Top Ten Typical Madeira Sites: Madeira wine, food, and thatched houses

Thatched triangular house at Santana mountainside village in Madeira. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
What to do in Madeira? Having been there recently, I shall make notes immediately on getting home as a reminder of what to see next time.

Answers
I assume you are staying in the capital, Funchal. A motorway takes you to hotels in Funchal, the capital, where about half the population lives. Book a car from the airport or online. Booking though hotel reception could be mush higher price.
See or eat in the restaurant of one of the top three hotels:

1 HOTELS with views
Reid Hotel - traditional and historic.
Winston Churchill stayed here. So did Roger Moore.
Pestana Casino Park - modern. Dining room with panoramic sea view.
Savoy - biggest hotel in Madeira; signs say it will open spring 2019.
(Budget altenative - many budget hotels and restaurants with sea views or panormaic views over the valleys.
Hotel with news:
CR7. Named after football hero Cristiano Ronaldo.

2 SWIM
in the outdoor seawater pools, at Porto Moniz, north west of the island.
Alternatively, staying at Pestana Casino Park hotel, try the Jacuzzi and the jets in the indoor swimming pool. You can sit in jets, lie in jets, stand in jets.

3 BUS TOUR - Funicular - Botanical Gardens
Take the red or yellow open top tour bus. Take the red bus to visit Monte, the funicular, and the wicker basket descent.
Budget alternative. Be photographed in the wicker toboggan on the top floor of La Vie shopping mall, a few steps away from the seafront.

4 GLASS BALCONY VIEW
Take the yellow bus tour (or drive or take a public bus) to the lookout point with the glass floor.

5 LEVADA WALK
Do a levada walk. Easy walk on a level - Ribero Frio.
Budget - take a public bus to Ribeiro Frio (meaning cold river). Take the walk above the road to the lookout balcony with birds.

6 LEVADA WALK DOWN TO WATERFALL Walk on the levada walk downhill to see the waterfall. Catch the bus back uphill. (It's an eight seater minibus like a big jeep, about three dollars.)
This killed my calf muscles. Leave it to the last day.

7 MADEIRA WINE
Try some Madeira wine, a fortified wine, and learn about it.
Visit in Funchal:
a) D'Olivera  Madeira Wines - sit at barrell tables and try the drinks. We had a pre-arranged group talk for about 15 people. We had a talk from Luís D'Olivera, a quietly spoken dear little man, sad about the death of his older brother, whose picture you can see at the entrance - such a shame - a lovely man, elegant, refined. I wish I had had the chance to meet him.
www.doliveiras.pt
b) Blandy's Madeira Wine Company  - around the corner from D'Olivera. These are the two big ones. Blandy's is bigger.

8 MADEIRA RUM IN SPECTACULAR SETTING BY CLIFFS
c) Drive to Porto da Cruz, to see the Distillery producing rum from sugar cane. Big old distillery. Just walk in and read the captions and leaflet.
Next door is the shop which has open bottles for free tastings but if we had not read the leaflet we'd never have known.

Toilets by the seafront restaurant, with views from tables on one side, but when we were there everybody sat the other side. Toilets with graffiti. Another visitor exclaimed in horror. (However, to me a toilet cubicle and water to wash hands was a luxury after visiting the peninsular walk at Ponta (viewpoint) São Lourenço - magnificent sea views but no toilets and no bushes either, toilet paper scattered along the verge by the parked cars.)
Porta Da Cruz has a tiny stony black vaolcanic ashe beach under a massive cliff with crashing waves and - impressive.
www.engenhosdonorte.com
Read up in The Wines of Madeira by Trevor Elliott.

9 SKEWERS OF MEAT OR FISH
Try local food, such as tender moist fish or tender meat on skewers. I recommend two very different places:
1 Cosy rooftop terrace down a side street, no view. Coffee, Madeira wines, or a full meal with the meat on skewers.
Casal da Penha terrace bar
tel:291 227 674
2 Beer House, on a pier with a view over the boats and sea.  They make their own beer in a small distllery you can see. Toilets downstairs.
www.beerhouse.pt

10 SEE TRIANGULAR THATCHED HOUSES. (See my previous post.)
They are in Santana, a village named after the chapel for Saint Anna. Yes, you can visit them, photograph the outside and go inside. They are used as shops to display local crafts. I went into the flower shop.

