I don’t think I had heard of Madeira—the island or the wine—before I went to winemaking school back in 2006. And if I had, it clearly hadn’t left much of an impression.
Even at winemaking school, Madeira mostly came up when discussing maderised wine: wine irreversibly damaged by excessive heat and oxygen, causing it to lose its fresh fruit character and become flat, cooked or caramelised. Sometimes all three.
In other words, Madeira first entered my winemaking vocabulary as an insult.
In Australia, where I was living at the time, maderisation could be a genuine problem. Many winery tanks sit outside, summer temperatures can be brutal, and the journey from winery to wine glass is not always conducted in the cool, calm conditions wine might prefer.
It was only later, while studying for the WSET Diploma in London, that I properly encountered Madeira wine.
What’s on this page
How Madeira wine found me
Winemaking school taught me a great deal about making wine, particularly Australian wine, but we only scratched the surface of the wider wine world. The WSET Diploma was a useful correction.
I completed it in London by block release, neatly wedged between working vintages in Europe and returning to Australia for the next one. And I loved it. London is a wonderful place to study wine: there is so much variety and, compared with Australia at the time, much of it was considerably cheaper.
I have always been a sucker for sweet and fortified wines, particularly those with some age. Port and Sherry can be magnificent, but Madeira struck more of a chord with me.
I think it was Madeira’s indestructible nature, its unlikely story and its unusually tangible connection to history that really got me hooked.
Madeira played a memorable role in revolutionary-era America and has been poured for presidents, politicians and prime ministers. During Winston Churchill’s visit to the island in 1950, he was served a Madeira from the 1792 vintage—a wine harvested while Marie Antoinette was still alive.
That is the peculiar magic of Madeira. Its history is not merely printed on the label or preserved behind glass in a museum. Because the wine can remain drinkable for such an absurdly long time, you can literally drink it.
But it was the wider story of Madeira that really hooked me.
The island is an improbable place to grow grapes: a steep volcanic lump rising out of the Atlantic, with tiny vineyards clinging to terraces that often appear better suited to mountain goats than viticulture.
The wine’s development was equally unlikely. Merchants discovered that barrels of Madeira improved after long voyages through the tropics, exposed to the heat and movement of a ship’s hold. The two things that normally destroy wine—heat and oxygen—became the making of Madeira.
Most wines would regard them as assassins. Madeira employed them as tutors.
When further research revealed that the island also had good surf, that was the “marry me” moment.
I had, after all, chosen to attend winemaking school in Margaret River rather than Adelaide partly because Margaret River was closer to surf beaches. Some decisions are made after careful academic consideration. Others involve checking the swell forecast.
Why I created Madeira Wine Guide
I’ve researched and planned more trips to Madeira than I care to admit. Yet despite being fascinated by the island for nearly 20 years, I’ve never actually made it there.
When the opportunity arose to acquire MadeiraWineGuide.com, I jumped at it. It gave me somewhere to bring together the notes and research I had accumulated over the years, while also helping me plan the trip I am still determined to take one day.
The only difference now is that it would no longer be an itinerary designed solely for a wine-drinking surf nut. I would be travelling with my wife and two children, so I needed to convince them that Madeira offered rather more than fortified wine and Atlantic swells. Fortunately, the island appears to have been almost inconsiderately designed to appeal to everyone.
There was another reason for creating the site. Madeira still suffers from a lingering reputation as little more than cheap cooking wine—a fate rather beneath one of the world’s great fortified wines.
The more accurate, accessible and enthusiastic information there is about Madeira, the better. This guide is my small contribution to setting the record straight.
New to Madeira wine? Begin with Madeira Wine: The Definitive Guide, then explore the Madeira wine grape varieties, styles and label terms, and Madeira wine producers.
Who is behind Madeira Wine Guide?
I work as a commercial winemaker and studied winemaking in Australia before completing the WSET Diploma in London. I have also worked vintages in Europe and Australia.
That background inevitably shapes the site. I am interested not only in what a Madeira tastes like, but in why it tastes that way: the grape, vineyard, fermentation, fortification, heating, oxidation and decades of ageing that eventually arrive in the glass.
This is still a site for ordinary wine drinkers. You should not need a winemaking degree, an encyclopaedic memory or a monocle to enjoy Madeira.
How the site is researched
Madeira Wine Guide draws on official regulations and information from the Madeira Wine, Embroidery and Handicraft Institute (IVBAM), specialist books, historical records, producer material and technical wine sources.
Where possible, important details are checked against more than one reliable source. Producer stories and historical anecdotes are treated with a little caution—partly because Madeira has accumulated several centuries’ worth of good stories, and good stories sometimes improve with age even more enthusiastically than the wine.
I try to distinguish clearly between established facts, producer claims and personal opinion. Recommendations are based on a combination of professional winemaking knowledge, tasting experience, published information, and the reputation and track record of the wines involved.
If something cannot be verified with confidence, I would rather say so than polish uncertainty into fact.
Editorial independence and affiliate links
Madeira Wine Guide is independently written. Producers cannot pay for favourable coverage, inclusion or rankings.
If a wine, visit, accommodation or other service has been supplied without charge, that relationship will be disclosed. Sponsored content, should the site ever publish any, will be clearly identified.
Some pages may also contain affiliate links. If you follow one of these links and make a purchase, the site may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate relationships do not determine which wines, producers, books or services are recommended.
Corrections are always welcome. Madeira’s history is long, its labels can be complicated and even official sources do not invariably agree.
Madeira wine has already survived heat, oxygen, ocean voyages and several centuries of changing fashion. It can probably survive my attempt to explain it.
The aim of this site is simply to help more people discover one of the world’s great wines—and, perhaps, inspire a few of them to discover the island as well.