Blandy's Terrantez Madeira 1978 (750ML)

19.5 JR / 97 WE / 95 WS

Tasted from a 5-cl mini sample bottle. TA 9 g/l, pH 3.35, VA 1.25 g/l, RS 90 g/l. Harvest winemaker João José Teixeira, bottling winemaker Francisco Albuquerque. Bottled 2022. 204 half-bottles, 1,206 bottles, 80 magnums, 15 double magnums, 3 solomons (18 litres). There are only 4 ha of Terrantez on the island (22 growers).

An old copper pot, dimpled and burnished with the batter and patina of time, lost, half-hidden in the sifting, restless shadows of susurrating trees as they brush-cymbal with the cooling omen of the first autumn wind. Filling slowly with golden, russet, fox-red puzzle of leaves; the scent of wet earth, mycelium, juniper berries, moss under wood, cloves. In the mouth, an electric shock. Almost burningly minty. Peppermint. Angry and the rumble of dark storm skies; the sweet taste of bitterness; long, long, long and salt-drenched and iodine. Cutting the sky like the steel wires of a suspension bridge in a high wind. Vibrating with the tension of its own pent-up power. Vibrating with restraint. Vibrating with the glory of sunset splitting a storm-bruised-brooding sky wide open with empyrean light. Like tasting the Hallelujah Chorus. --Tamlyn Currin, Jancis Robinson 

There are only a few acres of Terrantez left in the world, almost entirely on the Madeira island. This magnificent wood-aged wine is perfumed, ripe with wood-aging tannins and a bite from the spirit, and so generous and smooth at the end. Drink now. Tasted 375ml.--Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast

Delivers toasted sesame seed, date, sandalwood, musk and baked mirabelle plum notes, which come together to create a lush, detailed offering. The finish is laced with a hazelnut husk streak, which provides a lengthy spine. Drink now. 100 cases made, 17 cases imported.—James Molesworth, Wine Spectator