Finally, shopping.
You can buy cork bags and hats, embroidery with the thatched houses,
 Madeira wine, honey rum, and bottled cocktails.

Useful Travel Information
Hotels
https://www.pestana.com/en/hotel/pestana-casino-park
https://www.pestanacr7.com/en/hotel/pestana-cr7-funchal (Named for Madeira's Critiano Ronaldo and his football tem number 7, next to the museum dedicated to him and football.)
www.pestana.com
https://www.belmond.com/hotels/europe/portugal/madeira/belmond-reids-palace/

Restaurants
www.casaldapenha.com

Wine tasting
www.doliveiras.pt

Sightseeing
Red bus
www.citysightseeing.pt

Travel Tips
Fly by (alphabetically)
Azores Airlines (A Portuguese airline)
https://www.azoresairlines.pt/en 

British Airways
britishairways.com

EasyJet
easyjet.com

TAP Portuguese airlines
flytap.com

Flight Comparison
expedia
expedia.com

tripadvisor
tripadvisor.com

Official website
http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on Madeira and footballer Ronaldo and his museum

What To See In Cristiano Ronaldo's Madeira and a walking holiday

Problem
Why do I need Portuguese? It is spoken in Portugal, Barazil and assorted islands between Europe an the American continent. I need Portuguese because I am planning a walking holiday trip to the island of Madeira, famous for Madeira wine.

Where's Madeira? West of Portugal, in the Atlantic, one of the islands where ships would stop on their way west from Portugal which is west of Spain, with a long coast as you can see from the map. Nowadays it is only an hour and a half by plane from Portugal and about three hours from other major European cities.

Madeira is called the Pearl of the Atlantic, Garden Island, and Island of Eternal Spring. The climate is mild all year.

In the days of sea travel, Madeira was wine which became strongly flavoured and strong due to heat and evaporation on the long sea voyage. Madeira wine reminds you of Madeira cake, a heavy sponge cake which does not contain Madeira wine nor come from Madeira but used to be served with Madeira wine. (Madeira's own local cake is made with honey.)

I hope to visit a Madeira winery in the daytime, and taste Madeira, as well as sampling Madeira cake at tea time, then Madeira wine with a meal in the evening.

Some people arrive in Madeira by boat but I expect to fly into the airport, recently renamed after the local hero, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Famous footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, from Madeira. Photo from Wikipedia.

Another local tourist attraction is the museum featuring football and Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Drink and Saints' Days
You might also recall the humorous song, 'have some Madeira, m'dear'. You could see the local sights, such as the cathedral. The name Cristiano suggests Christianity, yes, no need to worry about restrictions on drink or no food and drink during Ramadan. The local holidays will be connected with Christian saints, so regarding the timing of your trip, extra days open and closed, and hotel prices, check up on Christmas, Easter and festivals. June 10th is Portugal day.

Sea And Sand
Alternatively, or laze away your days sitting on the man made beach with imported golden sand. Like many islands, Madeira was created from a volcanic eruption and has hills and black sand.

Levada or aqueduct walking trail in the Atlantic island of Madeira. Photo from Wikipedia.

Walking In Madeira
Why am I going to Madeira? I am going with a walking group. Why walk in Madeira? It is known for its levadas, aqueducts, which carry water. What for? People and plants need to drink. People need to wash. Water also provides power., hydro-electric power.

Walking - Is It Cheap?
A walking holiday sounds like a cheap holiday, until you invest in waterproof boots, socks, a jacket and trousers, a water bottle and snack box, a suitable hat and sunglasses or even goggles, maybe an umbrella, certainly s stick, or two sticks, not the sort with a rubber tip for city streets but with a spike at the end for securing your way, your footing, your balance, in gravel or lumpy grass.  You might borrow them from a friend or family member.

See next post on Portutuese words.

Useful Websites
https://www.officeholidays.com/countries/portugal/index.php

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on Madeira, Madeira wine and learning Portuguese. Please share your favourite posts.

The Secret of Stoppers Instead of Corks In Your Wine Bottle

Problem
Which wines have stoppers instead of corks and why?

