Whisky

My spirits marathon finishes with whisk(e)y, which I'm going to divide into two: Scotch (and similar whiskies) and Irish and American. Whisky is one of the greatest drinks in the world, whose reputation and commercial appeal grows and grows. Nowadays it's an extremely fashionable drink, but that hasn't always been the case.

The last twenty to thirty years have seen a transformation in the way whisky is made, perceived, and drunk. Single malts, which didn't really exist as a style until relatively recently, have replaced blended whiskies as the fashionable, expensive drink; American whiskey, forgotten and unloved, is now some of the best and most interesting stuff out there; and even Irish whiskey is beginning to get its act together. Then there's Japanese whisky, which is deservedly winning lots of awards. With the English, Welsh, Swedish, Dutch, Belgians, French, Spanish, Italians, South Africans, Australians, Taiwanese, and Indians also getting in on the act, these are exciting times...

 

why's it got two different spellings?

In Scotland, it's spelt whisky and in Ireland and the USA it's spelt whiskey. There are exceptions, but it doesn't get much more complicated than that.

malt whisky

The process of making malt whisky is complicated, but basically it involves converting the insoluble starches in barley into soluble starches (which is called "malting"), which are then converted into fermentable sugars by creating a sugar solution called the wort. Yeast is added to start fermentation, and, in essence, a beer is created, which will then be double-distilled in a pot still. The size and shape of the still influences the style and quality of the eventual whisky.

The spirit is then aged in oak barrels - to be called a whisky, the spirit must be at least three years old. These are mostly used bourbon barrels, but also common are barrels which have been filled for a time with a particular style of sherry.

The final whisky will be a blend of different barrels and spirits of different ages, and will be watered down to a lower level of alcohol. This has to be minimum 40%, but higher alcohol whiskies are also released, when it's advisable to add some water when drinking.

regions

the division of Scotland into different whisky areas has no legal foundation: a whisky can taste like anything the distiller wants it to. Although the Highlands and Speyside styles vary hugely, the regions do have some general characteristics.
Lowland a light style
Highland styles vary greatly; Highland Park is peated, Dalmore is rich and heavy, Glenmorangie is light and citrusy.
Speyside two styles: light (Glendiffidich) and rich and fruity (Balvenie, Macallan).
Islay a small island off the west coast of Scotland famous for its peaty whiskies, although there are unpeated examples (Bruichladdich have a very wide range of styles). Ardbeg, Laphroaig, and Lagavulin are the best-known producers.
Campbeltown south of Islay, wth just three distilleries (Springbank, Glengyle, Glen Scotia): rich and heavy.

taken from scotlandwhisky.com

single malt whisky

The important word is "single": this means that the whisky comes from just one distillery. A single malt should be expressive of that mysterious French word, terroir - the water (lakes, rivers, and seas), the land, the wildness of remote Scotland, the type of still, the atmosphere in the distillery and warehouse, as well as the skill of the distiller. A single malt from Islay will be like the island itself: salty seaweed flavours, as well as peat that's been formed over thousands of years. Then there's the ageing process: the years spent in cask and the type of oak. This is why single malts are so sought after - each whisky is a unique expression that couldn't be replicated anywhere else.

blended whisky

Malt whisky comes solely from barley; blended whisky has grain whisky in it too, which is a mix of malted barley and other grains. Unlike malt whisky, grain whisky is distilled in continuous stills. It was the continuous still, an Irish invention, which allowed makers of Scottish whisky to produce spirits much more efficiently and led to the commercial dominance of blended whisky. The Irish decided not to bother with the still. The most famous names date from the mid-nineteenth century, when the use of continuous stills became common, and each producer developed their own style of blend - Dewar's, Bell's, Grant's, Whyte & Mackay, Teacher's, Ballantine's, Johnnie Walker.

Blended whisky accounts for the vast majority of sales of Scotch (90% worldwide). At its best, it should be a complex yet balanced expression of the many different styles of Scottish whisky.

Diploma Tasting

Cameron Brig Single Grain Whisky
It was very interesting to taste a grain whisky, something generally only encountered as part of a blend. There are five grain distilleries in Scotland producing five times as much grain whisky as malt whisky, but only three grain whiskies are bottled. The grain mostly used is maize, giving an oily sweetness to the whisky. This was a decent example: heather, honey, and cinnamon giving the whisky a sweet spiciness.

