Leacocks 1966 Bual Vintage Madeira

Description

Leacocks 1966 Bual Vintage Madeira is a special order item and is only available in extremely limited quantities. Leacocks 1966 Bual Vintage Madeira is a timeless gift for a 1966 birth year. This exceptional medium-rich Madeira is aged for over half a century and offers a unique taste of history. Its complex flavours make it a memorable choice.

Leacocks Madeira is an historic Madeira company founded by John Leacock. Leacock worked as an apprentice at a Madeira merchant until March 1749. When his apprenticeship expired he started trading with an old school friend, John Patient, who was residing, at that time, in Charlestown, South Carolina and Leacocks Madeira was established. The company remained and importer Madeira company and passed through family hands until 1925 when Leacocks and Blandys amalgamated their interests and joined the Madeira Wine Association, which became  the Madeira Wine Company in 1989. The Madeira Wine Company (MWC) is a partnership between two Anglo-Portuguese wine-making families, the Blandy family and the Symington Family.  This partnership continues today and in 2011 the Blandys and the Symingtons signed an agreement giving the Blandy family control of the (MWC). The Symingtons remain minority shareholders and the MWC today owns Blandys, Cossart Gordon, Leacocks and Miles Madeira. Leacocks has been consistantly producing world renowned vintage Madeiras since 1760.

Madeira is a fortified wine produced on the Portuguese Madeira Islands. Its unique vinification process, which involves heating the wine in special warehouses, results in one of the world’s longest-lived wines. Vintage Madeira, in particular, makes an exceptional birthday or anniversary gift. This vintage Madeira has been aged in seasoned American oak casks using the traditional “Canteiro” system. In this method, the casks are gradually moved from the warmer top floors of wine lodges to the cooler ground floor during maturation. The Canteiro method is reserved for the highest-quality Madeira, which is aged naturally without artificial heat, relying solely on the sun’s warmth. The Madeira wine is regularly racked, and when it reaches the desired maturity, it is bottled. Vintage Madeira, also known as Frasqueira, must be aged for a minimum of 19 years in cask and one year in bottle, though it is often aged much longer before being bottled under the supervision of the Madeira Wine Institute.

Traditionally Madeira varies in style and sweetness depending on the grape variety that the Madeira is made from. Sercial produces the driest style, the rarer Tarrantez and Verdelho produce a Medium Dry style, Bual (sometimes called Boal) produces a Medium Rich style and Malvasia (also known as Malmsey) produces the richest and sweetest styles.

Leacocks 1966 Bual Vintage Madeira makes a perfect birthday gift for anyone born in 1966 or celebrating a wedding anniversary from 1966. This is made from 100% Bual grapes and is a medium-rich style of Madeira.

Please note, the bottle features the old stencilled details on one side and the modern paper label on the other.