Answers
Madeira, port, sherry will have stoppers. They are all fortified wines. they don't need to breathe through the cork. The purpose of a cork in a bottle is to allow maturing in the bottle. But fortified wine such as Madeira, and any spirit, is sold ready to drink, doesn't need a conventional cork.

A stopper is a cork at the base, but it has a plastic top. You can pull it out easily, without a corkscrew, and push it back easily.

In addition, you need to put the stopper back it, because you might drink a whole bottle of wine between two or four people over the course of an evening, but fortified wine with its higher alcohol content is too strong, so you need a stopper to keep it - because it's too expensive to throw away.

Madeira In Cooking
What about keeping it for cooking? Apparently Madeira is used a lot in French restaurants. That is to say, according to books by experts, the wine is sold more to the trade than the public.

So there you have it. Mystery solved, about the corks. But another mystery, about uses for Madeira.

There is an antiquated sauce Madère which uses Madeira. We have been trying to find out for ages what French restaurants use Madeira for.

Maybe just for a tipple after the chef's finished the evening of cooking? Maybe the happy owner has counted the takings!

Nope. It is used for cooking. How do we know the Madeira is used for cooking? It is adulterated by salt and pepper because alcoholic drinks in every country are taxed, the charge is lower, so it can't be used for drinking, so the seller and buyer don't fiddle the customs and excise people by using it for drinking.

Containers
There's no chance of your being sold an undrinkable Madeira, nor of a burglar making off with the wrong kind by mistake. Madeira for cooking is not even sold to restaurants in the drinking bottle, but in bulk containers. I don't know what it looks like. I don't have a picture. I haven't seen one, so I can't tell you. But when I get to Madeira I shall report back.

If you know the answer, please tell me. It is all, as they say, a trade secret.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please see my other blog post on Luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Drink like George Washington: US Museum; Madeira Wine Tasting In England; and Visiting D'Oliveiras Winery and the Wine Museum In Madeira

Madeira wine was George Washington's favourite tipple, Jefferson's too, and Madeira from earlier eras was recently discovered in the USA. You can see displays in the Liberty Hall museum and read about them. What if you want to try and buy Madeira today, in England or in Madeira itself?

Madeira wine, which was offered at a free tasting at Eton Vintners wine shop in Eton, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Look in a large supermarket or shop for Madeira wine. I went to a tasting at Eton Vintners and tried several, going back five years, then ten or more years. 

As the clear, easy to understand label says, matured in oak casks. From the wine maker D'Oliverias. D means of. Winho means wine, in Portuguese. This bottle contains sweet wine. 

You also learn a few words of Portuguese, a free lesson. Produto is product and de is of. So similar to French. If you already know some French, Spanish or Latin, Portuguese sounds familiar. 

From the name of the country you can learn that EI is prounced EE-er. Likewise Oliveiras - you can work it out. I keep mis-spelling it like the English name Oliver, then remember the word Madeira and correct it.

You may recognize a catchphrase from a humorous Flanders and Swan song, 'Have some Madeira m'dear'.

That reminds me of sherry parties when I first went up to university. Madeira is a strong drink, best drunk, in my view, at the end of a meal with something sweet.

To understand Madeira, it helps to know its history. Madeira is an island in Mid Atlantic, a stopover in the old days before air travel for ships from the UK and Europe to the USA and on the way back.
According to UK importers and distributors Boveywines.co.uk, wines were sent East to Australia, a six-month voyage.

The country of Madeira has a balmy, springtime climate all year and grows grapes which can be turned into wine. The long journey of wines in barrels or bottles in heat probably evaporated some of the contents and did not ruin them but enhanced the flavour. Wine unsold at the other end got a double dose on the return journey.

Economics
If you are a winemaker and want to preserve wine, you can add some stronger alcohol, fortified wine, strengthened wine. It is cheap to make the wine used to fortify. The base wine has to be chosen and nurtured to provide the taste and aroma. But for fortifying, any cheap wine will do. So you are adding cheap wine, but increasing the price to the customer. Preserving and saving the unsold good wine for later. Using up the cheap wine you can't sell as fortifying wine. Good business. One might also think a good use of resources.