Auchentoshan Single Malt 12YO
Not far from Glasgow, Auchentoshan is the only distillery in Scotland to always use triple-distillation, strengthening the spirit but lightening the style. The 12YO was quite floral and leafy, with citrus fruits giving way to vanilla and spice on the palate, with an unusual flavour of malted bread coming out with water. A complex but delicate whisky.

Glenrothes Single Malt 1995
Hidden away in Speyside, Glenrothes historically sold most of its whiskies to blends, particularly Famous Grouse and Chivas. It's now owned by London wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd, who have steered the brand in a slightly unusual direction. Rather than labelling the whisky with an age statement, it's released as a vintage to mark each whisky out. It's always aged in ex-sherry casks, giving sweet dried fruit flavours. This 1995 was quite yeasty too, with flour and malt, and nice vanilla spices.

Glenfarclas Single Malt 15YO
Another Speyside distillery (although it classes itself as Highland), situated at the foot of Ben Rinnes, which gives Glenfarclas a terroir specific character: the local bitter wind, the low warehouses, and the use of sherry casks all contribute to the rich, powerful style. The whiskies oxidise slowly and absorb the power of the old oak. The 15YO was a big, edgy whisky, with cedar, toast, vanilla from the oak, and a sweet, nutty, spiciness.

Laphroaig Single Malt 10YO
Laphroaig was one of the first whiskies I ever truly loved, though on recent tastings I'd begun to find its earthy peatiness a bit too obvious. However, tasting it again, it was hard not to fall for all the smoky, earthy, peaty aromas, as well as the added complexity that comes from the seaweed and smoked fish. This is a whisky so characteristic of Islay: one has to use that word again, terroir.

Johnnie Walker Black Label 12YO
It was fascinating tasting this blended whisky after all the others, as it really showcased the art of blending - taking a vast array of styles to create a blanced, expressive drink. Put simply, this whisky tasted of the other five put together. I particuarly liked the heathery smoke that came through at the end.

always good to have some water when tasting

Japanese whisky

The development of Japanese whisky was directly inspired by Scottish whisky, but it is certainly not an imitation, with its own distinctive flavours and characteristics. Just as with Scotch, it reflects the environment and culture in which it has been grown. Aromatic Japanese wood is used for ageing, and the whiskies don't have as pronounced cereal aromas - Japanese whiskies aren't light, but still floral, fragrant, and fruity.

One of the oldest and still most important companies is Yamazaki who only make blended whisky, but extremely complex ones. There are six different stills at the distillery and five different types of wood are used for ageing (sherry - both American and European casks, bourbon, new oak, and Japanese). This gives the blending team an extraordinary range of possibilities. The other key consideration is that blending is done internally - whiskies aren't bought from elsewhere - meaning that the whiskies are a direct expression of the area and distillery's character. The 12YO is superb: floral with light dried fruits and a little smoke. A delicate yet mature and sophisticated whisky.

Another Japanese whisky worth trying is Nikka from the Barrel. This is a blended whisky for drinkers who like their powerful single malts.

 

English whisky

There's absolutely no reason why the English can't make whisky. The weather's not that different, there's lots of water, and there are plenty of areas where the terrain is as wild as Scotland. Barley is grown in England, particularly East Anglia, and it's used for the production of Scottish whisky. During the nineteenth century, there were large distilleries in London, Liverpool, and Bristol. Nevertheless, there was not one single English whisky made throughout the twentieth century.

With the surge in single malt's popularity, and the premium prices it can command, whisky is being made in lots of other places too, including England. The English Whisky Company was set up in 2006 in East Anglia, and has already gained a good reputation. Hopefully, it will be the first of many English whiskies. Chapter 6, the first whisky to be produced in England since the nineteenth century, is the one to start with.

Welsh whisky

Again, there's no reason Welsh whisky shouldn't exist. The Welsh Whisky Company's range of Penderyn whiskies distinguishes them from other whisky producers by the wood their spirits are aged in. The Madeira is aged first in Buffalo Trace barrels then another six months in old Madeira casks, while the Sherrywood is 70% bourbon, 30% sherry. The former has beautiful aromas of baked apples.





 

Gin

As someone who doesn't like the acerbic bitterness of tonic water, I've never been a big gin drinker. This, though, is an example of a drink becoming so associated with a mixer that the style and diversity of the spirit itself gets overlooked.

what is gin?

