Traditional wisdom, even in Madeira (as I noticed when visiting in 2020/21), is that Madeira wine is an aperitif or digestif wine. Pretty much every restaurant and wine bar I went to listed Madeira by the glass together with sparkling wine and cocktails in the aperitivo section (Sercial and Verdelho) or at the end of the drinks menu with port, brandy and cognac (Bual and Malmsey). Victoria Moore, in The Wine Dine Dictionary, writes...
Madeira at the table
Tuesday 5 December 2023
• 6 min read
A campaign launched to free Madeira from its before- and after-dinner status and put it straight on the dinner table. You'll see: it works!
Become a member to continue reading
Member
$135
/year
Ideal for wine enthusiasts
- Access 287,509 wine reviews & 15,851 articles
- Access The Oxford Companion to Wine & The World Atlas of Wine
Inner Circle
$249
/year
Ideal for collectors
- Access 287,509 wine reviews & 15,851 articles
- Access The Oxford Companion to Wine & The World Atlas of Wine
- Early access to the latest wine reviews & articles, 48 hours in advance
Professional
$299
/year
For individual wine professionals
- Access 287,509 wine reviews & 15,851 articles
- Access The Oxford Companion to Wine & The World Atlas of Wine
- Early access to the latest wine reviews & articles, 48 hours in advance
- Commercial use of up to 25 wine reviews & scores for marketing
Business
$399
/year
For companies in the wine trade
- Access 287,509 wine reviews & 15,851 articles
- Access The Oxford Companion to Wine & The World Atlas of Wine
- Early access to the latest wine reviews & articles, 48 hours in advance
- Commercial use of up to 250 wine reviews & scores for marketing
More Tasting articles
Tasting articles
Wines from this extraordinary Portuguese island in the middle of the Atlantic, varying from five to 155 years old. The...
Tasting articles
Once a bit player, Pinot Meunier is increasingly taking a starring role in English wines. Above, a Pinot Meunier vine...
Tasting articles
Quite a vertical! In London in November 2025, presented by Opus’s long-standing winemaker.
Opus One is the wine world’s seminal...
Tasting articles
Save water, drink these wines from the Deep Roots Coalition, a group of producers who eschew irrigation. Among them is...
More from JancisRobinson.com
Wine news in 5
Plus, Telmont becomes Champagne’s first Regenerative Organic Certified producer, Argentina repeals wine regulations and the EU rules on de-alcoholised wine...
Free for all
But how long will Madeira, one of the great fortified wines, survive tourist development on this extraordinary Atlantic island? A...
Wines of the week
A perfectly ordinary extraordinary wine. From €19.60, £28.33, $19.99 (direct from the US importer, K&L Wines).
A few months ago...
Free for all
Information about UK merchants offering 2024 burgundy en primeur. Above, a pair of ‘brouettes’ for burning prunings, seen in the...
Nick on restaurants
Head to the far south of Spain for atmospheric and inexpensive hospitality. Above, the Bar Las Teresas in the old...
Free for all
De-alcoholised wine is a poor substitute for the real thing. But there are one or two palatable alternatives. A version...
Don't quote me
Jet lag, a bad cold, but somehow an awful lot of good wine was enjoyed.
This diary is a double...
Wines of the week
A breath of fresh air that’s a perfect antidote to holiday immoderation. Labelled Nasiakos [sic] Mantinia in the US. From...