-October, and is characterised by a high level of acidity. A minimum of 20 years ageing in cask is required for vintage Sercial Madeiras, to ensure that its razor-sharp acidity has softened. Once mature, it makes a perfect apéritif but it can also hold its own very well.
A vintage Sercial Madeira resembles a Tawny Port in colour, yet the nose has pronounced citrus fruit aromas, and as the wine ages the aromatic profile becomes similar to old Rieslings.
Sercial
Sercial is a Portuguese white grape variety, commonly associated with the eponymous style of the Madeira fortified wine.
Sercial gives the driest style of Madeira, containing up to up to 1.5% residual sugar; Verdehlo (a medium-dry style) has up to 2.5 % residual sugar and Bual 3.5% and Malmsey/Malvasia has more than 4% residual sugar.
Sercial is the last of the white grapes to ripen in Madeira, often as late as the mid of October, and is characterised by a high level of acidity. A minimum of twenty years ageing in cask is required for vintage Sercial Madeiras, to ensure that its razor-sharp acidity has softened. Once mature, it makes a perfect apéritif but it can also hold its own very well.
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Description
Driest of the styles, yet one which manages to combine, with effortless whimsy, a certain intellectual formality with a broad luxuriant structure.
Simon Field MW - Wine Buyer
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