Necessity and Invention
At first, the change to the wine happened accidentally, wine fortified to preserve it, heated on a long voyage with unsold wine returned. Then it was done deliberately, sending fortified wine out and back on ship to improve it. Then, to save time, the wine was given the heat treatment, just being stored upstairs in attics (heat rises) in the heat without being sent off on a ship. Finally, the process was accelerated by boiling up or at least heating up the wine. The result is that Madeira can last for years and still be drinkable.

London, England, the UK, has always been a prime market for Portuguese wines, Port and Madeira, more recently Mateus Rose. Shippers, importers, exporters, drinkers, liked the Portuguese products.

The fashion for poor people, young workers, to drink beer, and rich retired people to drink soporific stronger alcohol seems to have changed with an increase towards drinking wine.

Despite the trend towards wine and away from stronger drinks, sellers are keen to sell all kinds of drinks, and I have been told that the profits on wine are low, the profit on spirits is high, and some businesses are kept afloat with the sales of the spirits subsidising the sales of the wines.

It seems to me the reverse of the loss leader idea, which is when a supermarket offers one free or cheap product attracting customers, who then spend on other goods. It's more like the hotels which make their profits on the suites and penthouses in high season, whilst offering lower priced rooms on lower floors and off-seasons to make the place look lively and busy and keep the staff employed all year.

How does this affect you and me and Madeira wines?

Madeira wine in the glass, offered at the free tasting at Eton Vintners wine shop in Eton. See the dark colour.

We tried five and ten-year-old wines, using the same glass. At first, I used one glass, sipped a little, spat and tipped the leftover in the spitoon. Then I rinsed the glass with water and rinsed my mouth. However, when I went to take a photo I realised I needed two glasses to compare the colours of the drink. If you kept two glasses, and saved the leftover of one wine to compare, you could see the change in colour. Like everything else, drink and food, stains on clothes, dyeing clothes, leave food or drink out for hours or wine for years in tanks and bottles and evaporation takes place, a stronger colour develops.  

Various spirits on sale in the spirits section of the wine shop.

In the UK
Look out for Madeira wine tastings. They are most frequent in the months leading up to Christmas. I have been to free tastes of assorted wines including Madeira at Berry Brothers in central London near The Ritz hotel and Piccadilly tube station, and more recently at Eton Vintners wine shop in the twin town of Eton and Windsor linked by a bridge across the river underneath Windsor Castle.

If you want to taste a Madeira in Madeira, you can go to the D'Oliveria (Vinhos) premises in Funchal, the capital and major city of the island of Madeira. In the Portuguese address you will notice, Ilha (island) da (of) Madeira.

Translations:
Portuguese - English
casa - house
do - of
horas - hours
e - and
ilha - island
museu - museum
rua - street
vinho - wine
vinhos - wines

English - Portuguese
and - e
hours - horas
house - casa
island - ilha
museum - museu
street - rua
wine - vine
wines - vinhos

Pereira D'Oliveira (Vinhos) LTD,
Rua dos Ferreiros, 107
9000-082 FUNCHAL
ILHA DA MADEIRA.

tel: 351-291 220784.
email:perolivinhos@hotmail.com

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm. Saturday mornings from 9.30 am to 1 pm.
You could plan to go in the morning, and find a restaurant for lunch, or in the afternoon, and find a restaurant for dinner.

They are just around the corner from the Wine Museum. I would prefer to do the museum before the wine tasting, but that's up to you and depends on the timing of your trip.

Wine Museum
Rua de 5 de Outubro
Funchal
Ilha da Madeira.

Blandy's Wine Lodge http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/explore/detalhe/madeira-wine-museum
Entry free.

Address:

Adegas de S. Francisco, Avenida Arriaga 28, Funchal

GPS:

32.648129 , -16.907894

Telephone:

(+351) 291 740 100

Email:

pubrel@madeirawinecompany.com

Web:

http://www.blandyswinelodge.com/

Open Monday to Friday 10-6.30. Saturday 10-1. Closed Sunday and public holidays.

Useful Websites
https://www.visitportugal.com/en/destinos/madeira
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/madeira-wine-two-hundred-year-old-found-fortified-cellar-new-jersey-liberty-hall-union-a7835881.html
http://www.kean.edu/libertyhall/about/history

duolingo.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/port-and-portuguese-wine-labels-and.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-to-ask-for-food-and-drink-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/learn-your-first-ten-words-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-do-you-say-please-in-portuguese-is.

visitportugal.com

visitbrasil.com

http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

earwormslearning.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other travel website:
http://luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Madeira, Madeira wine, Portugal and Aeroporto

Problem
Madeira, Portugal, Portuguese - what do we know about them?

