Tag: Portugal
Rare Wine Co. Boston Bual Madeira
When Eric Asimov wrote an article about Madeira several months ago, two forces combined. On the one hand, my curiosity was piqued by his description of this style of wine, once all the rage and now soundly out of fashion. On the other, the fact that dessert wines are one of my favorite styles, one I’m always excited to venture further into.
And so, not too long after his article, I found myself face-to-face with a bottle of one of the Madeiras that he had discussed, the Boston Bual Special Reserve from The Rare Wine Company. I was the lucky recipient of a bottle as a gift, and we wasted little time diving into its contents to see what all the fuss was about.
The Rare Wine Company was founded in 1989 by Mannie Berk, and has since risen in stature to become a highly respected wine importer. Their reputation regarding Madeira is unparalleled, as demonstrated by a recent tasting that they held of several very old Madeiras. Today, their list of old madeiras is quite stunning, and surely contains many bottles available nowhere else.
The Historic Series is their effort to recreate styles of Madeira that were common at the height of Madeira’s popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries. The series consists of three bottlings: Boston Bual, Charleston Sercial, and New York Malmsey. There is also a 4th, but very rare, bottling named Imperial New York Malmsey. The styles are named after the primary grape making up the wine and the geographic region where the given style of wine was most popular.
Of the three bottlings, the Boston Bual lies squarely in the middle. The Charleston Sercial is a brighter wine with lots of citrus, whereas the Malmsey is allegedly sweeter and more viscous. The Boston Bual embodies a compromise between these two poles, with both citrus and nutty sweetness playing prominent roles.
The Rare Wine Company works with Vinhos Barbeito of Madeira to source and blend the wines in the series. While the Madeira industry as a whole has experienced significant decline during the last century, Vinhos Barbeito was founded in 1946 and has accumulated a remarkable stock of Madeira since then. The wines going into the Historic Series bottlings all range up to 30 years of age, demonstrating the remarkable longevity of Madeira.
Tasting Notes
The Boston Bual pours crimson brown with rich highlights, and heavy legs on the side of the glass. The nose has beguiling complexity, with notes of caramelized walnuts, sweet aged balsamic vinegar, raisins, almonds, and smoky molasses. The wine’s texture is mouth-coatingly viscous and heavily textured, with soft, warm flavors of walnut skins, molasses, brown sugar, and citrus. There’s an acidic core that wakes up the wine’s flavors, and highlights the note of complexity thrown in by the rancio character that grows as the wine warms in the glass. All in all, the palate is richly sweet without being cloying. The finish has well-blended notes of molasses, raisins, walnuts, and lemons.
The verdict? This is a rich, warming, complex dessert wine that should be in every wine-lover’s cupboard. The beauty of this wine is that not only does it taste delicious, but it stays strong for many months after opening the bottle. In fact, we’ve had one bottle open for nearly six months, and it’s practically as good as the day that we opened it.