Like vodka, gin comes from a spirit that's been distilled to 96% ABV. The difference is that this neutral spirit has been flavoured with botanicals, one of which has to be juniper berries. This ingredient can cause controversy, as there is no legal definition of how much juniper must be in a gin - juniper must simply be "discernible." Without a discernible taste of juniper, the drink is technically a flavoured vodka, and some American craft distillers are getting into trouble for making "gins" that don't taste enough of juniper.

the botanicals

juniper obviously. These are berries from Italy and the Balkans which give gin its distinctive pine aromas, as well as heather and lavender.
coriander a botanical found in the best gins. It gives spicy flavours which change according to where it's from: Morrocan coriander produces peppery aromas; eastern Europe and Russia spicy, citrus, and floral; and Indian coriander even more citrus.
angelica root a traditional botanical which gives earthy and woody aromas and balances the perfume of other botanicals
orris root another botanical which balances other, more volatile aromas, giving floral and perfumed flavours
lemon and orange peels citrus aromas are the first to be released in distillation, so a gin made from an early cut will have strong citrus flavours

the regulations

gin the basic definition for inexpensive gin, which must have detectable juniper flavours
distilled gin redistilling a neutral spirit with juniper berries and other botanicals. Any flavouring or botanicals can also be added after redistillation. Hendrick's, famous for its cucumber flavours, is a good example of this; cucumber does not react well with the distillation process, so it is added afterwards.
London (dry) gin no flavourings or botanicals can be added after distillation. Despite the name, this style can be made anywhere in the world.

Diploma tasting

"own label"
This gin was so bad, we weren't even told who sells it. (It apparently costs around £10, of which £9 is tax.) Once again, not a great advertisement for the supermarkets. It was probably "cold compounded," meaning that juniper flavours were added to the spirit. It smelt of juniper but tasted of nothing but very harsh alcohol.


Beefeater London Dry Gin
Citrus flavours dominated; Beefeater is known for using Seville oranges which gives a gin a bitter edge. There was also a woody earthiness from angelica root. And there was juniper as well, obviously.

Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin
A famous brand that's all about the nineteenth century, but was created in the late 1980s. Its clever association with Empire and its stylish bottle helped make gin fashionable again. Floral and perfumed (lavender and saffron), with liquorice adding a bit of sweetness to the finish.

Plymouth Gin
The only gin that has any geographical requirement: it must come from Plymouth. There are fewer botanicals used, and the taste is heavier and oilier. I was a bit disappointed with this gin.

Tanqueray Gin Export Strength
Another well-known name that's made with just four botanicals, with the coriander giving white pepper, cumin, and citrus aromas. Very good, but I was junipered-out by this point.

Although it's good to taste well-known brands, I would have also liked to have sampled some of the premium craft gins that are becoming increasingly fashionable, to see the differences between brands that have to stick to a recognisable recipe and new distillers who can more or less do what they want - as long as the juniper's discernible of course.

Jenever

A juniper-flavoured spirit which must come from the Netherlands, Belgium, or nearby France, jenever is noticeably different from gin. Jenever bars in Belgium and the Netherlands have a bewildering array of jenever drinks, all served neat as small shots. It's made from a combination of a highly-rectified spirit (like gin) and moutwijn, a low-alcohol grain spirit, which lessens juniper's impact on the flavour. Unlike gin, it can be aged in oak. Jonge jenever can have a maximum of 15% moutwijn, has to be colourless, and can be lightly sweetened. Oude Jenever has to have a minimum of 15% moutwijn, can be coloured (through oak contact or with caramel), and can be sweetened to a greater degree.

Vodka

Of all the spirits, vodka is the one I have the hardest time with and find difficult ever drinking for pleasure. It doesn't really taste of anything except alcohol, and any flavours it may have are masked by the alcohol's warming potency. The Diploma tasting did change my mind a little bit, and I learnt how its neutral flavours make it a great base for cocktails. If vodka turns up in the tasting exam, though, it's going to be a challenge.

what is vodka?

Vodka can come from absolutely anywhere and be made from absolutely anything. The one consistent rule is that it must be distilled to 96% ABV (in the EU; 95% in the US) in order to make the spirit as neutral as possible. For this reason, a continuous still has to be used. The traditional raw materials are grain (barley, wheat, and rye) and potatoes, but lots of other ingredients are now used, including grapes (for example, the premium vodka Cîroc).

what does it taste like?

Neutral vodkas such as Smirnoff are the most common and popular, but there are producers who want their vodka to have some character, reflecting the raw material. These will still be light in flavour, but discernible: wheat will give the vodka wine and anise characteristics, rye zest and spice, while a barley vodka will be clean and crisp, and one from potatoes full-bodied and creamy.

