There’s a good reason that Madeira is nearly synonymous with old-fashioned reliability, said Elin McCoy in Bloomberg.com. Portuguese farmers have been tilling “steep mountain vineyards on the eponymous volcanic island” off Africa’s coast since the 1700s.
To keep their wines from spoiling during long ocean deliveries to Europe or the Americas, they “fortified” them, dosing each batch with brandy during fermentation. The result was a virtually “indestructible” beverage that could keep seemingly forever. For a splurge, here are three bottles that prove Madeira can still taste exquisite decades—even centuries—later. You can find a dealer through Wine-searcher.com.
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