Thursday 17 January 2019, Blandy's Wine Tour

Early rising at dawn

I slept badly again. I have trouble remembering the layout of the room and our glass for water beside the bed is rather small. Anyway I got up at 7.30 and had an early shower. We had our usual breakfast offerings, and I went for scrambled eggs and bacon today. We planned to take a bus to Centro.


Today we got bus 7 to the centre of Funchal and it cost 2.20 euros each this time.We got off at a stop before the terminus and walked up to the Se or cathedral. There were several people waiting for a service to start. We looked at the altarpiece, the transepts, the choir stalls and the ceiling. The nativity scene was still in place too.

The gilded sanctuary in Funchal cathedral

Then we headed to nearby Blandy's Wine Lodge and we booked a tour in English for 10.30. It cost 9 euros 50 each. We waited in the bottle room where they store past vintages in cages. A few other people turned up for the tour, led by Sofia. We learnt that the building had been a 17th century prison, and later a convent.  In 1838 the winery was founded by John Blandy and is still in the family. We saw pictures of the generations of Blandys in the museum at the end of the tour.


First we walked along through the large oak casks where the wine is stored; they are made in Madeira from American oak. Blandy's winery holds 4 million litres of wine. The barrels are bound using banana leaves. The winery allow for an 'angels' share' of leakage or loss. It was discovered by accident that warmth enhanced the flavour, as the original cargoes were carried in the holds of ships.

Casks of American oak for storing the Madeira before bottling

There are only 500 hectares of vineyards in Madeira and they grow on the mineral, volcanic soil. The southwest of the island is the warmest, and Blandy's has a few hectares at 200 to 400 metres altitude in the area behind the village of Camara de Lobos. The grapes are hand-picked in August, and there are few diseases. Madeira is made from blends of up to 8 different grape types, and Spanish grape alcohol is added to boost the fermentation. The whole of the grape is used; nothing is wasted. The most important stage of fermentation is estufagem, after which the wine is rested for at least 90 days and then blended. A vintage bottle of Madeira can be kept unopened in the bottle for up to 20 years. Grape types which are used include: Negra Mole (a red), Malvasia, Bual, Verdelho and Sercial whites, and occasionally Terrantez, Bastardo and Moscatel varieties may be used.

The vintages of Madeira include: Reserve (5 years), Special Reserve (10 years), Extra Reserve (over 15 years), Colheita (wines from a single vintage), and Vintage or Frasqueira, over 19 years in the cask. A wine labelled Finest is generally used for cooking. Madeira can be paired with any kind of food, or drunk as an aperitif or a digestif. We tasted two types at the end of our tour: a 5 year old Verdelho which was dry and spicy, and a Malmsey Harvest 2010, which was sweeter. We bought a bottle of the Verdelho 5 Years.

Cheers!

After the fascinating tour, we strolled along to the Cafe do Teatro, and then on to the Catarina Gardens. We saw a huge Coralina  tree with the distinctive spiky orange blossoms. Then we got a taxi back to our hotel and had a rest and then a swim. The water was quite cool.

After that we rested again, did the Guardian cryptic crossword on our phone, and then got ready for Gourmet Night! We had a table in the Culinarium Restaurant of the hotel for a 'timeless dinner with live romantic melodies'. We enjoyed a welcome glass of bubbly, with a choice of starters - I went for soup and Richard had shrimp cocktail, then for the main course I chose the pepper steak with Madeira sauce and Richard chose fresh tuna. For dessert with both had the Petit Gateau chocolate fondant with ice-cream and berry sauce. Wines were served with each course. It was very pleasant, I slept better that night!