Flavoured vodkas are also becoming increasingly fashionable - which is how vodka used to be made before the neutral style took over in the mid- to late-twentieth century. These will usually be nature-identical rather than natural flavours and are added after distillation. Fruit is the most common flavouring, but anything and everything is being added to keep up with fashion.

Diploma tasting

Tasting vodka at ten in the morning was not something I ever imagined doing and it was with some dread that I took a sip of the first drink. The experience, though, was a lot more enjoyable that I'd feared.

spot the flavoured vodka

Wyborowa Vodka
A rye-based vodka that had delicate flavours of lemon and white pepper. Quite pleasant, without being especially exciting.

Zubrowka Bison Vodka
The most interesting vodka we tasted. Although Zubrowka are the only producer who flavour vodka with grass, doing so dates back to a time when all vodkas were flavoured - a traditional drink that now feels very modern. My tasting notes are on my general Diploma blog.

Chopin Potato Vodka
This was another very good vodka. It's only produced from September to December during the potato harvest (there are 3kg of potatoes needed for each bottle). The flavours were quite complex with a greater depth than one would expect from a vodka - a creamy mouthfeel of yoghurt and vanilla, as well as a fuller body from the potatoes.

Smirnoff
The very first sniff was an instant recall of a nightclub during university days. How can a drink that smells and tastes of so little be so resonant? Smirnoff was popular in Russia in the nineteenth century, but began its conquest of the world in the 1940s as part of the Moscow Mule cocktail. It's now the biggest selling international brand in the world. It tastes of absolutely nothing.

Brandy

The word brandy comes from brandewijn, the Dutch for "burnt wine," which is pretty much what brandy is: a wine distilled into a high-alcohol spirit. Brandy can be made anywhere in the world, but as ever it's France which has the most famous examples. I've written about Cognac before, so here I'll focus on the other famous French brandy, Armagnac, as well as Spanish brandy.

Armagnac

One of the central reasons for the success of Cognac over the centuries is trade. Cognac is just north of Bordeaux, with easy access to the international trade routes that the port has historically provided, particularly to important spirits markets such as England/UK and the Netherlands. Although also in the south west of France, Armagnac is located further inland with no easy access to a major port and has therefore never had the commercial success of Cognac - though it hasn't suffered the boom and bust cycles of that region either. 

Besides location and reputation, there are other significant differences between the two styles of brandy:

grapes as with Cognac, the most important grape is Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano in Italy), which produces a wine with neutral aromas and high acidity. In Cognac, it accounts for 98% of plantings, but in Armagnac it's lower, at 55%. 32% of plantings are of Baco, the only hybrid grape allowed in the production of quality wine in the EU (a hybrid grape is a cross between a variety of the European vitis vinifera, in this case Folle Blanche, and a North American vine species, in this case vitis riparia), which gives rich, earthy, dried fruit characteristics to the spirit. Ten grape varieties are permitted, but the other two important ones are Colombard and Folle Blanche, an aromatic variety which was badly hit by phylloxera in the nineteenth century.

taste Armagnac is a much more rustic, earthy drink than Cognac. A unique still, called the alambic Armagnaçais, is used, a type of column still which produces a relatively low alcohol spirit (often less than 60%). Distilling to such a low volume of alcohol, as well as using more aromatic grape varieties, means that the aromas and flavours of Armagnac are much more powerful and aggressive than Cognac. I prefer the robust, agricultural taste of Armagnac, but it all depends on personal preference, as well as the time and occasion.

ageing the terms are very close to Cognac, but with slightly different definitions. Although this provides a point of difference between the two, I don't think it's very helpful, leading to confusion as well as abuse by lesser brandies not subject to regional regulation. The ages refer to the youngest wine in the blend. 

Blanche unaged (a category introduced in 2005)

VS/*** one year

VSOP four years

Napoléon six years

hors d'age/XO ten years 

age indicated the youngest spirit is the age stated on the label (e.g. twelve years)

vintage this is a huge difference from Cognac, which (more or less) doesn't allow vintages. For a market that likes to see a year on the label, this is a huge advantage Armagnac has over Cognac. 

Diploma tasting

At the end of the spirits tasting, we all got a number on a piece of paper, which denoted which spirit we'd get to take home. I was 19 out of 26, so I was delighted to walk away with this Armagnac.

