Madeira Wine

Madeira was a provisioning stop on the Atlantic routes, and its wine was fortified with spirit to survive the voyage. What was discovered by accident is that the voyage improved it: casks that crossed the tropics twice, heated in the hold, came back better than what stayed on the island, and the trade began deliberately shipping wine as ballast to age it. Modern production replicates the heat instead - estufagem, warming in tanks, for the cheaper wines, and canteiro, ageing in cask in the warm upper floors of the lodges for years or decades, for the good ones. The result is deliberately oxidised, high in acid, and effectively immortal: an opened bottle keeps for months, and hundred-year-old bottlings are drinkable and sold. Four noble grapes run dry to sweet - Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, Malmsey - and Tinta Negra makes most of the volume. The Blandy's lodge in Funchal takes visitors.

What you actually see

• The estufagem and canteiro - heat ageing in tanks or in warm cask lofts.
• The accident - a wine improved by crossing the tropics, then made that way on purpose.
• The four noble grapes - Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey, dry to sweet.
• The keeping - an opened bottle that lasts months, and century-old wines still sold.

When to go

Year-round. One to two hours per lodge. Tours and tastings run daily in Funchal; the older vintage tastings need booking.

Honest expectations

Around nineteen to twenty per cent alcohol - tastings add up quickly. Old vintage tastings are expensive. Cheap Madeira sold for cooking is a different product from the aged wines. Lodge tours are commercial and end in the shop.

Nearby

The Funchal lodges are in the city centre; Câmara de Lobos and the vineyards are west.