Barbeito Verdelho 10 Year Old Reserva Velha 19% 75cl

Description

Barbeito Verdelho 10 Year Old Reserva Velha Madeira (literally “old reserve” Madeira) is made in the medium dry style from 100% Verdelho grapes.

Barbeito Madeira was founded in 1946 by Maria Barbeito de Vasconcelos. The company passed into the hands of his daughter Dona Manuela and then onto her sons in the early 1990s. One of the most significant years in Barbeito’s history was 1991 when the company entered into a joint venture with Kinoshita International Company Ltd of Japan, a company that Barbeito already had close commercial and personal relationships with since 1967.

Today Mario’s grandson, Ricardo de Freitas, runs Vinhos Barbeito. Barbeito is a very traditional canteiro style madeira and undergoes no de-acidification nor addition of caramel. Barbeito work closely with local producers and have input with them to ensure that each harvest the grapes are harvested to the specification of winemaker Ricardo de Freitas.

The grapes for Barbeito Verdelho 10 Year Old Reserva Velha Madeira are sourced from vineyards in Sao Vicente and Prazeres. The grapes are pressed in a continuous press, the juice is fermented and then stopped with the addition of very pure grape alcohol (96% abv) when the desired degree of sweetness is attained. The fortified wine is then aged in French oak casks for over 10 years using the Canteiro method. The final blend is made from selected wines from Barbeito warehouses to ensure a balanced medium dry Madeira.

Barbeito do not add any caramel for flavour or colouring resulting in a very pure, clean wine.