Bas Armagnac Dartigalongue VSOP 
A lovely soft toffee fudge nose, floral and fruity too, like chocolate strawberry sweets; on the palate, the alcohol is warming at first but smooth, with a minty, caramel, chocolate mouthfeel, with coffee and toffee and a peppery spiciness to it from the well-integrated oak. A very good, complex, but accessible brandy.

if you buy Armagnac, make sure it's from Bas Armagnac

"French brandy": warning!

During the brandy tasting, we sampled ASDA's French Brandy, a dreadful, barely drinkable spirit. Not only that, its labelling was extremely disingenuous, using Cognac and Armagnac terms to its advantage. On their website, below the product listing, ASDA claim that they "do everything we can to make sure the information about the products we sell is always as accurate as possible," but that "we recommend that you always read the label carefully before using or consuming any products." Well, quite. The label has VSOP in large letters, *** at the bottom, and the word Napoléon at the top: three entirely different ageing terms to impress the unsuspecting customer. It's easy to get frustrated by the French appellation system, but it's there for a reason: to protect quality wine areas. In this instance, though, only Cognac and Armagnac are subject to appellation regulations, meaning that unscrupulous producers in the rest of France (or British supermarkets) can use the terms however they want.

Spanish brandy

Spanish brandy is a widely-produced drink without any great reputation, yet its slight sweetness and sherry flavours can make it a very flavoursome and surprisingly complex brandy. The main grape is Airén, which until recently was the most planted grape in the world, grown in La Mancha in the heart of Spain where the wine is usually distilled too. The grape is lower in acidity and higher in alcohol than the French brandy grapes. The two main areas for actual brandy production are Penedès in Catalunya and Jerez in Andalucia; the latter is the only Spanish brandy controlled by law.

Brandy de Jerez is aged in the same way as sherry, using the solera system, which means that spirits of different ages are continually being blended together to create a consistent taste year after year. This ageing system, together with the blending of high- and low-alcohol spirits from distillation, gives a Spanish producer a variety of options for the style of brandy. Further complexity comes from ageing in old sherry barrels, the previous sherry contents imparting flavour rather than the oak: grilled nuts from a fino barrel, walnut, plum, and figs from an oloroso barrel, and raisins from Pedro Ximénez.

Diploma tasting

Sobreano Solera Reserva Brandy de Jerez
The one Spanish brandy we tasted was very good and represented excellent value, especially compared to ASDA's own French Brandy. For a price little different, this had all the complexity of a brandy one should expect, with figs, raisins, sultanas, hazelnuts, and coconuts.

At the higher ender of the scale, I'd recommend Lepanto, also from Gonzalez Byass, or Lustau, another brandy from a great sherry company.

 

Pisco

I've never tasted pisco and it wasn't touched on during our Diploma tasting, but it's something we need to know about. There are two types of pisco, Chilean and Peruvian, both claiming to be the more authentic. The major differences are the grape varieties allowed, the distilled level of alcohol (much lower in Peruvian), and ageing in oak (none for Peruvian, at least 60 days for Chilean). I've never heard good things about pisco, but I'm open-minded about all these drinks...

Madeira

I spent the weekend visiting friends in Madeira, which gave me a chance to taste some of the great fortified wine at source. Like the island itself, the Madeira wine industry is quite traditional, its international heyday two hundred years ago. With its oxidised, rancio qualities, complex flavours, and astonishing ageing ability, there's no drink quite like it.

a little bit of history

Madeira is a small, sub-tropical island in the Atlantic Ocean, historically the last port of call for the Portuguese and other traders before the Americas and Asia. The style of the wine developed from its travels across the Equator. Two things would happen to this wine: first, it was fortified with distilled cane spirit to make it last the journey and, second, the barrels were used as ballasts on deck causing the wine to be baked at a consistently warm temperature, producing a dark, mellow, and extremely popular wine. By the eighteenth century, fortification was standard practice and the wine was baked on the island to replicate journeying across the Equator. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Madeira was a very fashionable drink - George Washington drank a pint a day, and it was used to toast the Declaration of Independence - but it was badly hit by phylloxera in the 1870s, when many vines were replaced with sugar cane. The wine nearly disappeared in the early twentieth century, but it's made a slow recovery and general quality has improved over the last twenty years.

lamb grazing in a back garden above Funchal

the styles

If there's no name of a grape on the bottle, then it's made from Tinta Negra Mole, an undistinguished but versatile black grape that accounts for 90% of all plantings on the island and is used to make the most basic Madeiras. These will be labelled dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet, or sweet. The "noble" grape varieties, all white, are named on the bottle and indicate a particular style:

Sercial - dry to off-dry; a traditional aperitif and the palest coloured of the four styles, with an acidic tanginess. 

