Vinhos Barbeito
Vinhos Barbeito
Madeira, Portugal
Wines of the Past, and the future. Of the hundreds of families who have produced and shipped Madeira over the past two centuries, only four remain: Blandy, Borges, D’Oliveira and Barbeito. The first three families have been around since the nineteenth century, and their legacy secured by having stockpiled old vintages during and after the Phylloxera epidemic of the the 1870s.
Vinhos Barbeito, however, is one of the youngest families, founding their company in 1946, a particularly dark era for Madeira due to World War II. As many houses were shuttering, Mario Barbeito, former accountant for Borges, saw opportunity, and began buying substantial stocks of old vintages from important families. He was stockpiling these wines for his future generations, namely daughter Manuela, who took over the business in the 1970s, and her son Ricardo Diogo Freitas, responsible for the forward-thinking, quality-focused direction the winery took in the early 1990s. Ricardo's aim was always authentic Madeira, offering only 100% canteiro wines (the traditional method of gently warming wines in stacked barrels, with no artificial heating in tanks), with additional aging periods, and no added caramel or deacidification. They also became the first Madeira producer to switch all production to bottled wines, in 1993.
View wines currently available in LCBO stores here.
AVAILABLE WINES
Address: Estrada da Ribeira Garcia Parque Empresarial de Câmara de Lobos - Lote 8
9300-324 Câmara de Lobos - Portugal
Website : https://www.vinhosbarbeito.com/en/
Vinhos Barbeito
Vinhos Barbeito
5 Year Old Malvasia Reserva Madeira
This Malvasia comes from vineyards in Arco de São Jorge, and was slowly aged in French oak casks for more than 5 years, via the historic Canteiro method.
Pouring a bright golden brown, with candied orange, roasted almonds, golden raisins, sweet pipe tobacco and light smoke which lingers on the lengthy toasted wood finish. Lovely fresh acidity to counter the richness on the palate, keeping this feeling bright and ready for creme caramel or candied chestnuts.
"Barbeito runs on the drier and sharper end of the spectrum for all of the various sweetness categories of Madeira, and this malvasia, the sweetest of Madeiras, is rendered here in its leanest and freshest form, still sweet, but anchored on a seam of electric acidity, and with some firm tannins to further tighten the ensemble. Complexity and depth are exceptional, and complexity is world class. Candied orange, lime and lemon, kumquat, barley, honey, mint and more linger. Serve this chilled with hard or blue cheeses, or game (venison, hung game birds) for a real treat. Tasted January 2019.” - 95 points, John Szabo, MS, WineAlign.com
Read more about Vinhos Barbeito.
Vintage: NV
Bottle Size: 500 mL
Bottles per Case: 6
Price per Bottle: $21
Style: Fortified
Region: Madeira
Country: Portugal
Grape: Malvasia
Colour: Brown
Vegan: No
Organic: No
Biodynamic: No
Natural: No
Low Intervention: No