Answers
I remember sitting on the sledge going downhill on Madeira as a child with my parents. Somewhere we have a picture in an old album which proves it and acts as an intermittent reminder.

Madeira
Madeira is an island known for Madeira wine. (You might recall the amusing, suggestive song, 'Have some madeira m'dear', from Flanders and Swan.) Madeira wine was created by a happy accident. The long journey by ship in the heat did not destroy the wine but improved it.

Madeira is a fortified wine - not distilled like a spirit. Alcohol is added to increase the strength. The same applies to another well-known Portuguese fortified wine, Port (from The port of Oporto in Portugal).

(Other fortified wines you may know are Spanish Sherry, which comes from the sherry triangle around southern Spain, Jerez, on the border with Portugal (where I went to a Bodega. I find Madeira and Port rather strong. My favourite fortified wine is Muscat de Beaune de Venise from southern France. Fortified muscats from around the world include Rutherglen Muscat from Rutherglen in Australia.)

A grand hotel is on the hill. You can take a ride downhill.

In case you hadn't noticed, Madeira is Portuguese (not Spanish).

Portuguese Language
Portuguese is similar to Spanish, two of the world's easiest languages for English speakers. Airport is Aeroporto. What could be easier than that.

Portuguese Names
Cristiano - Christian. Ronaldo - Ronald. Portuguese adds a lovely lilt to names and other words in the language. An extra syllable. An extra vowel. A slightly sing-song intonation.

If you want to go to Madeira, and learn a few words of the lingo first, you can pick up some Portuguese on Duolingo. Where else does the Portuguese language pop up amongst the population and place names? South America. Macau (now Chinese).

Wikipedia informs us that:
'Portuguese (português or, in full, língua portuguesa) is a Romance language and the sole official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It also has co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea and Macau.'

Famous Footballers, Personalities and Airports
Which other landmarks are named after famous people?
John Lennon Airport, Liverpool, England. Named after John Lennon of the Beatles.
George Best airport, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Tips
Ten Fast Facts:
1 Madeira is Portuguese.
2 Language: Portuguese.
3 Airport: renamed Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo.
4 Drink: Madeira wine is fortified wine.
5 Food: Madeira cake - a kind of sponge cake.
6 Capital: Funchal.
7 Where: - island.
8 Top activity - downhill sledge ride.
9 Top hotel
10 Tourist fact - popular cruise ship stop.

Try Madeira cake and wine in your home country and compare prices and flavours on arrival at the island. Allow time for a photo with the statue to open your slide show or photobook of your trip.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Some_Madeira_M%27Dear
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_John_Lennon_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Best_Belfast_City_Airport

Useful Websites

http://duolingo.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language
https://translate.google.com/

https://www.visitportugal.com/en/destinos/madeira
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/madeira-wine-two-hundred-year-old-found-fortified-cellar-new-jersey-liberty-hall-union-a7835881.html
http://www.kean.edu/libertyhall/about/history

duolingo.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/port-and-portuguese-wine-labels-and.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-to-ask-for-food-and-drink-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/learn-your-first-ten-words-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-do-you-say-please-in-portuguese-is.

visitportugal.com

visitbrasil.com

http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

earwormslearning.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English, learner of 12 other languages.Please like, follow and share links to my posts.
See my other travel blog:
http://www.luxurytravelforless.co.uk

MADEIRA wines and what to do the labels mean?

Madeira wine comes from the island of Madeira (meaning wood) - the local language is Portuguese. Madeira is a fortified wine, meaning made stronger by adding alcohol.
  Madeira is an island in the Atlantic. (As a child I could never remember which was the Atlantic and which was the Pacific. Kids - it's easy. If you grew up in England or Europe like me, your nearest ocean is the big Atlantic which Brunel's ships crossed to America.  You leave the west coast of England to get to America's East coast.)
   A for America, A for Atlantic. P for Pacific. The Film South Pacific was about Americans going the other way, from their west coast across the Pacific Ocean.

