Blandy's 10-year old

Today's the day .......................... for a glass of Madeira

I was making some soup today - and the recipe called for 5 tablespoons of Madeira wine.  It was quite a posh cookery book recipe.

I was just going to use sherry instead - but then something made me delve into the depths of the drinks cupboard.  And sure enough, we did have an unopened bottle of Madeira wine - to be precise, Blandy's 10-year old Malmsey Madeira wine.  It was bottled in 1983 which makes it as old as my son Rob - so getting on a bit now.  I can only think that it must have belonged to my Dad, who was a lover of fine wines, and it eventually ended up with us when the house was sold.

The islands of Madeira have a long winemaking history, dating back to the time when Madeira was a standard port of call for ships heading to the New World or East Indies. To prevent the wine from spoiling, grape brandy was added. On the long sea voyages, the wines would be exposed to excessive heat and movement which transformed the flavour of the wine. This was discovered by the wine producers of Madeira when an unsold shipment of wine returned to the islands after a round trip.  Modern day Madeira wine is still made using these principles.

Abandoning my soup, I had to have a little glass just to see if it still tasted ok after all this time.  It did ...........................