Liquor & SpiritsFortified & Dessert WineMadeira
The island of Madeira gives its name to the world's most exotic dessert
wine; the only wine that has to be baked in an oven! Madeira is part of
the Funchal archipelago, located some 600 kilometers (370 miles) west of
the Moroccan coast. The story of its discovery is a bit bizarre and spiced
no doubt, with exaggeration and embellishment.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR sent Captain Jao Goncalves Zarco, who was also
known as ''Zarco the Cross-eyed" to claim the island for Portugal in
1418. When Zarco landed on Madeira, he found it so densely wooded that he
failed to penetrate inland, but his solution was simple - set fire to the
island, sit back and wait for a clearing to emerge. Zarco had to wait a
long time, so the story goes, for the fire raged for seven years, consuming
every bit of vegetation and infusing the permeable volcanic soil with potash,
so rendering it particularly suitable for vine growing.
THE ORIGIN OF MADEIRA'S DISTINCTIVE WINE
As a source of fresh food and water the island soon became a regular port
of call for east-bound ships, which would often transport barrels of Madeira
wine for sale in the Far East or Australia. As the ships journeyed through
the tropics the wine was heated to a maximum of 45°C (113°F) and
cooled again in the six-month voyage, giving the wine a very distinctive
and desirable character. The wine makers on Madeira were, of course, totally
unaware of this until one unsold shipment returned to the island. Since
that point special ovens, called estufas, have evolved in order that this
heating and cooling can be replicated in the estufagem process. All Madeiras
undergo a normal fermentation prior to the estufagem process. Drier wines
are fortified prior to estufagem, the sweeter styles after.