Mannie Berk | This wine was shipped to the USA in the mid-1960s. A good part of it (and perhaps most of it) ended up at Sherry Wines & Spirits on Madison Avenue—a predecessor of Sherry-Lehman and then extremely active in selling old Madeira. According to Justino’s back label, the wine been acquired from João Alfredo Faria, “an important landowner in Funchal.” In a 1967 ad in the New York Times, Sherry proclaimed that “the entire contents of the 1748 cask were recently bottled, interrupting a 200-year slumber. It consisted of only 700 bottles, some of which has found its way to Sherry’s.” The price: $29.75 a bottle or $340 a case. It’s a measure of the Madeira market’s weakness—as well as the number of bottles Sherry’s probably bought—that, three years later, this Madeira was still being advertised at $29.75 a bottle.

Roy Hersh | Medium-dark maple hue with lime-green rim and cloudy appearance. The bouquet was the significant strength of this 265-year-old Madeira. It possessed musty and vegetal notes, but also cinnamon, clove, and other baking spices, and a reductive teriyaki fragrance emerged. The flavors of this old bottling told the story of a Madeira past its prime, with fading fruit, and it was a bit disjointed. A few guests in the room did find the love in this Verdelho, while most of us did not. The distinct flavors were mostly of stewed fruits, savory notes, and sweetened apple butter. A modicum of acidity was still present, but not enough. I wondered what this had been refreshed with over the years, but we’ll likely never know the rest of the story. The finish was short and overtly sweet, like an apple cider. It was a wonderful experience to try a bottle of Madeira this old, but it was also a real shame that we did not get to drink this 20+ years ago. | 13 ▉