Verdelho - medium-dry; this can be the most balanced in fruitiness, acidity, and sweetness of the four styles. 

Bual - medium-sweet; the name is an Anglicisation of the grape Boal. This is fruitier and more likely to accompany a dessert. 

Malmsey - sweet; here, the name is an Anglicisation of Malvasia. A rich, very sweet, deeply-flavoured wine, yet balanced by naturally high acidity, with the greatest ageing potential of them all. 

Blandy's helpful explanation of the four "noble" grape styles

the ageing

Most wines are baked using the estufagem process. This can be done by heating the wine to temperatures of 55°C for at least ninety days for the lower quality wines and, for higher quality wines, heating the wine in wooden casks for six months to a year at between 30 and 40°C. The highest quality wines have no artificial heating - instead, the oak barrels are left for many years at the top of the lodges in Madeira's consistently warm temperatures of 20°C.

The youngest Madeira is three years old, which is aged in tank rather than wood. After that, there will be an indication of the wine's average age - five (tank), and ten, fifteen, or, less common, twenty (all aged in oak casks). A vintage Madeira has to have been aged for at least twenty years, and can be aged for a hundred years or longer. A Colheita is a fairly recent style which has to come from one year but has been aged for a shorter time (five years or more).

a wine cellar I stumbled across full of very, very old bottles of Madeira

what I tasted

There are only six exporters of Madeira, producing four million bottles a year. I visited three of them, all in the main town of Funchal. D'Oliveiras is located in a large, atmospheric lodge full of bottles of old wine and barrels with wine still ageing in them. However, the staff weren't very welcoming and we were given tastings of three basic wines. I got the distinct impression it would be a huge inconvenience to them for me to buy something. 

typical Madeira vintage bottles; Terrantez is another "noble" variety, but even less common - 1976 and 77 were particuarly good years for this grape

H. M. Borges weren't much more accommodating, but they did have a broader and better range of wines to taste. I stuck to tasting four similar styles: five-year-old medium-sweet, ten-year-old Boal, fifteen-year-old Boal, and 1995 Colheita Boal. At €14 for half a litre, the latter seemed a tremendous bargain until I tasted it. The ten and fifteen year olds, though, were very good, complex if slightly reserved. 

Blandy's is a much bigger and slicker operation than the other two, with a guided tour and a gift shop. There were more extensive tastings on offer, though for a fee. I couldn't resist tasting this 1960s trio, the first time I had ever tasted vintage Madeira. 

Sercial 1966 - the nose on this was the most intense and oxidised of the three, with immediate treacle, toffee, and syrup, which continued into rich chocolate, dried fruits, and Christmas cake, with further mature notes of leather, earth, and mushrooms. Given that maturity, it was amazing how fresh the palate was, due to its high acidity. The dried fruits weren't quite as intense as the nose, either, with a spicy dry finish to add to the chocolate and coffee. 

Verdelho 1968 - my favourite of the three. Brown in colour, with much less intense dried fruits - dried apricots, poached pears, raisins, and fruitcake, with a bit of fudge, and almonds and marzipan. That sounds pretty intense, but all these flavours were so balanced and complementary. Likewise, the palate was subtle, complex, and long, with mellow cinnamon and clove spices with lingering white pepper. 

Bual 1968 - a similar brown colour to the Sercial, but more similar in intensity to the Verdelho, with figs, raisins, dates, toffee, and hazelnuts. The palate was the spiciest of the three - cinnamon, ginger, and white pepper - that slowly faded away to chewy dried fruits and an everlasting finish. 

Sercial '66, Verdelho '68, Bual '68: three extraordinarily complex examples of one of the world's most historic wines

what to drink it with

The depth of flavours in great Madeira wine are so complex and intense that it needs a food to match. I tried the three vintage Blandy's with a ginger chocolate sweet; the ginger, the chocolate, and the sweetness each complemented the three wines' varied flavours. Anything with chocolate and coffee is an ideal combination, especially for the sweeter styles. I'm not convinced I'd want to try a Verdelho with soup, as the Blandy's sign above suggests; the drier styles work well as apertifs or with a nutty dish. The oxidised nuttiness of the wines makes them a great accompaniment to an almond or marzipan dish and it almost goes without saying that Christmas cake and sweet Madeira are a match made in heaven.

where's the Christmas cake?