1870 Verdelho, Solera, Blandy

Madeira Wine Company

The Madeira Wine Company (MWC)  is owned and managed by the Blandy family of Madeira, an institution which in 2011 celebrated its bicentenary.

Within the MWC brands, Blandy’s, Rutherford & Miles, Cossart & Gordon and Leacock`s have all been synonymous with quality Madeira wine.

The Blandys are unique in being the only family of all the original founders of the Madeira wine trade to still own and manage their own wine company and the family has played a leading role in the development of Madeira wine throughout its long history.

In 2000 the MWC led the way with the introduction of a high quality but affordable Madeira of a single year (known as "Colheita" in Portuguese); "Blandy's Malmsey 1994 Harvest". This was the first dated Madeira ever launched other than the very expensive and rare Vintage Madeiras. Since then many other Madeira producers have again followed the MWC lead by introducing younger dated wines, thus creating an important new category of premium Madeira.

In July 2002, Blandy’s MWC again launched a completely new style of Madeira with a radical presentation, "Blandy's Alvada". The wine is different to anything that has been produced before as it combines 2 noble grape varieties, Malmsey and Bual to arrive at a superbly balanced wine that combines the rich flavours of the Malmsey with the more complex and drier structure of the Bual.

The company is again leading the way in the re-establishment of Madeira as one of the world's great wines.

Verdelho

Verdelho is a white grape variety and a corresponding style of Madeira wine, one of the four recognised styles of this fortified wine (the others being the dry Sercial, the medium-sweet Bual and Terrantez, and the lusciously sweet Malvasia (Malmsey).

Verdelho Madeiras are medium-dry, containing up to up to 2.5 percent residual sugar; a style between Sercial (the driest at up to 1.5 percent residual sugar) and Bual (3.5 percent maximum residual sugar); Malmsey Malvasia has more than four percent residual sugar.

Verdelho does not have the razor-sharp acidity of Sercial; it is more rounded, and its elegant fruit qualities (dried fruits and honey) make it equally suitable as an apéritif or dessert wine.

Verdelho

Historical records show plantings of the Verdelho grape in continental Portugal as early as the 15th century. It is one of Madeira's noble grape varieties and was the most widely planted on the island until the 20th century. Plantings then dwindled and the regional authorities were so alarmed that they put in place a plan to revive the grape.

It is a high yielding, early ripening white wine grape variety, and performs best on cooler slopes on the north side of the island. Its berries are small and oval shaped with thick skins. The name Verdelho on a bottle indicates an off dry to medium-dry style of Madeira wine, inbetween that of Sercial and Bual.

Verdelho is grown in the Douro valley in Portugal, where it is known as Gouveio and used in white Port, in Douero valley north-west Spain under the name of Gouveio and is very successfully cultivated in Australia and in particular in the Mclaren Vale.

Verdelho should not be confused with the Italian grape Verdello and the Verdejo white grape grown in Spain (Rueda DO in particular).