   British boats sailed south from the Southern ports of Southampton and Portsmouth (and the Plymouth Brethren from Plymouth to America.

   Wine went across the ocean from Europe to island stops, ocean 'stations' if you like, in places like Madeira which was Portuguese. Some of the wine got hot on the journey. And to prevent it going rancid they added extra alcohol.

  The strong drink was very popular. It's too strong to drink large glasses of it all through the meal. (And too expensive.) You don't want to fall asleep during the meal. So you have just a little glass after the meal. If you fall asleep after the meal at bedtime, never mind.

   The song, have some Madeira, M'dear, written and sung by Flanders and Swann, suggests an older man trying to get a naive young girl drunk - on what she probably doesn't realise is very strong drink. Twenty per cent alcohol! 20%!

  Usual bottles of wine, alcohol by volume are under 15%. (Tax goes up after 15%. The tax is higher to stop people getting drunk on strong wine and to make more money for the government.)

  Beer is average 4% so you can drink half a pint and feel merry. But a whole pint, unless you are very big and spend well over an hour drinking, is still going to affect your safety and your reaction in a test and means points on your driving license.

  Look at the back of the bottle - how much alcohol content?

  Older wines have a slightly lower alcohol content because of global warming. In years with cooler weather grapes make less sugar less alcohol. Alcohol is made from sugar.

  Sweet wine is often low in alcohol, because the process is stopped earlier.

  Wines were always fortified for a sea journey to stabilise them. Alcohol is neutral flavour. But unsold wine was sent back and had two sea crossings. So it was extra cooked in the journey. The heat changed it.
(Rutherglen Muscat from Australia also is warmed in the vilification process.

  But with sherry is kept cool in well ventilated lodges where it is stored. Port is also kept cool. A different drink.

Wine is kept in wine fridges to stop it changing in the heat. So you keep wines in a cool cellar.

  In London sometimes if you go into the big Berry's shop at 3, St James Street, a wine shop near the Ritz hotel in Piccadilly, you will sometimes be able to taste a thimbleful of Madeira. I once tried Madeira, Port and Sherry to see the difference.

  Anybody can compare three drinks at home. Set up three bottles and three glasses per person. You can hide the bottles. To make sure you don't forget, or move the bottles, or move the glasses, or find the family arguing and ending up doing it all over again, follow a system used by the regular wine tasting groups. Label the wine stem with stickers of different colours and letters of the alphabet to match sticker bottles. Put a pencil and paper for each person to make notes while they 'drink blind' (not knowing what you are drinking). Pour. Taste. Evaluate. You will soon decide which you prefer.

   Which is better? That's like asking whether strawberries are better than raspberries. Some people prefer one, some prefer another. The wine taste, and your taste or preference, may change according to the occasion, time of day, the food, the mood, and so on.

A member of my family is taking the WSET course. (Wine and Spirits Education Trust.) So we are doing comparisons. (Tasters spit the wine out.)
The photo above shows ten and fifteen year old Madeira wines.

Apparently, the Madeira wine is exported more to France than any other country. We have been asking why this is, every time we find a Portuguese waiter in a Portuguese, Spanish or Italian restaurant, but nobody seems to know why. Recently we asked Pedro in Loch Fyne in Norwich. He mentioned that Madeira is used to pickle fish, such as herring.


Labels

» Home » IVBAM

What does IVBAM mean?

Instituto do Vinho, do Bordado e do Artesanato da Madeira, I.P. - IVBAM

Portuguese - English

Instituto - institute

do - of

vinho - wine

bordado - embroidery
e - and

artesanato - crafts
da - of
Madeira - Madeira (the country, noun)

Why do they combine wine and embroidery? Maybe because it's a small island so they sensibly amalgamate to share costs and overheads.

If you want to do a comparison of different types of Madeira, or sherry, Port and Madeira, by searching the web I'm uploading some of what I've found, the following prices:
amazon.com
Morrisons from about £10.
Tesco cases of £72, equivalent of £72 a bottle.
starchefs.com/wine/feature/html/madeira
madeira wine.com redirects to
madeira-shopping.com also sells Madeira products such as biscuits and brandy

If you want to know more read The Wines of Madeira by Trevor Elliott.

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several more posts on Madeira, the island, and Madeira wine. Please share links to your favourite posts.