Madeiras are aged in wood and are normally bottled for sale when 3, 5, 10 or 15 years old, depending on their quality and ageing potential. The very finest Madeiras will become Vintages.

Vintage Madeiras are made from the very finest wines of an excellent year and are produced from only one of the traditional grape varieties. Among the world's most long-lived wines, many show outstanding quality when well over 100 years old.

The four basic Madeiras are named after their principal grape variety and encompass styles ranging from dry to rich wines.

Malmsey : full-bodied, lusciously rich and fruity with an appealing honeyed quality. An excellent dessert wine. Bual: medium rich, smooth and well-rounded with an attractive smoky complexity and raisiny fruit flavor. An excellent cheese accompaniment. Verdelho: tangy and medium-bodied, elegant and dry with a pronounced edge. Delicious as an aperitif or with a soup course. Sercial: fresh and invigorating, light-bodied with crisp zesty fruit. As the driest Madeira, it makes an excellent aperitif.

PORTS

<Pictures of labels, Graham LBV, Dow 10 YO, Warre Vintage 85, Vesuvio 97, Smith Woodhouse Madalena>

Port is divided into two main styles,

1. Wood matured Port

2. Bottle matured Port

Wood matured Ports are bottled when ready for drinking and are not intended for further ageing, these include young ruby, tawny, white, premium reserve, LBV and aged tawnies (10, 20, 30 and 40 year Old. Bottle matured Ports spend a relatively short time in wood and mature in the bottle for many years. These are the wines that have made Port one of the greatest wines of the world and are traded all over the globe, Vintage Port.

Wood matured Port

Ruby : A young, fruity, fresh Port such as Dow's Ruby Port, is a multi-vintage blend averaging 3 years of wood age. Tawny: A light, elegant Port, is a blend of different years with an average age of 3 years in cask. Graham's Tawny Port is a classic example of this style.

Finest Reserve/Vintage Caharacter: The finest young wines selected from among Vintage-quality lots, aged in wood for 4-5 years. Graham's Six Grapes is a particularly favourite alongside Dow's Trademark and Warre's Warrior.

Late Bottled Eintage (LBV): Like Vintage Port, LBV is Port of a single year. However, while Vintage Port spends 2 years in wood, LBV Port spends from 4-6 years in wood. Dow's and Graham's produces a classic "Modem" Late Bottled Vintage Port.

Aged Tawnies (10, 20, 30 and 40 Years Old): These are a blend of Ports aged in cask. During this time they lose their deep, youthful ruby colour and become pale, delicate and eventually 111 tawny." Warre's Otima and Graham's 20, 30 and 40 Year Old Tawnies are excellent examples.

Bottle matured Port

Vintage: Vintage Port is produced only in really outstanding years, about three times a decade on average and accounts for just 2% of all Port production. Aged in wood for 2 years and bottled without filtration, it can develop in bottle for decades. Graham's Vintage Port (ripe, sweet fruit with a strong backbone of tannin); Dow's Vintage Port (fine tannic structure and subtle sweet berry flavours); Warre's Vintage Port (floral aromas with intense fruit); Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port (very fruity and balanced); and Quinta do Vesuvio (elegant, rich and intensely concentrated) are all fine examples.

Single Quinta Vintage: These are single-vineyard wines produced in extremely good" but non "declared" Vintage years. Bottled without filtration, after 2 years' wood ageing, they mature earlier than ``declared" Vintage Ports. A quinta is the Portuguese term for vineyard or wine estate.

Bottle-matured Late Bottled Vintage: Smith Woodhouse and Warre's are among the few companies still producing this style and ageing the wines in bottle prior to release. Produced as Vintage Port but having aged for 4 years in wood instead of 2, it develops a character and complexity similar to Vintage Port and is ready to drink sooner. The wine should be decanted.

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