Blandy's Colheita Malmsey Madeira 2007 (750ML)

97 DE / 18.5 JR

217 cases made, 66 cases imported.

Mid-amber with a coppery glint; lovely leathery complexity on the nose with raisins, dried figs and crystalised fruit; very smooth and suave with, glorious richness offset by a streak of acidity with a long, mouthfilling, figgy finish. A classic Malmsey with complexity and poise. Serve on its own after dinner or alongside a crème brûlée.

Tasted from a 5-cl mini sample bottle. TA 7.8 g/l, pH 3.35, VA 0.5 g/l, RS 125 g/l. Harvest winemaker and bottling winemaker Francisco Albuquerque. Bottled 2022. 2,600 bottles.
Balsamic nose, nudging a narrow channel between volatile acidity and wisteria blossom. Higher residual sugar than the Cossart Gordon 2008 Malmsey tasted alongside, yet it doesn’t taste sweeter – just very different. The Blandy’s is redder and slightly deeper in colour, smells more of fresh fruit, of ambergris, of sandalwood and musk. The flavours shimmer in the mouth, piquant with intensity, with pixelated freshness, with thrumming excitement. Dried mango, intense candied clementine peel. Warming; melting toffee curling through iris blossom, fiery root ginger poached in caraway-scented syrup, Seville oranges drenched heavy and languid in bright morello-cherry syrup. But stone on the finish. In the words of Marjorie Allen Seiffert, 'And my windows / Are orange to the night. / They are set in grey stone that frowns / At the black wind. / Inside, there’s a guest at my hearth, / And a fire / Painting the grey stone gold.' Tamlyn Currin, JancisRobinson.com