Walking the Line: Madeira

Our Buying Director Giles Cooper shares his thoughts on the magic of Madeira after a visit to the region with Blandy's, one of the island's best-known producers.

I’d waited over 10 years to visit Madeira, including a cancelled visit with my family in Summer 2021 (thanks Covid). So, when the invitation came from Blandy’s CEO Chris Blandy to join a group heading over for harvest time, to experience the island in full flow and learn more about its genuinely unique location, topography, weather, wines (and, as it turned out, to see more road tunnels than it’s possible to imagine could exist on one small island) I greeted it with open arms. Let's face it, what wine lover wouldn't?!

I’d known Chris for a while, having met when we organised a Madeira dinner in London over a decade ago - an evening which still ranks amongst my all-time greatest food and wine events. Furthermore, I’d been long gripped by the magic of this wine which carries so much history and defies convention when it comes to winemaking. So, last September, a truly international cohort decamped to the island for the Vin de Mas festival of the harvest, during which we circumnavigated virtually the entire rock on occasionally death-defying roads. We encountered all the weather on earth (the difference between the dry south and damp north can’t be exaggerated) and marvelled at soaring cliffs, astonishing views, impossibly-planted vineyards, and the full gamut of styles and ages of Madeira.

The Magic of Madeira

The unique heating, fortification, and ageing process used on the island makes the finest Madeiras almost immortal. For most of us, there is no other way to drink wines from the 19th century, even pre-phylloxera, which retain this level of fabulous energy and still give a massive amount of pleasure. Along with the naturally amazing balance, it is this sense of ‘bottled history’ which keeps wine nerds coming back for more.

However, no wine region can live entirely off its past, and while much of the production process remains bound by tradition, Blandy’s eponymous young CEO is looking to the future on a quest to improve the quality both of newly made wines and those which are still ageing in cask. This means winemaking is cleaner and slicker than ever, with grapes harvested and transported at night under cooler temperatures to preserve freshness. It also means that the ageing process is under real academic scrutiny; Blandy’s are working with universities to monitor the temperature and humidity levels in different parts of each warehouse, across each warehouse on the island, to best understand which conditions suit the ageing of which wines. Up to this point, warehouses had simply stored whichever wines were being grown and made in that area.

Higher acid varieties grown to make dry styles such as Sercial and Verdelho are grown on the cooler, higher altitude, northern parts of the island whilst grapes for richer styles like Boal and Malmsey are grown in the warmer, drier south. However, it doesn’t automatically translate that these same conditions are the best for ageing the different styles. Even in an achingly traditional culture like Madeira, there is modern thinking and a willingness to embrace change which reflects well on the current generation in charge and presents a clear intention that the Madeira wine business is here to stay.

Past Versus Future

On the other hand, the clash of modernity and tradition is also the biggest challenge presented to the island. Grapes are not the most profitable operation in Madeira: aside from bananas and other fruits, which are hardier and easier to grow, pick, and transport, you have tourism and the associated real estate demands that brings. Madeira is a massively complex geological structure with buildings perched on thousands of impossible outcrops of volcanic rock; simply put, it’s a nightmare to build on, and much of the land just can’t be built on. Families who own pockets of land traditionally devoted to vine growing are coming under increasing pressure to consider more lucrative pursuits. There’s no doubt that wine producers encourage tourism - indeed Blandy’s own their own international travel business and multiple hotels, resorts, and rental properties across the island.

One of the island's biggest economic breakthroughs in recent years has been the introduction of direct flights from the USA, one of the biggest global markets for Madeira (it’s worth noting for visitors - the runway has been extended into the sea on concrete stilts to handle much larger aircraft but make no mistake, with its powerful crosswinds, Funchal remains on the most terrifying places to land an aeroplane). However more tourists means more need for hotel rooms, and this pressure impacts directly onto vineyard land. And even for those who remain committed to vinegrowing, the uneasy question of what to grow lingers: why grow tricky Terrantez or searingly acidic Sercial when Tinta Negra delivers a much more robust and reliable harvest (albeit with far less nuanced fruit)? To keep the palates of us lucky, fussy few happy, while the world’s primary demand for Madeira is a richer, younger style which can be produced more cheaply and thus profitably?

A Balancing Act

Madeira walks a constant tightrope between attracting and facilitating tourism, and needing to commit to the wine industry that helps to fund the constant upgrades in infrastructure required to move those tourists around (remember the tunnels…?) and helps to grow and maintain its international reputation. Furthermore, the future of that wine industry requires ‘high achievers’, pinnacle products which set a benchmark for excellence and fame – and this requires a retained commitment to the traditional noble varieties. On visiting this spectacular island, it’s clear that neither the wine nor tourism industries are currently in peril. However in a reflection of the intensely delicate balance which typifies the wines themselves, maintaining the future of each without detriment to the other is proving a multi-generational task. Chatting with Chris over a few days, you strongly believe that they’re up to it - but we can certainly ‘do our bit’ by continuing to sing the praises of the singular wines from this idiosyncratic place.

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